Preview

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1114 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque
All Quiet on the Western Front
In the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Remarque, the author uses nature, and comradeship, to describe what the characters are going through. Erich uses nature in several ways, such as describing how the soldiers are facing terrible hardships, also it reflects on their sadness, and provides a contrast to the unnatural world of war. The author also uses the theme Comradeship through all the horrifying pictures of death and inhumanity, he talks about when Paul and his friends pick on Himmelstoss and beat him. We think it’s funny because Himmelstoss deserves it for being rude to them, and Paul and his friends are just giving him what he deserves. As we start going farther into the book, we start to realize that beating on someone isn’t funny anymore. We read the how the soldiers feel after assaulting and killing other people, it gives us a disturbing thought about war.

Erich shows the theme Nature in many parts of the book. In chapter 2, when Kemmerich dies Paul takes his identification tags and walks outside. He then says “I breathe as deep as I can, and feel the breeze in my face, warm and soft as never before." (Remarque 33) This is one of many times, when nature has helped the men go through bad experiences, and help them move on. Nature also reflects the terrible sadness of the lost generation. In Chapter 4, Paul's company sustains heavy losses and a recruit is wounded so badly Paul and Kat consider killing him to end his suffering. The Lorries and medics arrive too quickly, and they are forced to rethink their decision. Paul watches the rain fall and says: "It falls on our heads and on the heads of the dead, up in the line, on the body of the little recruit with the wound that is so much too big for his hip; it falls on Kemmerich grave; it falls in our hearts." (Remarque The cleansing rain falls upon the hopelessness of Paul's life and the lives of those around him. Throughout Remarque's book, we also see a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    6. INTRODUCTION: All is Quiet on the Western Front begins with Paul Bäumer's company at rest, five miles behind the front lines between Langemark and Bixschoote. They have had very little sleep for the fourteen days since they relieved the front line and seventy of their one hundred and fifty men are dead at the hands of Russian gunfire. The cook, Ginger, has fixed rations for the one hundred and fifty and, after arguing with the lieutenant, grudgingly consents to give all the food to the eighty soldiers left, including double rations of smokes. As the narrator remarks, "Today is wonderfully good."…

    • 1103 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a World War I anti-war novel that uses different objects that all symbolize different themes that impact the story. The leaves and different seasons impact the storyline to show the point in the lives of Paul and his comrades and to represent their feelings. The beginning of the novel takes place in late summer while everyone is experiencing a short period of lighthearted fun (9). The end of summer is usually associated as a time that people begin to wonder what had happened to the time that had previously appeared to be everlasting. Paul is faced with the stripping of his childhood due to being exposed to the harshness of war immediately after he was living without a care. Paul reports…

    • 185 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque describes World War I through the eyes of a soldier, Paul. It goes into details about combat, food shortage, going on leave, and the life at home. While reading this book, I couldn't help but notice that I would get nervous in some chapters about what would happen next. The author goes into so much detail, giving the reader that first person feeling while he/she is reading the book. Remarque also describes the horrific and unthinkable events of World War I by going deeper than the average "war novel," allowing the reader to engage more. The author reveals that World War I is different than the other wars before it because it details the artillery and the civilians' lives. It also reveals that World War I is a trench and chemical warfare which is new.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, vivid images of gruesome animal instincts and the innocent animals’ lives ending are illustrated for the reader repeatedly. Remarque indicates that for a soldier’s survival in battle they must cease sanity and rely solely on primitive instinct. This notion of animal instincts leads soldiers to be less like a human being with rational thoughts. The protagonist, Paul Bäumer, believes he is a “human animal,” and similarly, soldiers who survive multiple attacks think the same. Battle has wounded many, and throughout the novel the reader is given a chance…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story All Quiet On The Western Front, the author Erich Maria Remarque uses the motif of blood and death to display a theme of withering innocence, and how soldiers had to witness horrible events through humanity’s downfall. Erich uses animals to show crude human nature, the story describes to us how “the belly of one horse is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes tangled in them and falls, then he stands up again” (63 Remarque). This passage of gruesome death shows decaying innocence by humans forcing innocent creatures of the land, to fight for their own selfish needs and ways. Throughout the story, Paul is thrown again and again into life or death situations, “I grab for my gas-mask.…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Remarque tells of the dehumanizing effects that are perceived in ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’. When the young soldiers arrive at the frontline its nothing to what was anticipated as they had “just begun to love the world and being in it, but we had to shoot at it.” Remarque’s characterisation of Paul is naive and inexperienced as he only just begins to grasp the understanding, through torment and fatality, that they didn’t “believe in those things anymore; we believe in war” their new objective was to survive. Trained to disregard their conscience and distancing themselves from their own emotions, taught to let go of their former lifestyle. “Keep things at arm’s length” was their innovative technique in being able to endure the horrors of war. The audience is alarmed by the lack of emotion deemed by the young soldiers through Paul’s metaphoric language that “we have become wild beasts” enlightening context to the overall traumatic experiences that were inflicted. Remarque continues to portray the emotional state in a distant tone that “we are dead” convincing the audience they are completely detached…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Erich Maria Remarque’s original 1928 novel, turned movie, All Quiet on The Western Front, is very useful in helping to understand the many social and cultural difficulties soldiers faced in WW1 during the period of 1914-1918. One could argue that the given film is reliable, but being a secondary source this is arguable. AQOTWF exhibits the saviour physical, and mental stress German soldiers of World War 1 encountered, and the raw emotional detachment from civilian life displayed by many on returning home from the front. The film has a strong connection and relation to many poems, letters and images received and taken right from the Western Front itself and is very useful in helping viewers to grasp unique insight of physically commencing in battle, living conditions, and rare friendships formed in such harsh, dreadful conditions.…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “The first bombs, the first explosion, burst into our hearts.” (Remarque 88) This is what the soldiers felt like in Erich Maria Remarque novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer, a young man serving in the German army during World War One, is constantly being faced with the horrible and terrifying aspects of war. From seeing, his fellow soldiers lying dead on the battle field, to learning how to survive on the western front of the war. With his rifle by his side and his comrade’s right next to him, he knew what his job was to do in the war and that was to serve his country. Although Paul fought for his country in the War, Corrie Ten Boom a member of the Dutch reformed church was faced with the horrific scenes…

