All Quiet On The Western Front Dehumanization Analysis

In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, the author effectively utilizes these literary devices in order to highlight his negative opinion toward the subject of war. Imagery is consistently used throughout the novel as Remarque accurately depicts the cruelty of warfare and its effects on the

In All Quiet on the Western Front, one of the themes associated with the war was the inhumanity of mankind. The motif of animal instincts between characters showcased this abandonment of humanity. In addition, the strong theme of nationalism throughout this time period encouraged the loss of individuality. Lastly, men in positions of authority in the novel dehumanized soldiers by abusing their position of power. Overall, the events of the war promoted the development of the inhumanity of mankind through recurring animal instincts, nationalism, and power-abusive men.

Dehumanization is a psychological process when people view others as less than human, thus making them feel like they are less deserving of moral consideration. Ivan Denisovich and all of the men in Gang 104 are dehumanized by the Majors and gang leaders at the labor camp HQ. In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alezksandr Solzhenitsyn, this Stalinist labor camp in which Shukhov is imprisoned is designed to attack its prisoners’ physical and spiritual dignity, thus systematically establishing the novel.

In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque depicts the effects of power and authority on the characters. Young school-going “men” are given no choice but to support their country by signing up to be on the front line. Pushed into war by the ones they trust most, these soldiers quickly learn the realities of the abysmal trenches and immediately begin to question the older generations that pressured them to enlist. Furthermore, these leaders who speak of patriotism are willing to sacrifice the lives men of lower social classes even when it is evident that the war cannot be won. In the novel, Remarque brings to light how the circumstances of war influence an individual to abuse their role of authority. Additionally, Remarque depicts an individual’s desire for power exposing that their hunger intensifies over time. As a result, the authoritative figures depict that once power is given to an individual, greed and misuse begin to control the person and sway their decisions. Remarque portrays the abuse of power that arises due to the appalling circumstances of the novel, uncovering their inhumane behavior.

It’s no surprise that soldiers will more-than-likely never come home the same. Those who have not served do not often think of the torment and negative consequences that the soldiers who make it out of war face. Erich Remarque was someone who was able to take the torment that he faced after his experience in World War I and shed light on the brutality of war. Remarque was able to illustrate the psychological problems that was experienced by men in battle with his best-selling novel All Quiet on the Western Front (Hunt). The symbolism used in the classic anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front is significant not only for showing citizens the negative attributes of war, but also the mental, physical, and emotional impact that the vicious war had on the soldiers.

Siegfried Sassoon's poem The Rear-Guard is the story of a soldier, whose facilities have been compromised, frantically trying to escape the tainted and filth of an tunnel in which a war is raging above him. The poem if filled with a very real sense of urgency and horror in this poem. This is no glorious image of war, of charging machine gun nests or pulling wounded comrades out of harm’s way heroically in the eyes of one’s countrymen, but an image of a different sort. One a soldier faces daily, alone and filled with trepidation. This poem is about the images soldiers face in their mind. It clearly comes across as autobiographical; no battle inspired rhymer could understand a scene that comes off as more terrifying as engagement itself.

Winston Churchill always said, “You ask: what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, no matter how long and hard the world may be; for without victory, there is no survival.” In Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, victory is seen as the only option. The soldiers in the novel do whatever it takes like acting before thinking or ignoring any possible consequences in order to emerge victorious. Paul and his comrades are exposed constantly to violence, jumpstarting a dehumanizing process that forces them to rely on animal instinct. This necessary instinct is the only thing

Beginning on January 30, 1933, the Holocaust had begun. 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust, and within the 11 million deaths 6 million of them were Jews; that means that more than half of the people who died due to this genocide were Jews. This genocide was also known as the Holocaust. Fortunately, this massive genocide ended on May 8, 1945. There are many other genocides, such as the Rwandan genocide that had 800,00 deaths and only lasted about 100 days. The most captivating one is the Holocaust because many people died and during the period of the Holocaust not a lot of people knew what was going on. There were many victims of the Holocaust, and most of which could not get help. The Nazis were able to get away with a massive number because they had a secret weapon called dehumanization. Dehumanization is the process of depriving a person or group of positive human qualities. Many wonder how the Jewish population became dehumanized; circumstances such as propaganda, experimentations, and the Jews always being blamed for everything show how the Nazis dehumanized the Jews easily during the Holocaust.

