All Quiet On The Western Front Themes

All Quiet on the Western Front a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, who was also a German veteran from World War I. Remarque’s novel is about a young German named Paul Bäumer who joins the Imperial German military with his friends and goes to fight on the Western Front during World War I. Paul and his friends were encouraged by Kantorek, their teacher, to join the German army because it was a patriotic thing to do. When they reach the Western Front, they begin to realize the horrors of war. Paul is given a chance to go home for a while and he sees how hard it is to adjust to life after being out in the frontlines. Eventually, Paul returns to the Western Front. He goes on patrol one night and stabs a French soldier. Paul watches the French soldier
The major themes that are found in the book is the pressure of patriotism, shattered dreams, and the tragedy of war. During World War I, joining the military was a patriotic thing to do for one’s country. In the book, Paul and his friends reference their old teacher Kantorek quite a number of times. In chapter one, Paul says that “Kantorek gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went, under his shepherding, to the District Commandant and volunteered” (Remarque 11). Kantorek would encourage all his students to go out to enlist in the German military because they were the “Iron Youth” and because it was a patriotic thing to do. Paul and his friends would end up losing their sense of patriotism during their experience at the Western Front since they feel as if they were pressured to join the German military because of nationalism. Paul believes that the older generation who have him and his friends fight in the frontlines do not understand what they go through on the Western Front. For example, when Paul goes home for a little in chapter seven, a patriotic German man tells Paul how the Germans can win the war. Paul then says that “the war may be rather different from what people think. He dismisses the idea loftily and informs me I know nothing about it” (Remarque 167). Paul believes that time has undeniably changed, but the
The tragedy of war, is arguably the biggest theme that is found in Remarque’s book. One example from the book is in chapter four when Paul and Kat find one of their recruits is wounded from an attack and they are not sure if they should wait for the medics to come take him or shoot the recruit to put him out of his pain. Another example of how tragic war can be would be when Paul visits Kemmerich’s mother in chapter seven. Paul lies to Kemmerich’s grieving mother about how Kemmerich died so that she would not be in as much. One big example from the book that shows how war can be tragic is when Paul talks about the transformation soldiers go through at the Western Front. In the book, Paul says “we march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers—we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals” (Remarque 56). Paul believes that when he and his friends are put into battle, they lose their sense of humanity and become wild animals. As the book goes on, the soldiers can be compared to wild animals when they fight. Paul even says “we have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation” (Remarque 113). However, the best example from the book that shows how tragic war can be is when Paul stabs Gérard Duval, a French soldier, in chapter nine. Paul sees him die a slow and painful death. He immediately regrets killing the soldier and says