Essay Writing: All Quiet On The Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque’s literary breakthrough, All Quiet on the Western Front, describes two stories. It meticulously chronicles the thoughts of a soldier in World War I while simultaneously detailing the horrors of all wars; each tale is not only a separate experience for the soldier, but is also a new representation of the fighting. The war is seen through the eyes of Paul Baumer whose mindset is far better developed in comparison to his comrades’. His true purpose in the novel is not to serve as a representation of the common soldier, but to take on a godly and omniscient role so that he may serve as the connection between WWI and all past and future melees of the kind. Baumer becomes the

In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque, starting with the epigraph of the book, defaces the didactic tips that the war burdens Bäumer with, "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 shells, were destroyed by the war" (1). A variety of books are written about wars, aggression, and the vast majority of them are full of patriotic pathos and romantic passages. As the novel's raconteur and protagonist, Bäumer is the focal figure in All Quiet on the Western Front and fills in as the mouthpiece for Remarque's reflections about war. All through the novel, Bäumer's internal identity is stood out from the way the war drives him to act and feel. His recollections of the time before the war demonstrate that he was at one time an altogether different man from the miserable fighter who now portrays the novel. Bäumer is a caring and naive schoolboy; before the war, he adored his family and composed poetry. Witnessing the awfulness of the war and the tension it instigates, Bäumer, as different warriors, figures out how to separate his psyche from his sentiments, keeping his feelings under control with a specific end goal to save his rational soundness and survive. With his epigraph, Remarque immediately separates

I was informed of a Hauptmann (company officer) was in the area and I was to kill him. The german forces were set up in the town square so I snuck into one of the buildings nearby to get a good shot on them. There were four of us assigned to the mission but I was to take the shot at the Hauptmann. As we waited for what seemed like hours the Hauptmann finally came out into the open. I set up my rifle and lined up my scope with the target I saw something I wish I didn't see, the Hauptmann was Heinrich little did I know he too joined the war but he quickly rose through the ranks and now my friend, my brother was at the other end of my rifle and I had to kill him. I didn't have much time and my companions were getting uneasy so I had two options shoot my brother and help win the war or let him live and possibly make the war last alot longer. So I did what had to be done I squeezed the trigger, everything went quiet as if the world stood still, a tear rolled down my left eye as I realised what I had done. I came back a hero everyone loved me, but what I would give to go back to those days in

Steve stared down at the letter from Bucky with a mixture of humor and loneliness. He had only been gone two weeks for training and already he had written Steve. It must have been the first thing he did after he got settled in. That really wasn’t all that unusual, it was as much to make sure Steve didn’t run off and do something stupid as it was to keep in touch with his best friend. They were supposed to be there together, training together, fighting together, just as they always had. However, the government didn’t seem to think that Steve was fit to fight for his country. Steve disagreed.

We waited to receive the orders from the lieutenant, but in my head i was already saying my prayers. He had told us to retrace our steps. I ran with everything I had in me, the proper duckboard made it somewhat easier to run but didn't take away from the fact that i was running with about 50kg of ammunition with me. We ran and arunned until we found the sap, while lieutenant provided shelter fire. We got out of the enemy trenches and crawled through the enemy's barbed wire. In the process of me going through the barbed wire, I cut my eye. Within seconds it was swollen shut and I thought I was in a dream. Maybe all of this was just a nightmare. I was later told i was suffering from extreme blood loss. Soon i felt something pull me i honestly thought i was being taken for german prisoner. But i heard a familiar voice. It was the lieutenant telling me to wake up. With whatever strength i had left and the help of the lieutenant,i staggered across no man's land And made it to our trenches were i was rushed to the infirmary. Not to soon after we arrived to safety, well as close to safety as we could have gotten the germans released fire on us. Although my eye is severely damaged, it couldve been alot worse; I am grateful that i returned all in one piece. I miss you dearly and am waiting to see you. If i do not make it hone in time for your birthday i shall wish your blessings upon you now. I

is cut off from the moment we came here,” Because of the war, he feels

The rain poured heavily and the guys and I were trembling with fright. As I sat down in the tanks, listening to the harsh noises being produced by the enemies. Mud floors, foggy conditions and the horrid smell filled the place. How can I possibly avoid all of these? The commander and the rest of the ground forces were still behind, getting ready for war.

Erich Paul Remark (most commonly known as Erich Maria Remarque) was born on June 22nd, 1998 in Onsabruck, Westphalia; a town in Germany. He was the son of his mother Anna Maria Stallnecht Remark and his father, Peter Franz Remark, who was a master machinist and a bookbinder. As a young boy growing up in a lower-working class family, he moved houses eleven times between 1898 and 1912 and was called Schmieren, or “Smudge” by his fellow students. He began to write when he was aged sixteen in which he developed a passion for creating stories. Erich eventually attended the University of Münster in 1913 to pursue a career as an elementary school teacher. In 1915, him and other students created a brotherhood focusing on literature. Through this, he created a short story titled “The Lady with the Golden Eyes”, an essay called “From the Time of Youth”, and a poem which is titled “I and You”. All of these were published in the Onsabruck newspaper and sparked Remarque’s popularity in the literary culture of the time. After he won an essay contest in 1916, he was spontaneously drafted into the German army as a musketeer. Sadly, his mother died right after he completed basic training in Onsabruck on September 9, 1917. In July of that year, Remarque’s fleet advances to Flanders, where the some of the bloodiest fighting was happening in World War I. The effects of trench Warfare took a toll on him and he never truly recovered from when he carried his friend Troske out of enemy fire before he shortly after died of shrapnel wounds on the way to a medic. During a period of five months, the German and the Allied armies fought away eventually creating up to 770,000 casualties. Remarque eventually becoming sprayed with grenade splinters in neck, wrist, and knee, he left the battlefield on July 31. He suffered from PTSD after the war and it took him a year to recover to a decent state, but he was still concealing it through his wit. During this year he wrote an abundance of poems, essays, and sketches and started to get jobs at local posts. From 1920 to 1922, he juggled being an aspiring pianist, a worker in a post, and being an avid writer for his own

