Have you ever thought about what it was like to live during World War 1, or what it was like to fight at war? At first glance of any war piece, you might think the author would try to portray the soldiers as mentally tough and have a smashing conscience. Many would think that fighting in a war shows how devoted you are to your country, however, that is not true. According to All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the reality of a soldier's life is despondency, carnage and eradication at every bombardment. Living every day is not knowing if they will eat, see their families, or even if they will awaken the next day. Demeaning themselves from heroes to barely men without their military garment or identity. Remarque conveyed how …show more content…
Some blaming it on the prior generation’s political agendas. This loss of youth causes the destruction of what makes these soldiers people throughout the novel. One of the first quotes we begin to see Remarque delve into this “But young? Youth? That is long ago. We are old folk” (18). Paul’s character feels as if they have aged and his youth is long gone and irretrievable that their minds will never be the same. This marks a death within themselves, to Paul and many other soldiers their former lives are in essence dead. They continuously tell themselves that they are no longer young men albeit their young age they truly feel as if their old men. This makes them feel as if they had their youth robbed from them because of the war. An earlier moment when Remarque visits this motif is “...Muller, who still carries his school textbooks with him, dreams of examinations ”(3). Muller still has not lost his ambition from his youth which is a stark contrast to his comrades to them their previous life is essentially nonexistent to the soldiers now. Muller nevertheless breaks this status quo of the soldiers by still studying with his books as he still dreams of one day returning and having a successful career. At this stage while the war has fully crushed the soldiers former selves and ambitions Muller’s hopes and dreams still stand strong. …show more content…
Erich Maria Remarque develops this theme by utilizing the symbol of army attire, the motif of separation of powers between different generations, and the motif of lost innocence. Remarque visits the many horrors of wars in the field and in their consciences through powerful symbolism that convey the realities they face, readers can see this through remarks of the characters along the story. Readers observe how the loss of youth scars these men and their ambitions, how soldiers seemingly feel like kids without their attire and the great divide and distrust they hold towards their previous generation. It is in these devices readers can fully grasp the horror and tragedy of
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque displays unsettling images and symbols of war as it follows Paul Baumer, a young soldier, during World War I. The constant bombardments and escaped shells of war cause the soldier to sink into a barbaric mindset of war. By using imagery and symbols to show how soldiers sink into the mindset of war the author creates a vivid picture of the many horrors of war and its mentality.
The novel is based on Erich Maria Remarques experiences with WWI, which gives an insight to all readers of how life is in warfare. With the conflict of Man vs. Man and Man vs. Self, it gives the theme of change in war more amplification. Comradeship gave the men hope and a mini society to live with, enabling everyone to have people to talk to. However, during rough times the dark tone gives the theme of death an extra kick, making all of the elements much more vivid. Erich Maria Remarque’s writing of this novel opens the eyes of readers all around, from going through boot camp, to the final breaths that are
The new technological advances of weapons add to the cruelty and tragedy of World War 1. This ultimately is why Remarque focuses on the losses suffered by Paul and his fellow soldiers. In addition, the observations made by Remarque are not unique to war and are exemplified by the struggles soldiers, like Paul, face physically and
The story of several schoolmates who symbolize a generation destroyed by the dehumanisation of the First World War, All Quiet on the Western Front tells of the men who died, and the tragically changed lives of those who survived. Remarque follows the story of Paul Bäumer, a young infantryman, from his last days of school to his death three years later. Whereas the journey motif is typically used to portray a positive character development, that of Paul is deliberately the opposite. In what has been dubbed the greatest antiwar novel of all time, Remarque depicts the way in which Paul is snatched away from humanity by the brutality of war. However while Paul and his comrades become separated from society, and begin to rely on their basic survival instincts, in their own surroundings they still show humane qualities such as compassion, camaraderie, support and remorse. Paul’s transformation from human to soldier begins in training camp, and is reinforced by the trauma at the front. His return home further alienates him from society, and Paul begins to feel safe at the front with his friends. Nonetheless throughout the novel suffering and mortality bare Paul’s true side, and he momentarily regains his former self. Bäumer, the German word for tree, is an early indication that Paul must remain firmly rooted in reality to survive the brutality of war.
Remarque vividly describes not only the gore that is present on the battlefield, but the emotional turmoil that wrecks the men in the trenches. Paul Baümer, the narrator, describes his inner thoughts throughout the work, as he would in a journal. His position towards the war gradually changes from anger to despair and depression. Early in the book, the soldiers lose trust in the generation before them, and channel this anger at their fathers and school teacher, Kantor...
