Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a World War I anti-war novel that uses different objects that all symbolize different themes that impact the story. The leaves and different seasons impact the storyline to show the point in the lives of Paul and his comrades and to represent their feelings. The beginning of the novel takes place in late summer while everyone is experiencing a short period of lighthearted fun (9). The end of summer is usually associated as a time that people begin to wonder what had happened to the time that had previously appeared to be everlasting. Paul is faced with the stripping of his childhood due to being exposed to the harshness of war immediately after he was living without a care. Paul reports…
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque describes World War I through the eyes of a soldier, Paul. It goes into details about combat, food shortage, going on leave, and the life at home. While reading this book, I couldn't help but notice that I would get nervous in some chapters about what would happen next. The author goes into so much detail, giving the reader that first person feeling while he/she is reading the book. Remarque also describes the horrific and unthinkable events of World War I by going deeper than the average "war novel," allowing the reader to engage more. The author reveals that World War I is different than the other wars before it because it details the artillery and the civilians' lives. It also reveals that World War I is a trench and chemical warfare which is new.…
In All Quiet on the Western Front, author Erich Maria Remarque reinforces the idea that war is horrific, through his use of visual, auditory, and tactile imagery. Towards the end of the second chapter of the book, Remarque begins to disillusionize the glorious imagery of war by describing the death of Kemmerich, a German soldier and a fellow classmate of the protagonist Paul. Paul and his other classmates that enlisted sit by Kemmerich's deathbed, illustrating the mourning for their comrade by saying “Franz Kemmerich looked as slight and frail as a child...There he lies...Nineteen and a half years old, he does not want to die!” (29) Remarque uses words such as “slight” and “frail” to describe the condition in which Kemmerich is in. As you approach twenty years old, you should be in prime shape, ready for or already in college, strong and independant, not “slight” nor “frail.” When you are twenty, it should be the start of your life, not the end of it.…
“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…
In a time period filled with war and conflict, the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a difficult read due to the heavy topic it pertains to. The story begins with Paul Bӓumer and his friends from school joining the army. They joined because they thought war would be honorable thanks to Kantorek, their teacher. After their ten weeks of training and their first two weeks of being on the front lines, only eighty of the one hundred fifty men return. Paul’s friend, Franz Kemmerich, has his leg amputated and he eventually dies because of it. At this point, Paul learns to disconnect his feelings from himself. Reinforcements come for their company and they are sent on a mission to place barbed wire on the front lines.…
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.…
In the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Remarque, the author uses nature, and comradeship, to describe what the characters are going through. Erich uses nature in several ways, such as describing how the soldiers are facing terrible hardships, also it reflects on their sadness, and provides a contrast to the unnatural world of war. The author also uses the theme Comradeship through all the horrifying pictures of death and inhumanity, he talks about when Paul and his friends pick on Himmelstoss and beat him. We think it’s funny because Himmelstoss deserves it for being rude to them, and Paul and his friends are just giving him what he deserves. As we start going farther into the book, we start to realize that beating on someone isn’t funny anymore. We read the how the soldiers feel after assaulting and killing other people, it gives us a disturbing thought about war.…
“The first bombs, the first explosion, burst into our hearts.” (Remarque 88) This is what the soldiers felt like in Erich Maria Remarque novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer, a young man serving in the German army during World War One, is constantly being faced with the horrible and terrifying aspects of war. From seeing, his fellow soldiers lying dead on the battle field, to learning how to survive on the western front of the war. With his rifle by his side and his comrade’s right next to him, he knew what his job was to do in the war and that was to serve his country. Although Paul fought for his country in the War, Corrie Ten Boom a member of the Dutch reformed church was faced with the horrific scenes…
Throughout history, war has been constantly evolving. Over time, it has taken a new less glorious form. World War One was one of the most devastating and transformative events in human history. In Erich Maria Remarque’s book, All Quiet on the Western Front, he depicts the horrors of “the great war” by showing the complete disregard for human life in modern warfare. This war modeled the way that any future war would be fought. It would shape human history by completely changing the game of warfare and people’s opinions of it. Remarque shows, from his point of view, the terrors that happen on a daily basis on the front lines, and away from it, of World War One. World War One changed the perception of war in a big way and opened the eyes of so many people to the horrors of modern warfare.…
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…
Nothing can be gained from the futility of war, only lost; a loss of hope, loss of life, loss of innocence and a loss of identity. This sense of hopelessness has been reflected within the anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. The negative representation of World War I displayed in this novel has made us question authority as to why time and time again, they abuse their power to force our innocent young men to fight in a monotonous battle. Through the construction of this novel, a very effective, thought provoking, anti-war story has been created which has become a timeless literary text within society today. In particular, the narrative conventions of characterization, setting, language and plot have enriched…
In the autumn of 1918, a 20 year old german soldier contemplates to himself: “Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear” (295). These last few thoughts happen right before this soldier, Paul Baumer, dies. In the book All Quiet On the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque creates the character of Paul Baumer in order to illustrate a generation full of men who are well known throughout our history, of what we all know of, the “Lost Generation.” About eight million soldiers lost their lives in combat and millions more were injured under the occasion of what we call today, “The Great War.” Remarque wrote this book about what these fighters at war deal with first hand; like with their teachers, families, and government. All Quiet On the Western Front expresses a story filled with the beauty of comradeship between each of the soldiers by finding solace in one another and the extenuating gestures of raillery throughout the book that help keep them from completely being taken over by the fear of death, or even war itself.…
Interpretation of war and the relationship between soldiers and civilians are different when discussing World War 1 and the wars of today. Whether one is a soldier, spectator from far away, or a civilian watching it first hand, war cannot truly be comprehended and understood, unless it has been physically experienced. Erich Maria Remarque, a German World War I veteran, depicts the atrocities and brutalities of war in his novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. The gap between the expectations of soldiers and civilians are solidified through civilians’ inability to comprehend the impacts of war. This destruction of war has created such a profound impact on soldiers as they are now unable to formulate and comprehend their true identity as compared to their interpretation of who they were before the war.…
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,…
At the start of the 20th Century, the world was engaged in a catastrophic battle known as World War 1. During this time questions arose over the true nature of war. Authors such as Siegfried Sassoon and Erich Maria Remarque step out to introduce a different perspective of war through literacy, an outlook which many people in their time were oblivious to. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is considered to be “the greatest war novel of all time”. In this tale, the story is told from a perspective of a young German soldier, Paul Baumer, a private who changes from the time he first enters the military to his unfortunate death. Erich does an excellent job of revealing the major detriments of war, such as a lost of youth among soldiers as well as desensitization.…