“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae, “All Quiet on the Western Front” produced by Carl Laemmle, and Storm of Steel by Ernest Junger all describe the gruesome setting and effects that were a reality for soldiers fighting in World War I. Each piece presents this information through different medias: “In Flander’s Fields” through poetry, “All Quiet on the Western Front” through film, and Storm of Steel through prose. Although they are all of different medias, they evoke a similar sense of pathos in the audience through their use of similar rhetorical strategies. Each work compels the reader to realize how fragile life really is through its employment of diction and imagery. The second stanza of McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” reminds the reader …show more content…
“All Quiet on the Western Front” depicts the horrors of war graphically using actors and dramatic lines to portray the horrors of war in a way that evokes a strong emotional response in the audience. In contrast, Storm of Steel merely gives an account of the events of World War I, dictating what went on impersonally and embellishing little. Though it may seem as though Storm of Steel is devoid of any emotion and therefore devoid of pathos, it is precisely this lack of embellishment that highlights the reality of the horrors of war and draws out an emotional response from the …show more content…
Junger’s clear diction and imagery are primary components that contribute to his pragmatic tone. Junger evokes emotion in the audience through his portrayal of simple and direct facts which is reflected in his simple and direct diction. This is evident when he says, “I heard a stifled, unpleasant sound; with a degree of calm that astonished me, I registered that it came from a bloated disintegrating corpse,” (Junger 97) Junger simply and directly describes his personal experience, giving the audience a clear picture of his unpleasant surroundings. Junger’s simple diction and clear imagery and forces the reader to acknowledge what he describes for what it is-fact. Only after recognizing Junger’s work as fact and not fantasy can the reader formulate a realistic image of World War I without consciously or subconsciously dismissing the image as an embellishment of the truth. This harsh portrayal reminds the audience that life is not always pleasant, and it evokes a sense of gratefulness as well as awareness that misfortune may happen to anyone at any
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields”, Ernst Junger’s Storm of Steel, and Lewis Milestone’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” present different accounts of World War I. McCrae displays the sorrow of losing comrades while exhorting the public to continue to fight in memory of those who died. Junger writes a gripping account of his experience as a fearless young man in the war. “All Quiet on the Western Front” combines both the sorrow of McCrae’s poem with Junger’s fearless attitude to deliver a war story reminiscent of the personalities of the soldiers. All three works manipulate the use of syntax to evoke a sense of remorse as their audiences recognize the reality of death that manifests in war. McCrae employs syntax to display remorse through his stylization and organization
Andrew Servis Mrs. Carpenter Honors English 10 03 March 2016 Identity in All Quiet on the Western Front All Quiet on the Western Front is a classic novel written by Erich Maria Remarque. In this novel, the reader is given a clear visual of what it was like to be a German soldier during World War I. Throughout the story, the reader is given a great understanding of the horrendous things these young men had to endure. Remarque uses great detail and imagery to show how the men felt and the conditions they were in. Throughout the novel, Remarque constantly reminds the reader about the thematic concept of sacrifice.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a story, in which it allows people to know the true horrors of war. Throughout the story and in Erich Maria Remarque’s writing he uses many literary devices to emphasize what he experienced and the emotions he felt. The devices that he used are used in order to help the readers understand his experience and emphasize the theme of his war novel. Throughout this essay, I will show you a few of the literary devices used within the novel that emphasized the theme, the brutality of war. Within this essay you will learn about imagery, metaphors, and symbolism.
It is in these conditions that Erich Maria Remarque’s, All Quiet on the Western Front‒ a novel about a young German soldier’s experience in World War I‒ takes place. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque accurately depicts the trench conditions of World War I and the psychological affects the war has on soldiers in order to call attention to how war cheats young soldiers of their adolescence and causes permanent physical and emotional damage. Firstly, Remarque truthfully portrays the trench conditions in World War I to bring awareness to the traumas soldiers experienced due to the dangers and discomforts of trench life and how this continues to affect them after the war. Trench warfare was a combat tactic used in World War I in which opposing troops fought from dug up ditches, or trenches, that faced each other with an empty expanse
Warfare has a devastating impact, that can provide an impact on the nature of humankind. “All Quiet on the Western Front” is a film that visualizes to the audience the struggles and hardships that the soldiers endured while fighting in World War 1 for Germany. The audience sees the stress not only mentally, but physically that the soldiers have to go through while at war. This film allows future generations to understand the devastating impact warfare had on everything and also provides insight into the nature on humankind. There are many scenes that are good examples for future generations to see the impact war had on the humankind throughout this film.
