An Analysis of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

A response passing judgment on All Quiet on the Western Front Remarque opens the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” with an epitaph of “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.” The readers may ask: why the writter says that the book is not an accusation or a confession; how does the person who stands face to face with the war gets destroyed? The writter says that the book is not an accusation or a confession is because the writter does not only want to talk about the fact of the history, but also want to talk about what is the effect of the war. The war may distroy a country’s finance, the war may distroy a stable social, the war may cost many peoples’ lives, also the war may distory a soldier’s confidences and passions for the future life. In chapter two, Paul says: “We learned that a bright button is weightier than four volumes of Schopenhauer. At first astonished, then embittered, and finally indifferent, we recognized that what matters is not the mind but the boot brush, not intelligence but the system, not freedom but drill. We became soldiers with eagerness and enthusiasm, but they have done everything to knock that out of us.” In chapter six, Paul says: “We have become wild beats. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation.” During the fighting with death, nothing is important than alive. The young soilders lose their dreams, their passions to life. Everyone becomes a killing machine, against enemies for protecting themselves. The book “All Quiet on the Western Front” besides talks about the truth happened during the World War Two, also talks about the war brings a large amount of damages to the young soilders. Over all, the wars to soilders are