My Father's Diary: 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

It is March first, I miss you so much it is unbearable. Sleeping can be awful out here in the trenches only because I want to be home in a comfy bed again safe and sound where war isn’t the only thing on my mind. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I can’t breathe because I dream someone has invaded our trenches and shot me. It isn’t easy being out here but if it means fighting for you then it is what I will do.

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,

The men who went into World War One risked their lives to save other innocent lives, even though they were afraid. Day by day went by, not knowing how long they would survive. All Quiet on the Western Front is about the horror, loss of innocence, and comradery of war during World War One, because it shows what war was like, and how the men and women had to cope with it.

Charley Quinn is twelve years old the summer after his older brother, Johnny, is killed at Gettysburg. Charley can't wait for the opportunity to avenge Johnny's death by killing off some Rebel soldiers. Meanwhile, he works as an errand boy for his older sister, Noreen. He picks up supplies and hats for her sewing business and delivers them when Noreen is finished with them. Charley is a member of the street gang known as the Bowery Boys. Their arch rivals are the Dead Rabbits. As Charley is returning home one day with a hatbox, he encounters a member of the rival gang and gets into a fight. A police officer breaks it up and takes Charley home. Noreen is angry that he has ruined his good clothes and that he had been fighting. While Charley is changing, he hears Noreen talking with her fiancé. At the end of that conversation, Noreen agrees that if Charley can't stay out of trouble she'll send him to a school for incorrigible boys.

Meanwhile, a specific sergeant tried to make my life harder. This sergeant enjoyed agonism which “occurs among those who enjoy fighting for its own sake and who perceive trading insults as a type of game” (p.21). I constantly tried to filter out the words being filled in my head, but my internal dialogue had been so negative and judgmental for so long I really believed the bad things. I could not and did not understand that I was good person with many good characteristics. I was fighting 2 wars in a combat zone, one against terrorists in the desert and the other inside my head.

The meadow near the Western Front was nothing compared to the vast fields of the prairie back home. There, in what seems like another lifetime, was a harvest full of life, colour, and promise. Here, there was only death and harshness. Trevor, our Commander, had once described the scenery of these fields in France before the chaos. He had said it was filled with little red flowers and high green grass. After three years of fatalities and rain, the scene shifted to represent the misery. There was no colour here. Our uniforms that had once been a deep green were now covered with dried mud. The scene before me was bleak. The sky was gray; as it had been since the first day we made camp in these trenches. The ground was muddy with small pools of

It is about the middle of the day and we are on our way to somewhere right outside of Paris. The

It is with a heavy heart that I write to you all, but I do hope you all are well. It has been a rough three months since I've joined the other nurses in aiding this war and needless to say I have settled in and adapted to the conditions. Since the beginning, nothing has changed within these 3 months, neither side had gotten much advantage of the war. It would be as if a back and forward tug of war between the two sides. Everyday I watch from the tent as hundreds of men rot away in the horrid conditions of the trenches. Many were brought in but many doesn't mean all. After barely being treated and having about a week of recovery soldiers were sent back to suffer in the battlefield. A few weeks ago a huge storm crossed the battlefield. The trenches

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….

The cold fog of war slowly engulfed our fear ridden trench, the call has been given earlier that day that our company is going over the top at nightfall.

All is going very bad for us in the trenches. No one was really prepared for what this war has brought us. The war has many factors that are very terrible and for most, unbarable. I can not think of a time where I have been more scared.

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.

What began as an assassination of a single individual, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, led to one of the greatest despairs in all of history. Known throughout the world as The Great War or World War I, this global war ignited battles throughout the entire world where the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire fought against the Allied Powers which included several countries including Britain and the United States. Lasting for four treacherous years, the war led to the deaths of millions of people. From mere citizens trying hard to live their life safely and away from all the violence, to brave soldiers who stood up to fight for their countries, people living all around the world had hardly had any any nice memories of days that had just passed by or hope for the coming times.

Professor’s Comments: This is a good example of a book review typically required in history classes. It is unbiased and thoughtful. The Student explains the book and the time in which it was written in great detail, without retelling the entire story… a pitfall that many first time reviewers may experience.