Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

After the end of World War I the United States entered into a period of isolationist foreign policy. On January 8, 1918, Woodrow Wilson announced the United States’ objectives through his Fourteen Points. His fourteenth point proposed a league of nations to protect international security and stability. After the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Treaty

“We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial, I believe we are lost” (Remarque 123). World War I is a tragic event that occurred in 1914 to 1918. Paul Baumer and the rest of the soldiers in the novel of “All Quiet in the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque are lost; they are broken from the fist World War, they don’t know anything aside from War, and they have lost their innocence during the years of maturation. When the young men heard about the War, they were excited, and full of life, they thought they were going on an adventure.

All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque is a narrative describing World War I from a German soldier 's perspective. The story is narrated by Paul Baümer and predominantly revolves around the experiences of him and his comrades Kemmerich, Katczinsky, Kropp, Müller, and Leer. The novel begins with Paul Baümer and his friends in a cheerful mood as extra rations are being allocated to them due to the missing soldiers. During this event, Baümer introduces and describes the various personalities of his friends and his connection to them. Eventually, Baümer reflects back to the time how he and his friends had been coaxed into joining the war by their, patriotic school teacher, Kantorek only to later find out that they 've been lied to and the war isn 't even comparable to of what they 've been told. Instead, Paul Baümer and his school friends find themselves entrenched in the middle of bloody and what appears to be a pointless war.

All Quiet on the Western Front is a fictional war novel written by Erich Maria Remarque which follows the main character Paul Baumer, a German solider in World War I. Paul, the nineteen year old protagonist, narrates the novel as he and his classmates fight on the German and French front. The young men volunteer to join the German army after being persuaded by the nationalist words of their teacher, Kantorek. After only fighting for two weeks, eighty men remain in the company of the once one hundred and fifty men. Paul, Kropp, and Muller then go to visit Kemmerich, a friend of theirs from school, in the hospital. He was wounded in combat resulting in the amputating of his leg. Seeing that Kemmerich is going to die and no longer needs the new boots that he has, Muller asks to have them but Kemmerich refuses. When Paul later goes back to the hospital, Kemmerich dies and Paul takes his boots to Muller.

In war, both violence and fear revokes a soldier’s humanity. These elements of war cause a person to shut down their emotional instincts, which causes the soldiers to mature rapidly by taking innocence along with joy and happiness in life. Through the experiences that the soldiers encounter, their humanity is compromised. Thus, as war strips soldiers of their innocence, they start to become disconnected from themselves and others. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque illustrates the negative effects war has on a soldier’s humanity, through his use of Paul’s books and the potato pancakes by revealing the soldiers loss of emotion that causes them to become detached from society. Through these symbols they deepen the theme by visually depicting war’s impact on Paul. Paul’s books helps the theme by depicting how the war locked his heart to old values by taking his innocence. Likewise the potato pancakes reveal Paul’s emotional state damaged by the war with his lack of happiness and gratitude.

There is no doubt that when war occurs, every single human being is affected by it even if it is just a little. In the novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front” written by Erich Maria Remarque, a group of teenage men, who also appear to by classmates, are in the German army of World War I because they have chosen to leave their adolescence at home and school for grown up work at the army. Throughout this fictional novel, they face many challenges that result in them not seeing each other ever again because of death. War affects individuals by leaving behind necessities such as education or jobs, not being able to watch over others such as their health, and injuries that soldiers receive while they are at war.

Between the years of 1914 to 1918, the whole of Europe was locked in arms, not only for pride but mostly for survival. The years of war brought devastation upon all societies. Men were massacred in droves, food stuff dwindled, and at times an end seemed non-existent. The foundation of the first Great War, one can muse, began as a nationalistic race between rival nations. By the onset of 1914, once the Archduke Frendinad had been assassinated in Saravejo, the march for war became not just a nationalistic opinion, but now a frenzy to fight. In battle, unlike previous wars, new weaponry caused drastic alterations in strategy. No longer will armies stand to face their rivals on the plains. Now the war will be fought in trenches, hidden

Remarque claims that,“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war” (Remarque). All Quiet on the Western Front is considered one of the greatest war books of all time. In the novel, Erich Maria Remarque cleverly weaves political and social issues with symbolism, imagery, and metaphors to help illustrate his arguments.