Imagine being in an ongoing battle where friends and others are dying. All that is heard are bullets being shot, it smells like gas is near, and hearts race as the times goes by. This is similar to what war is like. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator, Paul Baumer, and his friends encounter the ideals of suffering, death, pain, and despair. There is a huge change in these men; at the beginning of the novel they are enthusiastic about going into the war. After they see what war is really like, they do not feel the same way about it. During the war the men experience many feelings especially the loss of loved ones. These feelings are shown through their first experience at training camp, during the actual battles, and in the hospital.
By demonstrating motif to observe how soldiers lose all control of their humanity as war goes on, Erich Maria Remarque uses All Quiet on the Western Front to explain how war deteriorates mental health and negatively impacts the soldiers’ self-respect until they solely view themselves as animals made for war.
War is one of the most horrific things that the human race is capable of. Such armed conflicts are nothing more than a manifestation of the barbarism that lurks within the human heart. Nonetheless, some beautiful things have emerged from the ashes of war. One such thing is Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. This particular novel covers the struggles of Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier, and his brothers-in-arms during the First World War. As such, Remarque mounts a concerted effort to try and depict the savagery of war accurately. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque uses plot, character development, and setting to illustrate the horrors of the First World War, as well as the effects that they have on
The theme, the brutality of war, is a very important message that Remarque tries to send to readers. It means that war is a horrific event that occurs, causing a massive loss of human life, while achieving nothing. More specifically, the theme means that people who experience war firsthand also experience a severe level of ruthlessness that some wouldn’t think possible. After being on the front for such a long time, Baumer explains that “war is the cause of death like cancer and tuberculosis, like influenza and dysentery. The deaths are merely more frequent, more varied and terrible” (Remarque 271). This quote perfectly describes the horrors of war which the source of is the extreme ferocity. Massive amounts of life that
The soldiers forget about the past, with good food and rest. Paul contemplates why they forget things so quickly; he thinks that habit helps eradicate memory. When one good thing happens, everything else is forgotten. The men turn into “wags” and “loafers” while resting. They cannot burden themselves with the emotions from the consequences
Unlike most writers, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque portrays war as it really is; full of visions with fear, butchery, and meaningless deaths instead of an abundance of romanticized and glory descriptions. Remarque includes the terror and savagery of war, showing the physical and mental toll taken on the soldiers. The only way for them to survive was to disconnect themselves from their emotions and the events happening around them.
The young soldiers depicted in Erich Maria Remarque's text All Quiet on the Western Front represent a generation without precedent, constancy, or forethought. The men, answering their elders' calls to become national heroes, have lost their innocence on the battlefield and remain forever altered in belief and spirit. Remarque contrasts the cold realities of war in the present to the tranquility of the past in order to illustrate the psychological transformation of the men stationed on the frontlines. The soldiers appear trapped in the present and alienated from their pasts; however, deconstruction of the text rejects the present and past as opposing states of time and identity, and reveals them as related conditions that are intimately and permanently intertwined.
Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war. This is shown in Erich Remarque’s novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front”. War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through. The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through.
One way that Paul changes is that his patriotism towards his country about war decreases. Paul is sitting with his men around a fire picking off lice and comparing them before throwing them in the fire. Muller starts to ask others what they would do if and when the war is over. After dwelling on the topic for a while they realized the younger men do not know how to do anything but fight. They joined the war at such a young age that they did not get a chance to explore anything else. “‘The war has ruined us for everything.’” At the beginning of the novel he is excited about defending his country and destroying the enemy, but after having interaction with soldiers from the opposing side he realizes that they are all the same. They are just soldiers fighting for their countries and eager to get home. Paul’s experience in combat changes his thoughts of war. Because of this, he gains the ability to reflect on the events that happen. His own ideas of war changes when he first witnesses the ugly truth of war. Paul’s first experience in combat reveals to him that everything he was taught as a young recruit are lies. This causes him to make his own conclusions and thoughts about the war. As the war goes on, Paul realizes more and more about the reality of the situation that he is in.
After entering the war in young adulthood, the soldiers lost their innocence. Paul’s generation is called the Lost Generation because they have lost their childhood while in the war. When Paul visits home on leave he realizes that he will never be the same person who enlisted in the army. His pre-war life contains a boy who is now dead to him. While home on leave Paul says “I used to live in this room before I was a soldier” (170).