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Literary aspects in all quiet on the western front
Literary aspects in all quiet on the western front
Effects of war
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“All Quiet on the Western Front” is a novel written by Erich Maria Remarque. It is a war novel that tells the story of a young man and his experiences in combat during World War I. The title of the novel roots from a phrase used to describe the silence between shellings and infantry attacks during the battles fought on the western front ( Text, 895 ). Although World War I was a very real event, the testaments of the main character in “All Quiet on the Western Front” is purely fictional, but they are based on the accounts of veterans of the war.
In order to understand most of the events that took place in the novel it is essential to understand how the war erupted. After Serbia refused to apologize to Austria for the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Germany pushed Austria to declare war. Germany’s desire to start a war can be explained by the internal tensions that were increasing in the country at the time. The assassination was a timely scapegoat to direct the peoples attention and animosity to external sources. In short, on July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia and the allies of each country joined in, starting this global war.
Paul Baumer is a young soldier who volunteered to enter into the German army with a group of his schoolmates. All the events that take place in the novel are seen through Paul’s eyes, they are described on the basis of the perspective of this young soldier. In the first chapter, Paul recalls the reasons for why he and his friends enlisted. He talks about their schoolmaster, Kantorek, who would lecture them constantly on the fact that they should “join up” (pg. 11). Another reason that played as a facto...
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... that the war had on the soldiers is told in “All Quiet on the Western Front”. Not only does Paul describe the events that he goes through, but he also describes his understanding that the war has changed him forever. He doesn’t believe that he can ever return to normal life after having gone through what he has. Facing death and killing has made him old beyond his years and he confirms that when he says “...Youth? That is long ago. We are old folk” (pg. 18). Paul describes his acknowledgment that the war has transformed him when he describes that the soldiers have been transformed “...into thugs, into murderers, into God only knows what devils...” ( pg.114 ). Naturally “a beast” is incapable of returning to a civilian life. This is the unfortunate fate of the soldiers who survived the war.
It’s always interesting to see what other people have to say concerning a book one has read personally. Sometimes it is so disappointing because a story may have meant the world, but the reviewer or the critical writer rips it apart heartlessly. Or, as one may hope, the reviewer enjoyed each bit of the tale as much as was possible. Of course the reality and purpose of a critique is to demonstrate whether the author was successful in his/her goal to create a widely-read piece, a moving piece, or a well written piece to be added to one’s collector items. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, is lucky enough to be on my list of agreement with most critics. This almost ninety-year-old, historical fiction novel has been said to embody impressionist ideals about World War I. Great characterization on three different levels also helps the reader come to a better understanding about the Great War as an event and the ideals people were feeling as a direct result. This tale was so great that it was snatched up by Hollywood’s affluent of the time and produced. I cannot argue the likelihood that Hollywood picked it up because it was well-written. .
Paul returns to his hometown, but he relives the horrors of war and does not interact with anyone else that well. He does not feel that he can talk about what he lived through during the war. Paul, like many people become very accustom to watching people die and Paul sees that he has changed. Many people who survive the war have serious symptoms of PTSD, and other postwar diseases. When people first showed symptoms of these diseases, people did not know what it was, or they thought it was faked. The soldiers went through and watched many horrors which effected them permanently. People who did not fight in the war did not see what horrors all the men went through and they do not know about the amount of death and
It hides neither brutality nor insanity. “When a man has seen so many dead he cannot understand any longer why there should be so much anguish over a single individual. So I say rather impatiently… ‘He died immediately. He felt absolutely nothing at all. His face was quite calm’ ” (Remarque 239). At first, Paul falls deeply in thoughts after he sees a dead body, but after facing so many deaths, Paul has become numb. He acts calmly towards the insanity that he faces. This indicates that the soldier becomes less like a normal human being and turns in to more like an animal. Paul mentions during the battle that he describes himself as an animal, and veteran soldiers, who survives many insane battles are experiencing the same. Remarque shows how the brutal battle experience hinders soldiers from thinking straight. The theme of the animal instinct tells and shows that war erodes the humanity of the soldier, cancels their ability to think and feel, and lastly makes them more similar to a beast rather than a human
World War I has begun and merely months into the war, pitiful deaths, horrifying injuries, and heartbreaking miseries have occurred. To closely apprehend how impactful fighting in the war is, Erich Maria Remarque, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, focuses on the transformation of Paul Bäumer, a sensitive, young adult who voluntarily enlists in the German army. Paul engages in war unaware of the ordeal that he will face; and immediately witnesses men blowing into pieces, soldiers holding their own arteries for survival, and gory ugliness of trenches. This rigorous journey is what provides him a new understanding of the world, teaches him how to detach from feelings, and forever alters his thinking. Through the symbolism of books and earth, Remarque communicates how the brutal violence and intense fear that soldiers first-hand
