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
In late July 1918, Jünger is withdrawn to a rest period in Northern France and spends some of his time training a shock troop, understanding that such small, resilient troops are more reliable in an advance than the majority of exhausted soldiers. As he rides around the countryside, he comes upon propaganda leaflets dropped by the British, promising a comfortable life in prisoner-of-war camps.
Despite his weariness, Jünger remains faithful to his sense of duty; even at this late juncture, he still tries to refine Germany’s battle-readiness. But as the somewhat mocking leaflets make clear, the end of the war is closing in.
Themes
On August 23, Jünger receives marching orders to the front once more. He’s also warned about the danger posed by new tanks. Jünger addresses his men a final time, finding that there’s little to say—everyone knows the Germans are losing, but that they must stand firm. He leads three platoons toward dugouts as airplanes strafe overhead. He then naps for a while until woken up with the news that they’re about to go on the offensive. He hurriedly marches his men to their position in the village of Favreuil.
For Jünger, courage requires steadfastness even in the face of certain loss. But his eagerness for battle is gone, as shown by his improbable nap on the eve of the offensive.
Themes
The company moves through the rubble-strewn village toward its castle grounds. Jünger puts on a steel helmet he finds lying on the ground. He calls this advance “our last storm,” remembering similar days over the past four years. He feels the attack is a hopeless mistake, and he views it more impartially than passionately.
When Jünger dons the random steel helmet, it symbolizes how much war has changed over the past four years. Such helmets, and the vicious artillery fire that makes them necessary, are now commonplace.
Themes
Just as Jünger is leaping over a trench, he feels a “piercing jolt” in his chest and falls to the ground with a cry. Compared to his many past injuries, he now feels “Death’s hand” with a “firmer and more determined” grip than before. Yet he feels entirely happy, suddenly understanding his life’s purpose. He has a sensation of sinking, as if beneath “the surface of some turbulent water,” to a place where “there was neither war nor enmity.”
Jünger is gravely injured not too far into the battle. As he did when he first arrived on the front, here he personifies Death as an inescapable force that gets its prey sooner or later. Yet, at the same time, he also regains his lost sense of purpose. He doesn’t explain what it is, but one senses that it transcends the events of the battlefield.
Themes
Get the entire Storm of Steel LitChart as a printable PDF.