War is always the worst tragedy of mankind in the world. We, as human beings, were experienced two most dolorous wars that were ever happened in our history: World War I and World War II. A young generation actually does not know how much hardship the predecessors, who joined and passed through the wars, undergo. We were taught about just how many people died in the wars, how much damage two participations in the wars suffered or just the general information about the wars. We absolutely do not know about the details, and that’s why we also do not know what the grief-stricken feeling of people joining in the wars really is. But we can somewhat understand that feeling through war novels, which describe the truthfulness of the soldiers’ lives, thoughts, feelings and experiences. All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, which takes World War I as background, is the great war novel which talks about the German soldiers ' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the hopeless of these soldiers about the “future” – the time the war would have ended.

Many historians continue to argue about president Woodrow Wilson’s success at the Paris Peace Conference, however the conference is regarded as one of Wilson’s biggest failures during his days. The Paris Peace Conference’s main goal was to establish the terms of peace after World War One. Moreover France and Britain which are known as the dominant powers of the Triple Entente, were seeking revenge and wanted to make Germany suffer after their glorious victory against the Triple Alliance. On the other hand president Woodrow Wilson was looking to “make the world safe for democracy (1).” President Woodrow Wilson outlined what he wanted in his famous fourteen points. His polices led to economic instability in addition to “ he invaded a number of

Wars have always been events that I enjoy learning about, reading about and just discovering what went on. So when this project rolled around I had no problem choosing the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, which was written by Erich Maria Remarque. Erich had been a German soldier towards the end of WWI and had, first hand experienced the pure terror that is war. I had heard of this book through my father who is also a major war enthusiast. Him and I have had numerous conversations about both World War I and II, as he was the one that originally suggested I read this book. I have to say that it was a tremendous suggestion in that this novel to me seems to be one of the finest pieces of anti-war literature ever penned. The way the novel is able to portray the mindset of a soldier was beautifully done and shows the complete deterioration that occurs over time.

War often has drastic and lasting effects on individuals; the violence and horror ages soldiers mentally and physically. World War I was a violent and distressing war; men came home with mental illnesses and never were fully able to sink back into society. Through these lasting effects common civilians with no affiliation were unaware to the consequences. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque investigates the damaging effects of war on an individual’s identity using Paul Bäumer as a representation for all soldiers; he draws specific attention to the continuing loss of purpose and ability to relate to the rest of society.

In addition to army attire, All Quiet on the Western Front exploits an obvious divide in powers between Paul’s generation and the one before him. This divide causes unneeded tension amongst soldiers that reinforces the over theme that war has a horrific effect on those involved. For example, Remarque proposes, “Give ‘em all the same grub and all the same pay and the war would be over and done in a day” (32). This quote is said by Katczinsky, not only does it give insight to his unique personality and characterization but it also emphasizes that differences between the soldiers. Not only does the previous generation have higher wages and better nutrition, they also are on the sidelines of the war, watching on from a safe distance. This expert

Using defense mechanisms to cope with the gratuitous struggle of war was definitely insufficient, especially when the bloodbath of the young soldiers’ loved ones overpowers a simple device like daydreaming. Sometimes, all they needed was a breath of fresh air and different scenery to ease into; “These are wonderfully care-free hours. Over us is the blue sky. On the horizon float the bright, yellow, sunlit observation-balloons, and the many little white clouds of the anti-aircraft shells… We hear the muffled rumble of the front only as very distant thunder; bumblebees droning by quite drown it. Around us stretches the flowery meadow. The grasses sway their tall spears; the white butterflies flutter around and float on the soft warm wind of the late summer.”; (Remarque 9). Generally, the creative imagery and the depictions of nature were spread largely throughout the war novel, and specifically from this moment in time, it was clearly illustrated. Paul and his fellow comrades found themselves in a seemingly protected paradise and were able to ease in with the tranquility of the “wonderfully care-free hours.” They were detached from both the physically inhumane and mentally deteriorating workings of war. After all the bloodshed and brutality, there was no doubt in mind that the soldiers would not presentably steal the opportunity in being able to be surrounded once again with such thriving life.

Woodrow Wilson once quoted British author H. G. Wells, deeming World War I “the war to end war.” Stated before the formation of the Treaty of Versailles, this statement could have been plausible; however, following the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the improbable nature of Wilson’s optimistic views on World War I became evident. Wilson recognized that the Paris Peace Conference would likely end in complications while traveling to Versailles for the meeting, stating his fear that it might end in “’a tragedy of disappointment.’” The conference would continue to host twenty-seven nations, including over one thousand statesmen in 1,646 sessions to draft reports on the future of these nations in the hope of creating peace.