All Quiet On The Western Front Remarque Imagery

Faith is a guiding force to a man’s life. In Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front the soldiers endure many months of trench warfare. They go through many physical horrors that cause physical and mental scars. Their hopes and dreams are what keep these soldiers alive and sane. They dream of their home, family, food, and other simple pleasures. These boys are young and have had no major life experiences before enlisting in the war. The war changes everything for them and put them into a war mindset where they disregard human life. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, the tribal village of Africa is taken over by white missionaries who intrude upon their system to convert many of the tribe’s younger members to the Christian faith. The younger members are attracted to the Christianity faith because they see that it does not look down on them for reasons that the tribe might. Okonkwo does not want his people to lose their way of life. Their everyday customs and traditions are what he grew up with and has become sacred to him. The white missionaries turned his people into Christians by saying that their religion was false. Okonkwo cannot bear to let this happen to his people. What these two novels have in common is the theme of losing an idealized past. The two protagonists of these two novels lament a loss of an idealized past which in turn changed their whole perspective as their life unraveled or as it falls apart.

Mahatma Gandhi, a renowned political and spiritual leader, once said that, “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent.” Presume you see two men in a heated argument and one of them is about to attack the other, you take a rock and throw it at him and knock him out. On one hand it is a good thing that you prevented the attack but on the other hand you used violence yourself, and there is no doubt that you would not hesitate to use it again. The good that came from the violence that you used lasted for a short time, but the punishment that you get for doing this lasts for a long time. Imperialism of rivalries and nationalism were two of the main reasons that most

In All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich M. Remarque, his tone is rather depressing. He uses Paul to explain his thoughts and opinions of war. Using Paul as the storyteller helps to trouble the reader, yet still makes Paul portray as calm. In addition to his sincere tone, Remarque uses imagery to make it feel as if the reader were one of the soldiers in war. Both of these key elements for a novel come together quite well and make for an interesting war story.

1. Paul Baumer and his friends, as German soldiers in World War I, collectively fight any who oppose the German army. However, Corporal Himmelstoss is an enemy whose transgressions are taken far more personally by Paul and his friends. Himmelstoss often torments Paul and his comrades for the sake of doing so, as he is power-driven and tries to exert control over others whenever he can. It is never stated that the soldiers hate or even dislike the enemies that they fight daily on the battlefield; yet they disfavor Himmelstoss openly. In addition, they all begin to harbor distaste for their former teacher, Kantorek, for encouraging them to join the army. All of the men also struggle against the knowledge that

The rise of World War I caused millions of casualties and was yet another demonstration of how supposedly civilized nations could be led into a chaotic war of power over lands and people. Since the beginning of civilization, war has been the way of the world. However, with major advances in technology, this idea of war has since become mechanized and deadlier. There is no doubt that the powerful men who lead wars often don’t care to think of nitty gritty of war, to them, rather, it’s a matter of power and legacy. In Remarque’s novel, the particular story of Paul and his comrades is a perfect example of how a generation can be used and manipulated to drive the agenda of power- hungry men. Through Remarque’s own personal experience and unparalleled writing ability, this novel presents many first-hand experiences into the living conditions of soldiers and peoples.

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.

This essay will consider the different effects created by Erich Maria Remarque in his novel All Quiet on the Western Front. As a writer, Remarque unknowingly left his novel open to readers with completely different perspectives, and to various forms of criticism. This undoubtedly meant that every single reader had been affected by the novel in many different ways which unfortunately for Remarque may have been an effect that he never intended. This essay is divided into 5 main sections. Firstly it will address any of the intentions Remarque could have possibly wanted to propose through his novel, and closely examine the purposes and motives behind All quiet on the Western Front. It will then go on to analyse Remarque’s use of language in various extracts of the novel. Then the content is analysed in two parts; the third part is a brief insight into one of the key themes of the novel, and the fourth part highlights the effects Remarque causes. Finally, some conclusions will be drawn as to whether or Remarque may have intended to achieve a certain effect in his novel, and as to whether or not I personally agree with the comment that through his shaping of language and content, Remarque may have achieved an effect he might not have intended.

The book, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque can be identified with many themes. Whether the theme is loyalty to friends, the unbelievable suffering at the hands of other human beings, or the beauty of nature in contrast to the horrors of war, none of those are as fitting as the theme: betrayal by adults. The manipulation performed by a trusted schoolmaster, the awful treatment done by someone who is called a leader, and parents going along with what society thinks is right versus what their sons want, all are important factors that explain why betrayal by adults is the central idea of this story.

