All Quiet on the Western Front #1

In this chapter Paul states:"At the sound of the first droning of the shells we rush back, in one part of our being, a thousand years. By the animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it is far quicker, much more sure, less fallible, than consciousness. . . . It is this other, this second sight in us, that has thrown us to the ground and saved us, without our knowing how. . . . We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers—we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals.
"Why would Paul characterize himself and his comrades as "human animals"?
Your task: Discuss the meaning of this quotation and the experiences the boys are enduring internally. In addition to your posting, comment on one other student's post.

Perhaps what Erich Remarque meant to portray by this quote is that the main focus of the soldiers when they reach the front line is no longer those things that many times set us apart from animals. The most important thing at this moment is not the their moral decisions or the repercussions of their actions rather it is their need for survival. Whether this is a conscious or subconscious process is unknown to me. This connects to some Enlightenment Philosophies from Hobbes which say that a human's state of nature is to be selfish and greedy. In other words, to look out for one's best interest.
Another viewpoint from which this quite could be written is that the war that Paul is fighting has stripped him of his humanity so much so that he has become desensitized by the violence and death. His feelings toward these events have transformed from what a human being should feel to something that is so dismissive it is grotesque. Being so close to death has clouded his thinking. It is only when the death he is surrounded by reaches past the war and into his previous life (as we could call it, since he has changed dramatically since he enlisted) that he feels sorrow or grief. Such is the case with the death of his friend Kemmerich, who Paul has known since childhood. For instance, on page 28 Paul says, "He is not the first I have seen thus; but we grew up together so that always makes it a bit different." Already we have read some insightful ideas about wars and we have not even made it halfway through the book...