In the first chapter, right away it is revealed that the book is told in first person point of view. The narrator, along with other men fighting in the war, is resting and is five miles away from the line of fighting. They had been fighting for the last fourteen days; one hundred fifty men went, but only eighty survived. He mentions how when they are fighting, they barely get any sleep and that the war wouldn’t be as bad if they had more time to rest. Certain charaters are then introduced: Albert Kropp, Müller, Leer, (and the narrator) Paul Baümer. They are all nineteen-year-old volunteers for the war and were from the same class. Additionally, there are Tjaden, Haie Westhus, Detering, and Stanislaus Katczinsky. During meal time, the cook had prepared food for 150 men, but when the cook realizes that only 80 remained after the rest died in battle, the second company is delighted to have more to eat.…
Paul Bäumer is a German, young boy, who, together with his classmates, enlists for the army to fight in the Great War. Full of enthusiasm and adventurous thoughts, they arrive at the front, but then are faced with the horrific and soul-destroying war. One by one the classmates are fall in action……
Erich Maria Remarque’s book All Quiet on the Western Front explains the brutal and filthy life inside the trenches during the first world war. The story revolves around high school friends who through nationalism and propaganda are convinced to join the war effort. However they did not get the heroic lifestyle they were expecting. Instead they got years filled with death, despair, and fear as they continued to fight and attempt to stay alive. Readers will follow the story and learn the true horrors on the battlefield and how even in a state of hopelessness people will still be human.…
“All Quiet in the Western Front” is a social commentary on how soldiers are effected emotionally and socially throughout the war and are conflicted on how to readjust to their lives after the Great War. Soldiers are conflicted by their character and do not know whether to pick back life up as a youth or as adults who have endured hard circumstances. The book does not focus on battles and it does not focus on a specific time frame, it rather evaluates what goes through the minds of a soldier. These men are literally being bombarded in the war front by explosives and in the home front by misinformed public who want to know the extremity of the war. Bystanders set High expectations for soldiers to be tough and to know how to behave in order to survive, yet those who did not participate in the Great War could only speculate what was going on in the soldier’s minds. The Great War damaged these soldiers physically and mentally, however certain elements gave the survivors the ability to pull through the war. The youth shifted its mentality and lost its innocence in the Great War. Therefore, Remarque did not focus his book on the combat that took place during the Great War, rather he presents social issues, which does not belittle his experience rather it presents a different view of the…
Contrary to other literary history works, “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Remarque Erich Maria is so unique because of the way it displays such a realistic view of war and the associated loss of humanity, innocence, and emotion that accompany it. Throughout this novel, Remarque proves his point that war is unnecessary, and dishonorable. The novel really emphasizes on the accumulating body count everyday, showing every aspect of how war is absolutely gruesome and such a waste of pure lives. Also, “All Quiet on the Western Front” shows how the position of being in war can change a person dramatically preventing them from returning to their previous lives, and scarring them permanently.…
The author Erich Maria Remarque wrote the book All Quiet on the Western Front to present how a group of naive and enthusiastic teenagers endure and suffer from the cruel battlefield during WWI. All of them are motivated by propaganda techniques to join the army and they expected the quick end of the war. However, none of them seems to realize the fact that they are not able to go back unless they died or the enduring war ends. From their belongings, the readers can understand that these people think the war is almost the same as a field research but without a teacher. The story is going to be told along the process of the war. The author will use first person point of view to express his impression towards the war, and…
The novel by Erich Maria Remarque “All Quiet on the Western Front” provides the reader with different views and representations of the war. Remarque, through the eyes of the narrator Paul Baumer and his imagery, exposes the reader to the gruesome horrors of the front. Remarque speaks about how the only worthwhile aspect of the war is comradeship and friendship, but this seems to lose hope as well. The war erased a whole generation and Remarque clearly identifies this in the novel.…
My knowledge of World War One was solely built on the works of European writers, which I had a chance to read in high school and university. The books such as All Quiet on the Western Front by German writer Erich Maria Remarque, Death of a Hero by English poet Richard Aldington, Doctor Zhivago by Russian novelist Boris Pasternak and The Good Soldier Švejk by Czech satirist Jaroslav Hašek shaped my view on the subject, giving me a chance to see the history from many different perspectives. However, only this semester, taking the course with professor Gendal, I finally got an opportunity to learn about American view on this historic event. Among all the books we have read, Company K by William March stood out the most; this book got my full attention from the first page. Company K is an intense…
Much like the present, there is a sort of intangible space between the older and younger generations. In All Quiet on the Western Front, youths like Paul Baümer must deal with the disillusion they feel towards what they were taught to believe in by those of the older generation. Once Paul and his fellow classmates are shipped off to war, he and the others learn that some of the things they were taught could not be farther from the truth.…
War has a tendency to bring out both the worst and best qualities of human beings. These conflicts and their resulting effects on people are often depicted in literature. One of the best examples of war literature is Erich Marie Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. All Quiet on the Western Front depicts the everyday struggles of German soldier Paul Baümer and his comrades. Throughout the war, the servicemen maintain a strong bond between with each other. However, this bond even extends to the enemy on occasion, showcasing the universality of humanity. Two key themes in All Quiet on the Western Front are comradeship and the universal nature of mankind, and Remarque often demonstrates this.…
Throughout All Quiet on the Western Front Remarque displays many things for example, how World War I affected the Lost Generation, Paul Bäumer and his friends suffered greatly in a senseless war, and that they cannot live a normal life when their first calling was…
Throughout the entire book, many themes can be discovered by the readers, including patriotism, identity, sacrifice, and many others. However, one theme that appears very oftenly throughout the course of the novel is liberty. In many book, the theme liberty is an advance indication of a plot where the characters fight for liberty. However, in this book, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” the theme signifies the lack of liberty throughout the experiences of almost all of the characters. Paul first learned that it was important to show patriotism inside one’s heart. He was very brave to show loyalty toward his country by deciding to go fight in the war. Soon he realized that war was such a burden with no hope for the future. He had to go through continuous troubles, hide from constant threats. There was no freedom anywhere. His life was chained behind bars, being forced to train hard and sacrifice so much to continuously fight till the very end. This wasn’t just the case for him but all of the other soldiers. For example, when being…
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.…
All Quiet on the Western Front was a story of a group of young children, nineteen years old or so, who enlisted in the military on the advice of one of their professors. They were told, and believed, that they would be seen as heroes in everyone’s eyes, and that they were doing such great things for their country and showing extreme nationalism and patriotism. As the months went on, fighting on the front lines, these men realized that this life was nothing like what they were told the military life would be. They were promised fame. This was not the case and through their time in the trenches these men were stripped of their humanity, grew to hate their commanding officers, and were fighting purely for survival to see another day.…
War is often viewed as one of the most dangerous and brutal events ever created. It utterly destroys the humanity and mental state of soldiers fighting in the war. In All Quiet on the Western Front, a world renowned war novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the epigraph states that this novel “will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” Staying true to this quote, Remarque tells of the horrors of World War I and fittingly describes the effects that war has on humans through the eyes of the protagonist, Paul Bäumer. In his epigraph Remarque says, “this book is to be neither an accusation, nor a confession, and least of all an adventure.” Except for a few notable exceptions,…