Literary Analysis of Erich Maria Remarque´s Novel: All Quiet on the Western Front

Remarque opens this passage by introducing “the juniper and the birch trees on the moor” as Paul practices drill at the training camp (188). Detailing his daily routine at the camp, he states that "it is bearable if one expects nothing better" (187). That is to say that only someone inexperienced with these drills, and war, would expect even a small amount of leniency. Especially at the camp where the notoriously cruel Himmelstoss "gave Tjaden his education" no soldier would expect a good time (187). Paul performs his drills wherein he must "advanced at a run" and "fling down" in a seemingly intensive nature (187). In the midst of this intensity, Paul focuses his energy onto a more peaceful. He watches as his breath moves "the flowers and the heather too and fro" (188). Despite being midway through a drill, Paul finds time to admire the delicacy of the gentle flowers, moved by the tension in his breath.
Soon after, Remarque describes Paul’s admiration of the "fine sand" which seems to him, to be neatly composed of "millions of the tiniest pebbles" (188). Paul admires these pebbles and observes them to be "as clear as if they had been made in a laboratory" (188). Whereas the normal eye would see a pile of sand granules, Paul notices each pebble individually, despite the little individuality they actually possess. Paul's fascination with the sand continues and he is surprised by what comes next. As he digs his hands through the sand he reveals that it is "strangely inviting to dig one's hands into" (188). Although Paul as narrator often uses first person, he reframes at this moment and chooses a word less personal. Using the highly less personal "one" as opposed to “my” or “your”, Paul indicates that he does not identify with the ...

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...eed only to follow command. As Paul witnessed, the life and youth was stripped away from them, changing their entire character. However, these soldiers stand united in the end. Facing the sky above them, which controls them entirely, the soldiers shares a commonality, a weakness and a strength in one. As much as the brutality of the war deteriorated their will power, they prevailed and fought in order to live. Although they fought each other, again it was not personal. Their intense discipline led them to follow orders blindly. They were once innocent and “gleaming white", but too soon they became stained by each of their experiences in war, begging them to question “What am I fighting for?” (188). This passage serves to foreshadow Paul's realization in chapter 9, that war is fought for those in power and that, ultimately, every soldier is left with the same scars.