Paul eventually receives leave and returns to home to his family in their little German town. He soon realises that he can’t connect the same way he used to with his family as a “a great gulf has opened up between then and now” (pg. 116) and “can’t find any real point of contact” (pg. 117). He struggles to have a conversation with his own family and has “no real relationship with [his father] any more” (pg. 114) because his father is only interested in war stories. Paul “can’t get back, [he’s] locked out” (pg. 119) from his own life and it becomes evident he doesn’t enjoy his leave and has a “terrible feeling of isolation” (pg. 119) that separates him from the rest of the world. Whilst being at the front, Paul and his friends question, “what will become of [them]” (pg. 60) when they return home. They become aware of the fact that their older comrades “Kat and Detering and Haie will go back to their old jobs” (pg. 60) whilst they never had one. It isn’t just their jobs however, Albert perfectly explains that, “the war has ruined [them] for everything” (pg. 61) because they are still children who “know nothing of life” (pg. 180) and are inexperienced. The war has taken away their “desire to conquer the world,” (pg. 61) their “knowledge of life is limited to death” (pg. 180) and they are “devoid of hope” (pg. 199). Paul’s lost connection with the rest of the world and the soldiers’ lives being ruined signifies that Remarque intended the novel to be interpreted as
As he observes the Russian prisoners and their habits, he explains, “I know nothing of them except that they are prisoners; and that is exactly what troubles me. Their life is obscure and guiltless;- if I could know more of them, what their names are, how they live, what they are waiting for, what their burdens are, then my emotions would have an object and might become sympathy. But as it is I perceive behind them only the suffering of the creature, the awful melancholy of life and the pitilessness of men" (193). Paul feels sorrow looking at the Russian soldiers. He says that if he knew more about them, he would feel sympathy. He expresses that he knows he is capable of feeling sympathy and other human emotions. He still has that part of his old self left with him. This also shows the type of scenes soldiers observed on a daily basis, and how one was affected by them. They were made to go against their human instincts, which would have been to help these Russian prisoners and be able to treat them with a humane and friendly respect. The fact that these young soldiers were forced to abandon their humanity for the war would have led to their feelings of being “lost”. These soldiers were left with the guilt of the actions they had been forced to commit- guilt that they could not move on from. When they returned home, they had forgotten what it felt like to be human and live a normal life.
The novel All Quiet on the Western Front, written by author Erich Maria Remarque, tells the story of a german veteran of World War 1 named Paul and the struggles him and many of the other soldiers were faced with. The book goes into the physical and mental stress change the men went through and had to overcome during the war. It also goes into depth about the detachment from civilian life that Paul had felt. Throughout the story, there are many themes that show the pointlessness and destructiveness of the war,such as a lost generation, human destruction and lastly, moral decay.
Paul and Hardy’s speaker were inclined to enlist in the war and both joined not realizing the hardships of the war. Paul had heard many motivational speeches from his schoolteacher, Kantorek, about patriotism, which influenced him to enroll in the war. Paul explains how hard Kantorek was pushing the boys into enlisting, "During drill-time Kantorek gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went under his shepherding, to the district commandant and volunteered," (Remarque 11). With the speeches that Kantorek gave, Paul and his friends felt a sense of patriotism and duty to enlist; he also realizes how vile the war is because of all the hardships faced. Hardy’s speaker abruptly decided to join the war because he didn’t have anything else better to do out of work, he says "He thought he'd 'list, perhaps, Off-hand like-just as I- Was out of work- had sold his traps - No other reason why,” (Hardy 13-16). Although Paul felt a sense of patriotism at the beginning, what he felt wasn’t national pride it was just Kantorek drilling into their minds that war is a noble thing to do, but Kantorek never expla...
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.
In a deep, muddy trench, a lone soldier lies, a silver bullet embedded in his abdomen. He clutches his side, screaming in pain, crying for help -- but no one is listening. The sky slowly darkens, and his voice becomes no more than a faint rasping, until it fades into nothingness. Millions of soldiers found themselves in similar situations during World War I, also known as the Great War, which involved multiple European powers; most notably, Germany, France, Britain, and Russia. Written from the perspective of Paul Baumer, a 19-year-old German soldier, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque follows his journey as he is thrown into the chaos of World War I. At the warfront, Paul witnesses countless horrors that
People who have actually been through war know how horrible it is. Society on the other hand, while it believes it knows the horrors of war, can never understand or sympathize with a soldier’s situation. The only people who can understand war is those who have been through it so they can often feel alone if they are out of the military. Paul cannot even give a straight answer to his own father about his dad’s inquiries about war. Paul’s dad does not understand that people who have been in the war can in no way truly express the horrible things that that have seen and experienced. Nor can Paul fit in with the society who does not understand him. Paul and so many others were brought into the war so young that they know of nothing else other than war. Paul held these views on society as he said, “We will be superfluous even to ourselves, we will grow older, a few will adapt themselves, some others will merely submit, and most will be bewildered;-the years will pass by and in the end we shall fall in to ruin.
be a major flaw in his character as he continues to do the deed all
trusted as a lawyer due to the fact that the law was not a friendly
Nearly a century ago, Erich Maria Remarque published his third novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which soon become his most famous work. His novel which depicts the story of eight young German soldiers sent to battle in World War I became a worldwide phenomenon, sold 3.5 million copies in three short years and is now critically acclaimed as“The greatest war novel of all time” (Remarque and Wheen). Despite his German origins, Remarque’s novel harshly criticized the German government as well, as the war in general, producing mixed reactions within his home country. Erich Maria Remarque draws upon his own experiences as a German soldier in WWI and as a member of the ‘lost generation’ to create a compelling and realistic story that criticizes wartime
All Quiet on the Western Front is a book written by Erich Maria Remarkque. It was a book written to reflect the human cost of war. It shows us how war has a hidden face that most people do not see until it is too late. In the novel, he describes a group of young men who at first think war is glorious. But as the war drags on, the group discovers how war is not all it is set out to be. As the war went on, they saw their friends either die or be permanently wounded. Then the end comes when there was only one person left.