All is chaos. Horses run everywhere except where their riders are leading. Baggage animals are being toppled. Some men flee and others fight. The disorder appears to be in no one's favor. The road is defined by sheer cliffs on both sides which man, animal, and barbarian were falling into. Hannibal, seated atop my comrade Surus, commanded his army to stay back. Once the column was broken however, Surus, with Hannibal on his back, ran into the fray with me at his side and scattered the enemy, as was the plan.

With the gradual disintegration of discipline, many of the invading force had decided that amongst the chaos, pocketing a few items from unattended stores might be worthwhile. Amongst the first items to be pilfered, warm clothing and bed linen were most highly prized by the soldiers. The confectionary store too, was stripped of all its sweet delicacies. The pavements, showered with shards of glass and chocolate wrappers, were lined with soldiers devouring food with both hands. Knowing their hunger would swiftly return, they lined their pockets with tins of all varieties. Even the jars of jam and spam were not spared. Turning one particular corner, a bread-laden trolley pushed by an eager one-armed soldier emerged. However, it

One day as Isaac and I were wondering along the streets that headed to the bay, we saw an Italian militia heading straight towards us. The picture I saw then could have been in my worst nightmare. Isaac, being his mere eight year old self, hid behind me in fear.my first instinct was to run back to my house and hide, but before I could turn my shoulder, the soldiers confronted me. They asked me where my parents were and why I was out alone. At first I wanted to lie and say that I was just stopping by a friend’s house to puck something up, but I decided not to take that risk. Instead, I told them the bare truth about my parents and that we were just wandering around to get some exercise. The soldier at the front (probably the General) responded with an offer. His offer was for us to work for the militia and we’d receive a decent meal and a place to stay. I consulted with Isaac and we both agreed that accepting the offer would be the best option for both of us.

The next two months seemed like a blur. I abandoned my thoughts of escaping momentarily in light of the events which surrounded Peter and Helmut. Khloe confirmed to me within days after the tragedy, my assumption was indeed accurate. Our friends had run the border on a whim. Thankfully Helmut survived and made it to the west, but Peter, everything he spoke about the night in the pub had vanished. Everything he desired or hoped for was taken from him in a rash matter of minutes.

“August, 1944. Beach landing south of France. Suddenly the day is ripped apart by the sound of machine gun fire; you and your men are pinned down with no help en route. As you rush forward, sliding in amongst your men, you see the fear in their eyes. If ever there was a now or never moment, now is it. With no regard for your own safety, you slam a fresh magazine in your carbine, grab two grenades and charge around the farmhouse between you and the machine gun nest. You quickly find yourself separated from your men; the only option is

It was the first day in the trenches. I woke up, carnivorous rates scuttled like the Germans around me, as I stood up, I felt my un-admitted fear engulf my mind. I walked through the corridors of our safe nest, our bunker. As I walked out into the open air, I was cradled by mother nature's walls of mud. General Frank called all of us to attention we stood straight with our right hand in salute. He shouted ‘ alright boys!’ for king and country we shall fight! She needs us, we are invincible!'. I could tell by the general's face, he doesn't believe his own words. General Frank articulates and keeps a mature tone, but he knows, deep down, we will become statistics. I grabbed my gun and placed the bayonet secularly on the end although I hoped to

What was a simple stealth mission to gather intel turned into a fight for survival, already 3 out of 5 of my allies have been killed, i'm in that group of five, so was my best friend Giuseppe he had helped me escape but he was caught in the process, I would’ve went back for him if he didn’t insist on leaving him. I start to feel a ray of hope when I reach the top of the hill across the valley I see the abandoned church where we had taken up residence and is my only way of receiving help, but soon after a sharp pain pulsed through my leg along with a ragingly loud sound. I’d just been shot. I collapse on the floor and I clench my leg to keep the blood from pouring out then five or six Hungarian soldiers huddle around me and begin to beat me senseless, the pain is like none i’ve ever experienced before. “Dies sollte ihnen beibringen, schmutzig Abschaum !” They then start to beat me with the butt of their guns and as soon as he strikes me in the center of my face I slowly start to fade to unconsciousness with my last sense being able to feel the spit of the soldier who just struck me as he stuck his thumb in my bullet wound, I start screaming wildly it’s the most excruciating pain I could have ever felt in my lifetime while at the same time the rest of the soldiers slowly carry me back towards the bunker where i’m sure as hell to