    • 1866 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    use nature as the judge to condemn war, along with shocking imagery, so that his…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel, All Quiet on the Western Front is the harshest story about war ever written. This novel was written by Erich Maria Remarque, based on his real life experience about World War 1. It tells a story about a group of companions at war and how they live their life everyday there. After analyzing the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, readers realized that almost all the characters were either very noble or not noble at all. The one character that stood out of all the character for being a noble man was the narrator, Paul. He is the most noble for being loyal to all his companions, for being sensitive to others and for being selfless in difficult times.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The earth, as in the soil beneath our feet, is taken for granted every single day, but never by a soldier on the front lines. Erich Maria Remarque explains this through his character Paul Bäumer in the excerpt of his novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Paul is explaining the effects that war on the front can leave with a soldier, the hopelessness, instinct of an animal, and appreciation for things as simple as the earth that we walk on. While explaining these effects Remarque uses literary and rhetorical devices.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paul is constantly referring to himself as old in the book. The aspects of war have changed Paul and the way he thinks. There are a couple of reasons why Paul keeps referring to himself as old. First of all, Paul knows that he could die any day because he is constantly in the trenches facing enemy fire. Another reason why Paul considers himself old is because soldiers even younger than himself surround him. Paul says, "they are about two years younger than us". (Remarque, 35) Between the combination of knowing you could die any day and being around younger soldiers than him make him feel a lot older than he really is. He feels like a veteran compared to all the young soldiers he is working with.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The soldiers struggle to find food, and the lack of training provided to the young recruit minimized the chances of soldier’s survival. Remarque uses All Quiet on the Western Front as a way to express his beliefs and ideas about the brutality of the war and its effects on the ordinary soldiers. In the novel, Remarque describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during World War I. He also describes the detachment from civilian life felt by many of the soldiers in the war upon returning home from the front and how they became completely disconnected from their family. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque illustrates how war is dehumanizing because it causes physical and psychological damages to soldiers who were once enthusiastic about fighting but are now lifeless and trauma…

    • 1796 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    World War One is known for its bloodshed. “All Quiet on the Western Front,” explains how the war changes people in their mental, emotional, and physical state featuring Paul, a young soldier. The book emphasizes heroism over glory, and how winning was a spirit booster. Although this is true, there were some un-favourited effects of the battles. Bullets and bombs weren't the only ways that had killed many of the men Combat is a common factor in suicides. Only two months after the war did suicides become an issue to the point where populations were dramatically dropping in the states.…

    • 488 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This Article tells an important story. A story, which is about a hotel manager who faces these challenges that no ordinary man would ever think he would have to face. An ordinary man, living an ordinary life, with his ordinary family. In the beginning of the story Paul starts out stating his name and his occupation just as n ordinary man would do. "My name is Paul Rusesabagina.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays