Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front – An Accurate Description of the Honors and Horrors of War
Ellen Glasgow said, "Violence commands both literature and life.” Violence commands Erich Maria Remarque’s literature in his novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Remarque accurately depicts both the physical and mental repercussions of war. All Quiet on the Western Front should be read by all members of the Armed Forces for several reasons. First, the novel describes in detail the worst case scenarios associated with war. By being exposed to such a portrayal of war, unprepared citizens would be able to make better decisions regarding enlisting. Second, those citizens who do decide to enlist would be better prepared mentally for the mental horrors that occur after war. Finally, All Quiet on the Western Front sets a standard for the patriotism needed to serve one’s country and the consequential honor that comes with that patriotism.
Perhaps the biggest argument for not mandating the reading of All Quiet on the Western Front is the possible decline in enlisting in the Armed Forces. Such an argument is moot, though. All Quiet merely depicts war as it actually is. In All Quiet, Remarque describes a moment of war by writing, “Everywhere wire-cutters are snapping, planks are thrown across the entanglements. . . the earth shudders, it crashes, smokes, and groans, we stumble over slippery lumps of flesh, over yielding bodies” (Remarque 117). The possibility of war is manifest in the duties of the military. Gulf War Veteran Alan Parks asserts, “If a man is going to be deterred from the military by the occurrences of war, he is not the type of man [one] would want defending [one’s country]” (Parks). By reading All Quiet ...
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... feels after a war by saying, “While in the ‘spotlight,’ it is the single greatest feeling anyone could ever imagine” (Parks).
Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front accurately describes both the horrors and honors of war. If the Armed Forces would require this novel to be read, more men would be better prepared for the feelings that await them in the military. By telling of the negative aspects of war, Remarque’s novel could successfully weed out those whom the army does not suit. By telling of the positive aspects of war, Remarque’s novel could encourage more men to join the military. Whether a man decides to join or not to join, Remarque’s novel can provide guidance in making the choice.
Works Cited
Parks, Alan. Personal interview. 3 April. 2001.
Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. New York: Ballantine, 1956.
Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front gives you detail and insight into the long, destructive “Great War”. Quickly, romantic illusions about combat are disintegrate. Enthusiastic teenage boys convinced to fight for their country by their patriotic teachers came back feeling part of a lost generation . This novel teaches us what a terrifying and painful experience World War I was for those fighting in the trenches on the front.
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.
All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque, is a classic anti-war novel about the personal struggles and experiences encountered by a group of young German soldiers as they fight to survive the horrors of World War One. Remarque demonstrates, through the eyes of Paul Baumer, a young German soldier, how the war destroyed an entire generation of men by making them incapable of reintegrating into society because they could no longer relate to older generations, only to fellow soldiers.
Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front is based on World War I; it portrays themes involving suffering, comradeship, chance and dehumanization. The novel is narrated by Paul, a young soldier in the German military, who fights on the western front during The Great War. Like many German soldiers, Paul and his fellow friends join the war after listening to the patriotic language of the older generation and particularly Kantorek, a high school history teacher. After being exposed to unbelievable scenes on the front, Paul and his fellow friends realize that war is not as glorifying and heroic as the older generation has made it sound. Paul and his co-soldiers continuously see horrors of war leading them to become hardened, robot-like objects with one goal: the will to survive.
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul, the main character is a nineteen-year-old man who voluntarily joins the German army to fight in World War I against the French. Paul went into the war full of nationalism and ready to fight for his country. Soon after entering training, Paul began to realize that there is way more to war than just fighting for his country. Because it contains evidence of dehumanization and disconnectedness with the world, Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front reveals soldiers who are blindsided by the effects war has on them.
Erich Maria Remarque's classic war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, deals with the many ways in which World War I affected people's lives, both the lives of soldiers on the front lines and the lives of people on the homefront. One of the most profound effects the war had was the way it made the soldiers see human life. Constant killing and death became a part of a soldier's daily life, and soldiers fighting on all sides of the war became accustomed to it. The atrocities and frequent deaths that the soldiers dealt with desensitized them to the reality of the vast quantities of people dying daily. The title character of the novel, Paul Bäumer, and his friends experience the devaluation of human life firsthand, and from these experiences they become stronger and learn to live as if every day were their last.
