All Quiet On The Western Front: An Analysis
War is a very controversial topic for many people. Depending on the person’s outlook on the war, it can be depicted as something good or bad. War brings destruction wherever it goes, whether it is on a place or the people, and it ultimately is inevitable. War also protects a country from having further destruction and keeps the people at home safe from any danger. As a person can see in many recordings of war, there are many comparisons and contrasts that are expressed through soldiers, veterans, and civilians. Some comparisons seen in many of the testimonies given by effected people are dehumanization, dislocation, and alienation; but they also have contrasts that can be seen through nationalism, technological advancements, and the coming home for many
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soldiers. Throughout many books and articles involving war, a reader can see the constant struggle of dehumanization amongst the soldiers and civilians. Dehumanization causes many people who are involved in the war in some way forget what being a human is all about.
They forget who they are, and usually block the pain and death that comes with the experience of war. As seen in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul Baumer explains, “We want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with feelings which, though they may be ornamental enough in peacetime, would be out of place here” (139). Paul and many of the other soldiers have had to make themselves prone to the horrors of war, which results in many them having to dehumanize themselves. Paul also describes a form of dehumanization by saying, “We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers--we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals” (56). If Paul and his fellow soldiers on the front were to let the effects of war get to them, they would have not have lasted as long as they did. The soldiers had to force themselves to become different people to save themselves and others who surrounded them. In Brian Turner’s memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country, he also expresses the way that the war dehumanized him as well. Turner says, “We are surrounded by the dead, and by parts of the dead” (1). This
is something that ultimately causes Brian to dehumanize himself in the war. Experiencing death and having it surround you every day is a major cause for many of the soldiers to dehumanize themselves in My Life as a Foreign Country. Dehumanization is also present all throughout Elie Wiesel’s Night. The people in Night were not soldiers; they were everyday civilians who hadn’t done any harm to anybody. Eliezer explains the struggle to stay alive during the Holocaust which, in the end, resulted in having to dehumanize himself. Eliezer explains, “I no longer felt anything except the lashes of the whip…Only the first really hurt” (57). Eliezer had become so used to the pain and torture from the SS officers, and he eventually stopped feeling the pain being brought upon him. Elie describes a terrible moment in the train, which shows the civilians struggle to stay alive throughout the Holocaust. He says, “One day when we had come to a stop, a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest” (100). This shows yet another example of the constant struggle to stay alive in the Holocaust. They have been dehumanized to fight each other to stay alive, instead of coming together and helping one another. Dehumanization is a serious thing that can ultimately cause more harm on the person in the end. In Back From Iraq—Out on the Streets, Alexander Marks states that “A recent study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that 15 to 17 percent of Iraq vets meet the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety, or PTSD” (2). Another similarity that a reader can see throughout war literature is the fact that war dislocates many of the soldiers. As seen in Chris Kyle’s American Sniper, the struggle of returning to everyday life can be a difficult at times. Kyle explains, “You're in a combat zone one day. You come home, and then you have to readjust, and it takes a few days” ( ). The switch from being a soldier to being a civilian was a concept that was hard for Chris to get used to. Kyle says, “After I was discharged from the military, it was difficult trying to become a civilian” ( ). Dislocation is also true in Erich Maria Remarques’s All Quiet on the Western Front. The soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front also had a hard time adjusting to everyday life, and often felt that it would never become normal again. Paul Baumer expresses his feelings towards this by saying, “And even if these scenes of our youth were given back to us we would hardly know what to do. The tender, secret influence that passed from them into us could not rise again”(122). In A Soldier’s Story: Returning Home from Iraq, Sherr Lynn interviews army veteran, Kevin Powers. Powers explains how hard the coming home for a soldier can be, “As human beings, we have the blessing and the curse that we’re able to adapt to almost anything. No matter how extreme the circumstances you’re in, they become normal. Then there’s a sense that coming home is a letdown-because you’ve been in this kind of heightened state for so long, just the ordinary nature of everyday life can be confusing and frustrating.” In Back from Iraq—Out on the Streets, Alexander Marks describes the effects of dislocation by stating, “I was depressed for months. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. The worst thing wasn’t the war, it was coming back, because nobody understood why I was the way I was” (3). War literature also brings up the point of alienation in many ways. The war alienates soldiers from the rest of the world and they often don’t know how to react to other things outside of the war. In Erich Maria Remarque’s, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer explains alienation in a powerful way. He says, “I imagined leave would be different from this. Indeed, it was different a year ago. It is I of course that have changed in the interval. There lies a gulf between that time and to-day. At that time I still knew nothing about the war, we had only been in quiet sectors. But now I see that I have been crushed without knowing it. I find I do not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world” (173). After all that he has done for his country with keeping them safe from harm, he still finds himself feeling distant from everyone after returning home for leave. Most of the soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front found it hard to get back what was once a good life after alienating themselves in the war. Baumer says, “We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces” (46). War is hard for soldiers to deal with, and in return they are somewhat forced to be alienated from their loved ones to be able to keep them safe from the worry and pain that could be placed upon them as well. Chris Kyle experiences this personally in American Sniper, “It's funny --- sometimes the strongest individuals feel the worst when events are out of their control, and they can't really be there for the people they love. I've felt it myself” ( ). Alienation not only affects soldiers, but also the civilians who have been affected by war in some way. Eliezer Wiesel explains his first moments of being freed in Night, “Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. That’s all we thought about. No thoughts of revenge, or of parents. Only of bread” (115). This just shows that the war has alienated them in a way that continues to follow them after being freed.
soldiers. Throughout many books and articles involving war, a reader can see the constant struggle of dehumanization amongst the soldiers and civilians. Dehumanization causes many people who are involved in the war in some way forget what being a human is all about.