Dehumanization means to deprive one of their human qualities. Dehumanization is a very harrowing act that the Nazi soldiers used to create fear in the Jews. After creating this fear in the Jews, the Nazis would force them to obey their orders. The fear that comes from dehumanization makes one more likely to obey, because how can someone take a stand and say that they are not going to listen when they have been brought down to a point where they feel as if they are nothing. By using Dehumanization, the Nazis were reducing the Jews to no less than objects, positions which meant nothing to them, belongings that were just a nuisance. In Night, it is quoted that “I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less…” (pg. 52). The minorities of society fell victim to dehumanization at the cruel hands of SS guards and the inhumane camp where they were held captive for what seemed to be endless periods of time.

Throughout the story “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque contrast is used in many different ways. By using contrast he shows the relationship of the peaceful images of nature with the “quietness” that does not exist on the front, the home life and life at the front, and comradeship and the process of dehumanization. Remarque’s use of contrast in the story is extensive, he shows how war can be a union of opposing forces in a stunning agreement. First, he uses the relationship between the images of nature with the images of war to contrast how the characters felt in the story.

Dehumanization is a recurring action in Night by Elie Wiesel, that is possibly one of the most disturbing and inhumane themes throughout the book. “Without passion, without haste, they slaughtered prisoners” (Wiesel, pg 5) Dehumanization in Night is the process where the Nazi’s had treated the Jewish people as animal’s or objects for work with no feeling or humanity. There are several reasons to support the Dehumanization of the Jews, but some reasons to support this are the treatment Elie (The main protagonist of the story) his father, and his fellow Jews, The Nazi’s stripping the Jews of their identities, and the mass killings of the Jewish people. Of course, evidence that shows Dehumanization in the book Night is the poor and inhumane treatment Elie, his father, and other Jews

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque, is a classic anti-war novel about the personal struggles and experiences encountered by a group of young German soldiers as they fight to survive the horrors of World War One. Remarque demonstrates, through the eyes of Paul Baumer, a young German soldier, how the war destroyed an entire generation of men by making them incapable of reintegrating into society because they could no longer relate to older generations, only to fellow soldiers.

Through the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, novelist Erich Maria Remarque provides a commentary on the dehumanizing tendencies of warfare. Remarque continuously references the soldiers at war losing all sense of humanity. The soldiers enter the war levelheaded, but upon reaching the front, their mentality changes drastically: “[they] march up, moody or good tempered soldiers – [they] reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals” (Remarque 56). This animal instinct is essential to their survival. When in warfare, the soldiers’ minds must adapt to the environment and begin to think of the enemy as objects rather than human beings. It is this defensive mechanism that allows the soldiers to save

In the words of Otto Von Bismarck, “Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.” Many of the preceding war novels to All Quiet on the Western Front, misrepresented or overlooked the anguish of war, in favor of more resplendent ideals such as glory, honor, or nationalism. The predominant issue of All Quiet on the Western Front is the terrible atrocities of war. The reality that is portrayed in the novel is that there was no glory or honor in this war, only a fierce barbarity that actually transformed the nature of human existence into irreparable, endless affliction, destroying the soldiers long before their deaths.

Monet’s painting philosophy reflects a coping technique known as regression (Comer 54). Regression is when a person retreats from a traumatic or upsetting situation by returning to a childlike state; they retreat to a time where there were fewer expectations in Monet’s case he can retreat from the expectations of convention (Comer 54). Change can be a trigger of stress, which can lead to the use of defense mechanisms such as regression (Comer 153). As the environment degraded so did the artist into a childlike state. The eye of innocence also creates a primitive aspect to the works, which is another aspect of contemporary