“I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another” (Remarque 263). This quote shows how World War I affected soldiers in more ways than we could ever realize. Throughout “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Paul, a German soldier on the front line, explains the how the war changed him. The book also explains the settings and conditions of the war during this time. Remarque explains the weapons and strategies used during WWI in good detail. “We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war” (Remarque 87-88). When George and his classmates were in school, their schoolmaster, Kantorek, pushed them to join the war, as their patriotic duty. They began the war as nineteen year olds, soon they were fighting and there was no longer any love of life, everything was the war. For these young soldiers all they know is the war, unlike the older soldiers that have been able to start families and truly begin their lives. “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
Erich Maria Remarque – was a famous German author, who created many novels, but his best-known and most representative novel is called «All Quiet On the Western Front».
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
Erich Remarque uses compelling symbols in chapter six of All Quiet on the Western Front, many of them have a significant meaning, only two have a powerful meaning. A shelled schoolhouse, in a sense brings the reader this sort of comfort because the feel of school brings them back to the good ole days. It is the days when you did not have to worry about things because mom and dad were there. The shelling part is another thing, it is showing the amount and the type of war going on. The violence in this time and place is unimaginable and the shelled schoolhouse is an example of the violence is being revealed. Remarque is trying to display to the reader that in this day and age of war they did not care about what they destroyed. He describes many bloody situations because he wants the reader to feel the pain and suffering how
“We developed a firm, practical feeling of solidarity which grew on the battlefield, into the best thing that the war produced - comradeship in arms” (Remarque 19). In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front the men are faced at the decision of life and death, protecting each other so each individual will make it home. Facing horrific images while being put at risk on the line in the front. Comradeship plays an important role in All Quiet on the Western Front, by being able to survive, build a brotherhood bond, and restoring comfort and courage.
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
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.
The Great War, also known as World War I, is a defining moment in Europe’s history. Its aftermath consists of the demolition of Germany’s economy, the rise of Adolf Hitler, and the loss of an entire generation of young men who were sent into combat. All Quiet on the Western Front chronicles the experiences of Paul Baumer, a 19-year old student who volunteers for the military during World War I along with his classmates Muller and Kropp. They are compelled to enlist by Kantorek, their fiercely patriotic but misguided schoolmaster. Paul’s life in the military is told in short entries that reveal the reality of war: horrifying battles, violence, alienation, emotional indifference. His accounts of war are personal and emotional, and the bleak tone
In chapter four of Erich Remarque’s book All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque uses sensory images. Putting extra sensory images into a scene gives the reader more idea of what’s happening “I hear aspirant for the frying pan” (52). By describing how excited the men are when they hear geese Remarque is, in a way, letting the reader know that, to soldiers at war the smallest thing can be the brightest beaken of hope. When Remarque outlines how happy the soldiers get over some simple geese, it really helps to show how while the war has helped the men grow up, they are still young boys. In the previous chapter Remarque used sensory images to make the boys seem more grown up by giving them power while beating Himmelstoss “It was a wonderful picture”
There is not as much symbolism shown throughout the text “All quiet on the western front” to show the effects of war too. However, Kermerich’s boots provide a symbol for the certain attitude a soldier would require – detaching their emotions only to act as an emotionless object that follows orders to reduce the effects of war inflicted on the soldiers. Each Solider (including Kemmerich) who took them from dead air pilot) dies when owning these boots. Therefore, it could be argued that the boots are worth more to people than a human life – Aslan argues that this represents the shallowness of society at the time of World War One. The audience is able to see how characters can become selfish for their own survival.
In this chapter, it's 15 years forward and the narrator is talking about how he viewed his school. He talks about his fears like the specters, classmates walking up and down the stairs with him. Also he comes back to the tree, his other fear. Where he and others jumped off to be prepared for the war.
When it comes to war we tend to look the other way not because we think that war is the worst thing that is happening at this exact moment but because we tend not to know more about it. The definition of war is “A conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air”. War is something every country has in common just because there seems to always be something to be fighting about therefor, we seem to not put much interest in it unless we have a family member in it or the war is happening where we are. We should alway pay attention when war is happening not just because it’s important but because if we can't seem to change the way it is handle it may affect our everyday lives. So when it comes to how we should handle the way we portray the things that are happening in the war should we also support either the government or our president to hide information the might risk the life of an individual just so
In the words of Otto Von Bismarck, “Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.” Many of the preceding war novels to All Quiet on the Western Front, misrepresented or overlooked the anguish of war, in favor of more resplendent ideals such as glory, honor, or nationalism. The predominant issue of All Quiet on the Western Front is the terrible atrocities of war. The reality that is portrayed in the novel is that there was no glory or honor in this war, only a fierce barbarity that actually transformed the nature of human existence into irreparable, endless affliction, destroying the soldiers long before their deaths.
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.