“We loved our country as much as they; we went courageously into every action; but also we distinguished the false from true, we had suddenly learned to see. And we saw that there was nothing of their world left. We were all at once terribly alone; and alone we must see it through” (Remarque 6). Joining the war is perceived to be glory, and an honorable act, but is it like all it seems? All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel about World War I and its effects upon those who served in it through the perspective of a German soldier by the name of Paul Bäumer.
War creates tremendous amount of trauma and destruction to the human race from explosions to mass massacres. At the front-line a soldier is a brave man who sacrifices his life to fight for the freedom of his country and if he is not killed by the war he is scared by the psychological effects of war that will live on for the rest of his life. Within the novel All Quiet on the Western Front and film Born on the 4th of July the author Erich Maria Remarque and director Oliver Stone both set a strong example and express the true gruesome and terror of war. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front and film Born on the Fourth of July, Paul Baumer and Ron Kovic are characters that both share similarities and differences through their experiences
World War I is a gloomy and cruel place; it obliterates the beliefs of fighting for one’s country and transforms the minds of the soldiers. This realization is found in Erich Maria Remarque’s book All Quiet on the Western Front. In the book, a young teen named Paul Baumer and his friends join in the war believing it’s going to make them become important and that fighting for their country is such a great privilege, but once they are in the war, they all realize it’s not the same as what they were told. The young soldiers witness what war is truly about and they reflect on what they were told, knowing the truth makes them see they were told lies, so they are the same which obliterates their trust in the adult world. Remarque employs symbolism,
Of the many narrators that we experienced throughout the course, those used by Erich Maria Remarque in, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Mark Zusak in, The Book Thief, delivered the most compelling and unique point of views. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul, our narrator, is able to relate every event and emotion as it is happening. Through Paul, we were able to experience trench warfare during World War I. Remarque, through Paul, allowed us to encounter the war through the eyes of someone from the “enemy” side and we realized that regardless of sides, all men were humans and all went through the same motions in life; fear, hunger, loneliness and love. While he is unable to tell us how other characters are feeling, he makes up for
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.
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. 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. In the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front" is the description by Erich Maria Remarque of the graphic violence and gore and the psychological pain that the average soldier endured on the western front.
In All Quiet on the Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul Bäumer enlists in the army as an enthusiastic soldier, but while in the trenches he displays the horrors of war. Before World War I, battle was glorified, but after the Great War there was a shift between emphasizing war to portraying the dangers of it. This book displays the terror within the western trenches and how it affects the soldiers in a realistic, non-heroic way. The new modern shift is caused by the intense amount of soldiers dead from World War I.
The horrors of war can be seen throughout most of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Although this novel takes place during World War I, horrors of war have been around since the beginning of war, and can still be seen here today. Almost all soldiers, regardless of which war they’re in, end up losing themselves. This is due to the experiences these soldiers have gone through and the horrors of war that they have seen or been a part of. War is a gruesome part of human history, and the different horrors often hidden within can tear the soldiers apart, both mentally and physically.
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.
R.C Sheriff successfully describes the appalling effects of war on different soldiers “Journey’s End”, written by R. C. Sheriff in the early twentieth century, is considered as one of the most prominent dramatic war pieces in English Literature. Sheriff mainly portrays in his play, as it was written based on his experiences in World War 1, the melancholy of war and death. The writer aims in “Journey’s End” to provide a moral message of the nonsense and futility of war; this moral message is reflected efficiently in the characters’ feelings and behavior in the trenches with all the stress and the explosions. Consequently, Sheriff successfully manages to describe the appalling effects of war on different soldiers.