The Horrors of War: Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On the Western Front

The Courage and Strength in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

     “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 (263).” Powerful changes result from horrifying experiences. Paul Baumer, the protagonists of Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front utters these words signifying the loss of his humanity and the reduction to a numbed creature, devoid of emotion. Paul’s character originates in the novel as a young adult, out for an adventure, and eager to serve his country. He never realizes the terrible pressures that war

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.

An ancient Chinese proverb states “One cannot know peace without knowing war” (Herzberg). In a time where all that plagues many nations was war, it was inevitable that a time of peace needed to follow or at least the sober idea of it. The proverb was created to validate wars and later turned into a way to approach life’s troubles. Being within an individual or on a global scale, war and peace are connected. They exist coherently but never together; they are the cause and effects of each other. One follows the other yet both are needed in order to understand the other one. This relationship between war and peace is developed in the Erich Maria Remarque's novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. While the first major world war is the background

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.

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.

This essay will consider the different effects created by Erich Maria Remarque in his novel All Quiet on the Western Front. As a writer, Remarque unknowingly left his novel open to readers with completely different perspectives, and to various forms of criticism. This undoubtedly meant that every single reader had been affected by the novel in many different ways which unfortunately for Remarque may have been an effect that he never intended. This essay is divided into 5 main sections. Firstly it will address any of the intentions Remarque could have possibly wanted to propose through his novel, and closely examine the purposes and motives behind All quiet on the Western Front. It will then go on to analyse Remarque’s use of language in various extracts of the novel. Then the content is analysed in two parts; the third part is a brief insight into one of the key themes of the novel, and the fourth part highlights the effects Remarque causes. Finally, some conclusions will be drawn as to whether or Remarque may have intended to achieve a certain effect in his novel, and as to whether or not I personally agree with the comment that through his shaping of language and content, Remarque may have achieved an effect he might not have intended.

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.

Erich proves his thesis by taking from his war experiences and describes it in details how soldiers have negatively changed and couldn’t cope with reality. Despite of the fact, the novel All Quiet On The Western Front remained hugely popular, it received highly mixed reviews from critics. It was banned and burned by the Nazis, who were against anything that might call into question with their nationalistic views. Nonetheless, it is beyond question that Remarque gives voice to the side of the war and its experience that was overlooked or suppressed at that time. Erich proved his thesis by describing the gory details of the front and the coming of age for many characters who haven’t been well trained or experienced with gore. “ We see men living with their skulls blown open: we see soldiers run with their feet cut off, they stagger on their splintered stumps into the next shell

In Remarque’s book, the main character, Paul Baümer and his comrades all have a bitter feeling towards their once

War is a terrible thing. In All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Remarque illustrates that very image. In the book, Paul and his comrades experience the horrors of war and learn a lot along the way. About each other, about war, and about life. In All Quiet On The Western Front, Remarque uses destructiveness of war by showing loss of innocence, to explain the character’s emotional problems, and to show the reader the damage the character’s take.

Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the greatest war novels of all time. It is a story, not of Germans, but of men, who even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. The entire purpose of this novel is to illustrate the vivid horror and raw nature of war and to change the popular belief that war has an idealistic and romantic character.  The story centers on Paul Baümer, who enlists in the German army with glowing enthusiasm.  In the course of war, though, he is consumed by it and in the end is "weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope"  (Remarque page #).

“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 Prologue). All Quiet on the Western Front recounts the tale of six German warriors who volunteered to battle in World War I, and it reports their hardships mentally, religiously, and physically. The novel is told from the point of view of one staggeringly perceptive youthful warrior, Paul Bäumer, who uncovered subtle elements of life on the Western Front. Creator Erich Maria Remarque himself had battled on the Western Front when he was eighteen years of age, and he endured a few wounds. The repulsions of what he saw as an officer stayed with him.

All Quite on the Western Front and Storm of Steel are two of many influential pieces of literature that reflect World War one from a German point of view. It is important to note that All Quite on the Western Front is a work of fiction that is based on the events of the war, Were as Storm of Steel is memoir that is based on the events of Ernst Junger on the western front. Junger is criticized that he takes a positive stance on the war, were as Erich Remarque’s novel tries to show the reality behind the war. The two authors believed the Great war had effects on those who fought in it through the influence of their perception of the war and how new technology had changed the way it is understood. The psychological implications on the soldiers were a direct link between survival, technology and their rural life style. This phenomenon can be seen in both Remarque and Jungar’s works.

attempted many jobs, a journalist, a teacher, a librarian and of course, a writer. All Quiet on the Western Front was published in 1929 and translated into twelve different languages and later made into a movie. The novel was a colossal success. Not only did it give civilians a real account of the dehumanizing effects of the war but it gave a voice to those solider’s that had their own taken from them. During the war, there was little to no way that the families of the men fighting would know what the war was like. There was no way of knowing the sheer horror of what happened to the soldiers. At the time, there was a misconception about the war, a romanticism that formed. From this romanticism, a certain false patriotism rose. Young men were encouraged to leave school and join the war for their country. The idea of “fighting for the fatherland” was used as an incentive to join the fight. After the Nazi’s rose to power, Remarque’s novel was deemed “unpatriotic” and banned by the Nazis. Remarque used his personal experience of fighting in the war to write All Quiet on the Western Front. A novel that was so necessary, so vital that soldiers from around the word identified with the characters.