Analysis Of All Quiet On The Western Front
The film “All Quiet on the Western Front” based on the novel written by Erich Maria Remarque, chronicles the horrors of World War I through the eyes of a German soldier named Paul Bäumer. Along with his friends, Paul enlists to join the army with the enthusiasm and honor to be able to serve their country. However, their eagerness to fight is lost as they witness the brutality of the war through deadly battles along the western front. Paul is driven to despair as he painfully watches the war kill his friends. However, he must continue to serve his country, and after interactions with the enemy, he sees they are not cruel and heartless people, but they are just like him, people who have families, hopes, dreams, and the will to live. Consequently,
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Paul begins to realize he is no longer the person he once was. All he knows is how to survive and be a soldier and his companions on the front are the only truth he has. He no longer thinks about the meaning of life or what he will do after the war, but about how he will attack the enemy. Paul becomes a symbol of the generation of men, who as a result of having to adapt to survive in the war, were traumatized and became lost in the society filled with war.
Those called to serve in the war as stated in the epigraph of the novel, “May have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” As shown in the movie, the soldiers must set their emotions aside to be able to survive in the war.
When Kemmerich is in the hospital, Müller is only interested in getting his boots. In the movie, Müller says, “You don’t really need boots back home . . . Maybe you could lend them to me?” Even though Kemmerich tells him no and that his mother gave the boots to him, Müller insists that he has them to benefit him on the front. This portrays how the soldiers are focused on survival at all cost and abandon the wants of others to their needs. In addition, one changes when it comes to the will to survive. Paul discusses the thoughts of a soldier and how one must detach from emotions to survive the terror of war in the movie, “We turn into animals when we go up to the line . . . 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.” With all feelings set aside, for they do not belong in war, the men, “Turn into animals,” and go by their instincts do whatever is necessary to sustain one
self.
Paul begins to realize he is no longer the person he once was. All he knows is how to survive and be a soldier and his companions on the front are the only truth he has. He no longer thinks about the meaning of life or what he will do after the war, but about how he will attack the enemy. Paul becomes a symbol of the generation of men, who as a result of having to adapt to survive in the war, were traumatized and became lost in the society filled with war.
Those called to serve in the war as stated in the epigraph of the novel, “May have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” As shown in the movie, the soldiers must set their emotions aside to be able to survive in the war.
When Kemmerich is in the hospital, Müller is only interested in getting his boots. In the movie, Müller says, “You don’t really need boots back home . . . Maybe you could lend them to me?” Even though Kemmerich tells him no and that his mother gave the boots to him, Müller insists that he has them to benefit him on the front. This portrays how the soldiers are focused on survival at all cost and abandon the wants of others to their needs. In addition, one changes when it comes to the will to survive. Paul discusses the thoughts of a soldier and how one must detach from emotions to survive the terror of war in the movie, “We turn into animals when we go up to the line . . . 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.” With all feelings set aside, for they do not belong in war, the men, “Turn into animals,” and go by their instincts do whatever is necessary to sustain one
self.