Descriptive Essay: All Quiet On The Western Front

The chapter begins with German soldiers at rest after fourteen days of fierce battle on the Western Front. A double ration of food has been prepared so the soldiers are eating their fill. Paul Baumer, the protagonist and narrator of the novel, watches in amazement as his friends, Tjaden and Muller, eat another helping; he wonders where Tjaden puts all the food, for he is as thin as a rail. Baumer is only nineteen years of age. He enlisted in the German infantry because Kantorek, his high school teacher, had glorified war and talked him into fighting for the fatherland. Kropp, Behm, and Leer, former classmates of Baumer, were also persuaded by Kantorek to join the infantry. They are all now fellow soldiers along with Tjaden,

A true war story is rather difficult, if not impossible, to share when it goes beyond one’s imagination. Regarding such a story, one morally sound aspect about it is that it lacks morality or meaning to it. Extracting facts from a true war story is a daunting task because what seems to happen is what actually occurs. In what is to follow, I will tell one awful true war story.

Stanley Kubrick directed the movie, Paths of Glory. All Quiet on the Western Front is both a novel, and a movie. The novel is written by Erich Maria Remarque, and the movie was directed by Lewis Milestone. Both Paths of Glory and All Quiet on the Western Front depict “The Great War”, also known as “First World War” or “World War I.” The Great War originated in Europe, it was a Global War that lasted from July 28 1914 up until November 11 1918. involved all the world’s economic great powers, which had all assembled into two opposing alliances. The Allies, which were based on the Triple Entente of the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire, and the Central Powers which were composed of Germany, and Austria- Hungary. These alliances reorganized and expanded as more nations entered the war. Italy, Japan, and the United States joined the Allies, while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central powers. Both sides of this war were fighting from the trenches, hardly making any progress at all unless one side became brave enough to venture forward and out of the trenches in attempt attack the enemy. The movie Paths of Glory, and All Quiet on the Western Front are both realistic representations of the life for soldiers during this war. However, these two movies differ slightly in the way that the story of “The Great War” is told.

Humanity relentlessly finds a reason to tear itself apart. The slaughter of man is read about almost daily and one never typically thinks twice about it; however, when the lackluster conditions of others’ lives throughout time is conveyed via a novel or movie, we are forced to delve into the lives of those who fought tirelessly for their beliefs – even if “their beliefs” are actually society’s beliefs and are not correlated to their own. Prime exemplum of soldiers fighting for differing causes, such as an attempt to save the sliver of humanity remaining in them, is demonstrated in Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front through Paul Bäumer in the film directed by Joseph Vilsmaier: Stalingrad by Lieutenant Hans von Witzland. While both protagonists suffer brutal warfare and die in the end of their works, their attempts to transcend the dehumanization of war may be one of the few reasons that the characters survive as long as they do.

Through the two powerful war novels, All Quiet on the Western Front, a fictional piece written by Erich Maria Remarque in 1928, and Night, a memoir written by Elie Wiesel, readers experience the horrors and struggles of World War I and World War II. In AQWF, Paul Baümer, a young nineteen-year old boy, enlists in the army to join the German army in World War I with his classmates. Initially filled with excitement, the boys shockingly face their greatest nightmares with scarce resources and monotony with the ceaseless sounds of shells and wails from soldiers haunting them as the trudge through muddy trenches, holding onto each other for support. As the “Iron Youth”, the proud leaders of their generation, they fight in hopes of bringing honor

The final chapters of All Quiet on the Western Front are full of bitter irony. Even the battle-hardened soldiers are reaching the point of collapse. Their prewar lives have ceased to mean anything since they can no longer imagine a peacetime existence. Paul’s comparison of the war to disease reflects an attack on the romantic ideals of warfare. Until now, he and his friends have avoided allowing the disease of war to infect them. At this point, however, the sickness is creeping into their minds and souls because it is becoming their only existence. They have ceased to think of themselves as anything other than soldiers fighting a hopeless conflict. They share an intense bond with one another, but it has now taken on the character of a bond between fellow convicts sentenced to death. The war has become a mental prison, as their country refuses to end the hostilities in the face of obvious evidence that it is losing the war badly.

