Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Storm of Steel, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Manliness and Duty
Modern Warfare
Suffering and Death
Foreigners, Enemies, and Empathy
The Complex Reality of War
Summary
Analysis
After the furlough, Jünger and his men are moved to a Flemish town called Roeselare. He stays in a house with an elderly housekeeper, her daughter, and a little orphan girl the two have taken in. He has been designated as an intelligence officer for the time being and spends time getting acquainted with the nearby 10th Bavarian Regiment in order to learn his duties. As he wanders around Roeselare, he admires the cozy pubs and the friendly Flemish language, hoping that this “splendid country,” so often a battleground, will one day enjoy peace and freedom again.
Roeselare is a city in West Flanders, Belgium. As in World War I, Belgium has often found itself contested between more belligerent neighbors, especially France and Germany. Consistent with his usual attitudes toward civilians, Jünger enjoys Flemish hospitality and takes note of the distinctive culture, recognizing that his presence imperils that culture to a degree.
Themes
That night, Roeselare is bombed, and Jünger joins the women in the basement. He even turns on his flashlight to calm the distraught little girl. He admires the women’s tenacity in the face of fear—despite the dire circumstances, “they cl[i]ng fast to the ground which at any moment might bury them.”
In late October, Jünger sets out with his reconnaissance group through heavy shelling and sets up near the regimental headquarters. The town and the front line are occasionally attacked, and Jünger narrowly avoids death by choosing at the last minute not to take shelter in a farmhouse during artillery fire; the farmhouse collapses moments later. His intelligence duties require frequent, perilous reconnaissance journeys across wastelands pocked by shell-craters. The British advances over the coming days cause massive casualties.
In early November, the unit enjoys a brief respite in Tourcoing, France. It’s the last time in the war that most of the men get to sleep on real beds and enjoy some pleasant luxuries. Jünger, for instance, is able to relax in a comfortable armchair in front of a fire. The men feel lucky to have survived this long and intend to enjoy life while they can.
Despite their already dire surroundings, things actually can and will get worse—but the men get a much-needed taste of civilian life first.
Themes
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