Written by Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front is the tale of a young man by the name of Paul. Paul who is nineteen years old gathers several of his friends from school and together they voluntarily join the army fighting for the Axis alliance. Before they are sent off into actual battle, they are faced with the brutal training camp. Along with this they face the cruelty of the life of a soldier. This made them question the reason for which a soldier fights. They are told that they fight because they must be nationalists and must therefore be patriotic. But they began to understand that these are just clichés and are used to brainwash soldiers. Soon after they graduate they are sent into the fray of war. The premature idea of war being glorious and honourable is destroyed when they step into the gruesome actuality of war. They are forced to live in constant fear for their life. Kemmerich, a friend of Paul, gets injured and contracts gangrene. From this his leg is amputated to stop the infection from spreading. Sadly, the operation was done too late and Kemmerich is declared to be slowly dying. Paul and his friend visit Kemmerich is slowly dying, and Müller, another former classmate, overlooks Kemmerich’s horrible state and says that he wants Kemmerich’s boots for himself. Accustomed to life at war, Paul doesn’t consider Müller insensitive. Paul understands that Muller knows Kemmerich will no longer use his boots

In the incredible book, All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, the reader follows Paul Baumer, a young man who enlisted in the war. The reader goes on a journey and watches Paul and his comrades face the sheer brutality of war. In this novel, the author tries to convey the fact that war should not be glorified. Through bombardment, gunfire, and the gruesome images painted by the author, one can really understand what it would have been like to serve on the front lines in the Great War. The sheer brutality of the war can be portrayed through literary devices such as personification, similes, and metaphors.

In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque uses metaphors to help the reader better understand the mindset and hardships of a soldier. Earlier in the book, Remarque talks of the soldier’s unexplainable longing to be a part of the war. He compares the front to “a mysterious whirlpool” and himself to the still water just outside of it (Remarque 55). Although he is far from the center, he is still “slowly, irresistibly, inescapably” sucked into combat. Remarque also illustrates the horrors of war and the mental obstacles a soldier must go through. The soldiers are “little flames poorly sheltered by frail walls”, meaning the war has made their minds fragile and prone to many dangers. Their tragic experiences makes their flame “flicker and sometimes

Countries and the soldiers hope to achieve benefits from the war, such as power, money, and happiness. Most countries do not achieve anything, instead they lose the lives of the soldiers and the stability of their country. World War I was a tragic event for both the countries and the fighting soldiers involved. Countries such as Britain, Germany, France, and the United States in World War I suffered politically, economically, and socially. The soldiers in the war also suffered as shown in Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. Paul Baümer, the protagonist, and his comrades experience hardships and violence, which affect them during and after the war. After the countries declared war on each other, both the nations and soldiers entered the war believing in possible benefits; however, soldiers in the war lost their personality and lives, and the countries, specifically Germany, suffered from chaos, such as inflation and the rise of Hitler.

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

To a civilian, war is a simple and glorious thing, but to a soldier who is fighting and experiencing the war, it is brutal and terrible. The contrasting views of war between civilians and soldiers is stressed in Erich Remarque's war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which puts an emphasis on the realities of war. Patriotism and nationalism led civilians to believe that it was one’s duty to fight for their country, prompting men to enlist for the war. These men knew nothing of what life would be like out on the front.

The global conflict that arose in the beginning of the 20th century, World War I, became one of the darkest events that transpired in human history. The First World War or known by many as the Great War, was seen by many as horrendous and appalling and it inspired many writers and painters to document the experience. One of those soured by the war effort was novelist Erich Maria Remarque, and his novel All Quiet on the Western Front captured his anti-war position on the conflict. His novel details the life of Paul Baumer, a young German soldier who fights on the front lines with his fellow young comrades and explains the hardships of fighting in a war he no longer understands. Remarque describes the challenges that the men face, from the trench warfare to the older generation not understanding what these men go through for just a small piece of land. Throughout the entire novel, the themes may change of significance from chapter to chapter but overall Remarque maintains an anti-war theme. Overall, Remarque wrote this book to show how truly horrendous this war was, provide a real life view of the war contrasting what the average German believed, and the average reader would lose a novel that told the story of a generation lost to war.