Erich Maria Remarque was a man who had lived through the terrors of war, serving since he was eighteen. His first-hand experience shines through the text in his famous war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which tells the life of young Paul Bäumer as he serves during World War 1. The book was, and still is, praised to be universal. The blatant show of brutality, and the characters’ questioning of politics and their own self often reaches into the hearts of the readers, regardless of who or where they are. Brutality and images of war are abundant in this book, giving the story a feeling of reality. From the first few pages, it reveals that Second Company has made it out of a battle, losing close to half their men. Soon after, we see a detailed description of Kemmerich’s death, a fellow soldier injured and amputated before the beginning of the story. The way his fellow soldiers reacted, not with apathy yet not with unbridled misery, immediately sets the tone for the book. Other scenes throughout the …show more content…
Present throughout the book is the theme of disillusionment. In the school, they’ve been told by their schoolmasters and parents that unless they join the war, they would remain cowards. They see propaganda after propaganda, all alluding towards the glory of battle and warfare. Out on the front, they realize that nothing was further from the truth. Their dreams of being heroes shattered, like when they compare themselves to the soldier on a poster in chapter 7. They reflect upon how their lives cannot compete with how the posters, and that they will never have the innocence of the girl. They crave for intimacy, and Paul was disheartened when the French ladies they meet was unable to provide him with what he needed. Along the story, they also jest with irony about their future. They show signs of envy towards Kat’s family, and feel at loss about their own lack of
Perry for example was already uncertain of his future and his knee injury already had him on edge. towards the end of the book after burning the corpses of his past comrades he lost all faith, and innocence. So the theme of the book is that war is devastating to person both mentally and
The Harvard University professor and civil rights activist Dr. Cesar A. Cruz once said, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” During World War One, many artists started to create works of art that portrayed the horrors of war. It brought the attention of those who lived in oblivion, and opened up the reality of war. Many of these artworks were also used to show the artist’s objection to war. Like in the historical fiction novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the story is narrated by a eighteen year old German soldier fighting on the Western Front named Paul Baumer, and it illustrates the daily terrors soldiers faced while being neglected and mistreated by the power holding authorities.
All Quiet on the Western Front demonstrates how expendable soldiers are during war by using a pair of boots that are passed on soldier to soldier as the owner who wears the boots dies. The boots are first discovered by Kemmerich, one of Paul’s friends, who finds them on a fallen paratrooper. Inheriting them as his own, Kemmerich wears them as it is better to fight with boots that prevent your feet from tiring as quickly and from the cold. He feels that these boots will make fighting more tolerable and becomes very comfortable with them.
Muller wants kemmerithicks boots because they have lost normal things in life. All the common commodities are gone with this generation they've lost family themselves at war and the ability to have good boots they are the generation of losing. Another thing that the book touched on was how when the guys lost their humanity and became savages and heartless it actually helped them out in the war this shows how the war took the humanity from the guys who went to war. Paul and his compadres are considered the lost generation because straight out of high school they were enlisted in the war or drafted.
In the story, the audience, is immersed in a typical Germans soldiers life when going to the front, waiting to go to the front, injured, and when on leave. The audience is shown the terrible experiences the soldiers experience and the emotions that they feel in many
Erich Remarque, author of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, presents a true story of a soldier throughout World War I. At the young age of 19, Paul Bäumer voluntarily enters the draft to fight for his home country, Germany. Throughout the war, Paul disconnects his mind from his feelings, keeping his emotions away from the bitter reality he is experiencing. This helps him survive mentally throughout the course of the war. The death of Paul 's friend Kemmerich forces him to cover his grief, “My limbs move supplely, I feel my joints strong, I breathe the air deeply. The night lives, I live.”
The soldier himself is frightened on why he could not save him which haunts him in his dreams as he says “In all my dreams/ before my helpless sight” is how every time he dreams he sees the soldier and he cannot control it causing him to think of it every night frightening him everyday. Soon he will feel that the dead person wants revenge for his death as the soldier states “he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”, The dead soldier always comes into the narrator's dream wanting revenge as he chokes him as how he was being choked by the gas clouds and then drowning as how the dead soldier drowned in the green sea of chlorine gas. The horrors of war is what scares the soldier even after the war. At first soldiers imagine themselves as heroes creating them eager and excited they are until they finally get to the front and see no man's land. No man's land is usually bumpy with shell holes and dead trees that are either broken or burnt.