While soldiers are often perceived as glorious heroes in romantic literature, this is not always true as the trauma of fighting in war has many detrimental side effects. In Erich Maria Remarque 's All Quiet On The Western Front, the story of a young German soldier is told as he adapts to the harsh life of a World War I soldier. Fighting along the Western Front, nineteen year old Paul Baumer and his comrades begin to experience some of the hardest things that war has to offer. Paul’s old self gradually begins to deteriorate as he is awakened to the harsh reality of World War 1, depriving him from his childhood, numbing all normal human emotions and distancing future, reducing the quality of his life.
... as well as a tendency to question what caused us to be left alone. Filling the void of loneliness is an experience tied to human awareness, and with that awareness comes the potential for despair, be it a temporary absence or a permanent one. The concept of loss haunts all of our nights, cold or not, as it reminds us of our own temporality in the world.
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.
Gambrel, Jon. “Nigerian Rebels Seize Seven Oil Workers”. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved on 21 Nov, 2011 from
...ld help improve the economy of the nation. The pocketing of profits by corrupt government officials shows characteristics of patrimonialism, which not only hinders the economy because these profits are the sole source of revenue for the nation, but also harms the democratic stability of the nation and can to some extent cause the regime changes of the nation. The civic conflicts of the nation are not handled by the government and not only do these conflicts drain revenue from the government, but shows the lack of mobilization in the government, possibly due to a lack of taxation, due to the resource curse. These claims show that the resource curse has affected the government and economy of Nigeria greatly as it leads to ineffective and corrupt government with a hindered chance of democratization, with civic conflict that cannot be controlled by the civic government.
In the early 1990’s several ethnic groups in Nigeria peacefully protested against big oil companies who caused pollution in their communities. The country’s military dictatorship took action against them and killed 80 people. A few years later when the people living in the Ogoni region protested to stop contactors from laying a new pipeline for Shell, Nigeria’s Mobile Police Force killed over 2000 people. Critics argued that Shell was partly to blame for the kil...
Chung, Y. (2011). Why servant leadership? Its uniqueness and principles in the life of Jesus. Journal Of Asia Adventist Seminary, 14(2), 159-170.
Oil is one of the most valuable natural resources in the world today. The oil industry carries with it a great deal of economic and political power across the globe. Having oil, or any natural resource, as a prime source of revenue has long been debated as being an advantage or a drawback. In any case it should at least lead to increased revenue and financing of industrial growth which, arguably, is related to an increase in the quality of life of the population. In the case of Nigeria, the oil industry is a double-edged sword. Since the discovery of oil in 1956, the oil industry in Nigeria has greatly increased the financial resources of Nigeria, and yet has proven a constant stumbling block in the creation of effective internal capability. The development of cutting edge technology and infrastructure, considering the resources available, has been marginal and the oil industry itself has not been extremely competitive (at least in expectations) on the global market. As the largest nation in Africa, a safe assumption should be that Nigeria is among the leaders in development as a whole, or at least be progressing toward that. The oil industry has, however, interfered somewhat in the development of alternative industries. In addition, even though it is directly associated with problems in leadership, corruption has been established as a normal order of business in Nigeria’s government and dealings with oil and has grown along with the industry. While the oil industry has introduced many significant problems in Nigeria, both socially and economically, there is still promise in what it can provide for the nation while oil remains in abundance. There are some positive examples across the glob...
Nigeria is a country blessed with natural resources. These resources take various forms ranging from tin to crude oil which is the most predominant, therefore making Nigeria the largest producer of crude oil in West Africa. The oil wells which supply the nation with a large percentage of her revenue have been exploited by people who know their worth. As a result, Nigeria which can conveniently support herself depends on foreigners for the oil which we originally produce. The carelessness and corruption of our political leaders have led the country to state of disarray. In spite of Nigeria’s oil boom, one may contend that it is not a blessing.