They forget who they are, and usually block the pain and death that comes with the experience of war. As seen in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul Baumer explains, “We want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with feelings which, though they may be ornamental enough in peacetime, would be out of place here” (139). Paul and many of the other soldiers have had to make themselves prone to the horrors of war, which results in many them having to dehumanize themselves. Paul also describes a form of dehumanization by saying, “We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers--we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals” (56). If Paul and his fellow soldiers on the front were to let the effects of war get to them, they would have not have lasted as long as they did. The soldiers had to force themselves to become different people to save themselves and others who surrounded them. In Brian Turner’s memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country, he also expresses the way that the war dehumanized him as well. Turner says, “We are surrounded by the dead, and by parts of the dead” (1). This
is something that ultimately causes Brian to dehumanize himself in the war. Experiencing death and having it surround you every day is a major cause for many of the soldiers to dehumanize themselves in My Life as a Foreign Country. Dehumanization is also present all throughout Elie Wiesel’s Night. The people in Night were not soldiers; they were everyday civilians who hadn’t done any harm to anybody. Eliezer explains the struggle to stay alive during the Holocaust which, in the end, resulted in having to dehumanize himself. Eliezer explains, “I no longer felt anything except the lashes of the whip…Only the first really hurt” (57). Eliezer had become so used to the pain and torture from the SS officers, and he eventually stopped feeling the pain being brought upon him. Elie describes a terrible moment in the train, which shows the civilians struggle to stay alive throughout the Holocaust. He says, “One day when we had come to a stop, a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest” (100). This shows yet another example of the constant struggle to stay alive in the Holocaust. They have been dehumanized to fight each other to stay alive, instead of coming together and helping one another. Dehumanization is a serious thing that can ultimately cause more harm on the person in the end. In Back From Iraq—Out on the Streets, Alexander Marks states that “A recent study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that 15 to 17 percent of Iraq vets meet the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety, or PTSD” (2). Another similarity that a reader can see throughout war literature is the fact that war dislocates many of the soldiers. As seen in Chris Kyle’s American Sniper, the struggle of returning to everyday life can be a difficult at times. Kyle explains, “You're in a combat zone one day. You come home, and then you have to readjust, and it takes a few days” ( ). The switch from being a soldier to being a civilian was a concept that was hard for Chris to get used to. Kyle says, “After I was discharged from the military, it was difficult trying to become a civilian” ( ). Dislocation is also true in Erich Maria Remarques’s All Quiet on the Western Front. The soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front also had a hard time adjusting to everyday life, and often felt that it would never become normal again. Paul Baumer expresses his feelings towards this by saying, “And even if these scenes of our youth were given back to us we would hardly know what to do. The tender, secret influence that passed from them into us could not rise again”(122). In A Soldier’s Story: Returning Home from Iraq, Sherr Lynn interviews army veteran, Kevin Powers. Powers explains how hard the coming home for a soldier can be, “As human beings, we have the blessing and the curse that we’re able to adapt to almost anything. No matter how extreme the circumstances you’re in, they become normal. Then there’s a sense that coming home is a letdown-because you’ve been in this kind of heightened state for so long, just the ordinary nature of everyday life can be confusing and frustrating.” In Back from Iraq—Out on the Streets, Alexander Marks describes the effects of dislocation by stating, “I was depressed for months. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. The worst thing wasn’t the war, it was coming back, because nobody understood why I was the way I was” (3). War literature also brings up the point of alienation in many ways. The war alienates soldiers from the rest of the world and they often don’t know how to react to other things outside of the war. In Erich Maria Remarque’s, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer explains alienation in a powerful way. He says, “I imagined leave would be different from this. Indeed, it was different a year ago. It is I of course that have changed in the interval. There lies a gulf between that time and to-day. At that time I still knew nothing about the war, we had only been in quiet sectors. But now I see that I have been crushed without knowing it. I find I do not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world” (173). After all that he has done for his country with keeping them safe from harm, he still finds himself feeling distant from everyone after returning home for leave. Most of the soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front found it hard to get back what was once a good life after alienating themselves in the war. Baumer says, “We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces” (46). War is hard for soldiers to deal with, and in return they are somewhat forced to be alienated from their loved ones to be able to keep them safe from the worry and pain that could be placed upon them as well. Chris Kyle experiences this personally in American Sniper, “It's funny --- sometimes the strongest individuals feel the worst when events are out of their control, and they can't really be there for the people they love. I've felt it myself” ( ). Alienation not only affects soldiers, but also the civilians who have been affected by war in some way. Eliezer Wiesel explains his first moments of being freed in Night, “Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. That’s all we thought about. No thoughts of revenge, or of parents. Only of bread” (115). This just shows that the war has alienated them in a way that continues to follow them after being freed.