War is a harsh reality that is inflicted upon the unwilling through the “need” of it’s predecessors and those whom wish it. All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is about 19 year old Paul and his friends in the “Second Company”. Even though they are just out of school age, they have already seen things that many could not bear to even think about. Eventually, all of his friends die, and even Paul too, dies. Remarque uses diction and syntax as literary devices to express his anti-war theme, or lesson.
In the deeply sorrowful novel All Quiet on the Western Front, young protagonist Paul Baumer serves as an example for how World War I effects soldiers not only physically but also psychologically. Author Erich Maria Remarque illustrates the horrific truth of the battle front through use of literary elements such as onomatopoeia and metaphors. Remarque strips all romanticized stereotypical ideas of war and serves readers a plate full of flat out tragic reality. The trauma filled scene in the novel in which Baumer defends his life and kills the enemy soldier, Gerard Duval, displays a perfect example of what every soldier has to go through.
Throughout the ages, wars have wreaked havoc and caused great destruction that lead to the loss of millions of lives. However, wars also have an immensely destructive effect on the individual soldier. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, one is able to see exactly to what extent soldiers suffered during World War 1 as well as the effect that war had on them. In this essay I will explain the effect that war has on young soldiers by referring to the loss of innocence of young soldiers, the disillusionment of the soldiers and the debasement of soldiers to animalistic men. Many soldiers entered World War 1 as innocent young boys, but as they experienced the full effect of the war they consequently lost their innocence.
While books like “The Red Badge of Courage” had touched upon the violence and inhumanities of war, they didn’t bring up strong critical positions against Nationalism and ignorance in leadership and the false romanticism of war. This story has so many themes to wrap your head around, but I want to say that more than anything this book’s theme is primarily based on the idea that there is a loss of innocence to those who go and fight in war. In the introduction to the novel Remarque writes “This book is neither to be 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 to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” That quotation in itself sets the reader up with an idea of what Remarque is saying in the story through events that take place and how the characters in a sense react to all that they are
From 1914 to 1918 World War One occurred due to the murder of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by a Serbian group named the Black Hand. Additionally, several powerful countries, including Germany, France, and Britain, established a series of alliances that amplifies the size of the war. Likewise, the war expanded by the strong nationalist beliefs of each country, therefore a countless amount of men desired to fight the war, in order to support their country. This sense of nationalism is a theme explored throughout Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front, through the lense of a young German Soldier. The protagonist, Paul, a 19 year old soldier, explores the horrors of war through strong comradeship, the death of companions,
Erich Maria Remarque’s title choice was perfect for this novel. Although it was not all quiet on the western front until the last page (p.296), the whole novel describes the path the war took to reach that point. Each event that occurred magnifies the struggle of valiant men in their attempt to achieve peace and brotherhood. The story line of the book began with tension, evolved to hatred and decimation, and resulted in peace and relief. When Paul Baümer lay dead, he appeared calm because peace had finally been achieved.
Erich Maria Remarque, a World War I veteran, took his own personal war experience to paper, which resulted in one of the most critically acclaimed anti-war movement novels of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front. The voice of the novel, Paul Baumer, describes his daily life as a soldier during the First World War. Through the characters he creates in the novel, Remarque addresses his own issues with the war. Specifically, Remarque brings to light the idea of the “Iron Youth,” the living conditions in the trenches, and the sense of detachment soldiers feel, among other things. Therefore, All Quiet on the Western Front criticizes the sense of nationalism, which war tends to create among citizens by quickly diminishing any belief regarding it as a glorious and courageous act.
Research Paper On Erich Maria Remarque Born June 22nd 1898, in Osnabrück, Germany Erich Maria Remarque became one of the greatest war time authors to ever live. Being born before World War 1 Remarque experienced Germany while it was still an empire. Eventually, when Germany began World War I his viewpoint on life would change into the viewpoint that makes his writings so intense and memorable. For example, “All Quiet on The Western Front” his most popular piece of literature was banned from Germany for being non-nationalistic due to its grim realism on war.