I remember the smell, the sounds, the taste of blood. I remember seeing my comrades fall beside me, the sting of the cuts. The numbness as I fell alongside them, the sadness, the tears. The price of war, I believe my father said that to me before he died. I remember being lifted and carried, I remember a laugh. Then I felt my mind slowly becoming numb, and soon my mind was consumed by the darkness. Like a wildfire it spread from the farthest of places, destroying everything in its’ path. It was over, the war was lost, hope gone; at least until today….

Through the use of symbolism, setting, and character, Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front demonstrates the psychological effects war has on the soldiers.

Erich Maria Remarque is quoted as saying “It is very [odd] that the unhappiness of the world is so often brought on by small men.” Erich Maria Remarque was a German writer, author of the famous, “All Quiet on the Western Front”, and was one of the many influential authors who wrote in the literary time of Modernism. Remarque was an important figure, and his books highlight both the uselessness of war, and the hellish realities of it.

This is Luigi writing to you, and I gravely missed you, and I long for you even though I just arrived here. Currently, I am in Northeastern France (the Aisne-Marne Sector) near the towns of Belleau Wood and Chateau-Thierry near the Marne River. Specifically, I am in a waterlogged, rat infested trench. Officially, I am fighting in the Battle of Belleau Wood, and I am a Private in the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment (Marines) lead by Captain Lloyd Williams. This captain will go down into history, he is an exceedingly influential leader. When we saw the French Soldiers retreating and advising us to retreat, he retorted, “Retreat, hell! We just got here!” (on June 2nd). Consequently, I am one of the people in combat, which is why I am required to be present

Lost generation is the idea of an unfulfilled generation coming to maturity during a period of instability (New Oxford American Dictionary). The idea of lost generation first started with writers such as Ernest Hemmingway after having served time in the war felt a disconnection to his prewar self. In the book, All Quiet on the Western Front, the author Erich Maria Remarque wrote about war and included details that were often kept as a secret. A very prevalent theme in Remarque’s novel is the loss of innocence, which ultimately leads a generation of soldiers to become known as the lost generation. World War One caused a sense of instability and uncertainty in its young men, ultimately leading the soldiers to lose their innocence and questions their sense of self.

All Quiet on the Western Front is a historical fiction novel written by German author Erich Maria Remarque in the late 1920s. It is narrated by Paul Baumer, a young man who joined the army voluntarily after listening a patriotic speech from his teacher, Kantorek. Paul shared his experiences and stories during the time he fought in the German army on the French front in World War I.

Blind to the truth of what really happens. It’s times like this where I am forever grateful for the experience I have already been faced with gruesome events. Yet that hateful feeling of dread continues to tower over me each and every day. It’s challenging to recall what it was like for me the first I set foot on the battle field, as it seems like a lifetime ago. I suppose that I have lived a lifetime in these trenches. I wish that with every enemy I shoot it shall not say with me. A constant reminder of our sacrifices, I’m on edge as it feels like a continuous want for death. Bewildered as to when it will strike again shaken by the fact that it could be me carried away, or left in the barbarous

The War to End All Wars, also known as World War 1, began on July 28, 1914, because of an assassination, in Europe. It lasted until November 11, 1918. The total death toll of the war is 37 million. World War 1 ravaged the land across Europe destroying countless towns and cities. It was one of the deadliest conflicts to ever occur in the human race. “All Quiet On The Western Front”, is a novel that describes the physical and mental stress of a soldier during World War 1, along with daily life of a German soldier in World War 1, as well as the brutalities of war. It was written by German World War 1 veteran, Erich Maria Remarque. The book follows the story of Paul Baumer, a German Soldier during World War 1, and his life battling on the front lines through the last weeks of World War 1. He is the main character, as well as the narrator, so the reader is seeing through the eyes of a German soldier, but Paul becomes the representation of all men. The book was written in Germany, yet it is popular world wide, in many languages. In Germany, on release day, the initial prints quickly sold out, and some 20,000 copies moved off the shelves in the first few weeks on its way to more than a million books sold by year’s end. In the first 18 months of printing, over 2.5 million copies were sold, in 22 languages, making it popular world wide.

After reading All Quiet on the Western Front, I thought it was worth reading. While reading it I learned that the pain of death, sacrifice, and service is something that I will never personally understand. I made me think of all the families that had/have lost someone due to a battle, and how much suffering they went through. If I were to rate this book out of six stars, I would give it five and a half stars. I gave it five and half stars due to the fact that Katczinsky died and that Paul ended up being the last one from their original company left in his next tour.