Merriam-Webster defines identity as the distinguishing character or personality of an individual. All Quiet On the Western Front, In the Field, The Hollow Man, and Battlefield all exemplify soldiers of the lost generation. Men of the lost generation lose their identity because of the brutal war. In All Quiet On The Western Front Paul goes home from the front on leave and he is uneasy when everyone continues to ask him how the war was. At home he is “not [himself there. There is a distance, a veil between” him and his family and friends (Remarque). The person his family sees him as is not the person Paul still is, he has lost himself, lost his identity through the fighting similar to Tim O’Brien’s book. In The Field depicts a scene where
In All Quiet on the Western Front, the main character Paul goes back to his home, the people he meets still think that the Germans are winning the war. During the war, Paul takes a leave for 17 days to go back home to visit sick mother and family. While back home, the villagers come and talk to Paul about the war. They discuss what land they will take. The villagers think that
All Quiet on the Western Front is a fictional war novel written by Erich Maria Remarque which follows the main character Paul Baumer, a German solider in World War I. Paul, the nineteen year old protagonist, narrates the novel as he and his classmates fight on the German and French front. The young men volunteer to join the German army after being persuaded by the nationalist words of their teacher, Kantorek. After only fighting for two weeks, eighty men remain in the company of the once one hundred and fifty men. Paul, Kropp, and Muller then go to visit Kemmerich, a friend of theirs from school, in the hospital. He was wounded in combat resulting in the amputating of his leg. Seeing that Kemmerich is going to die and no longer needs the new boots that he has, Muller asks to have them but Kemmerich refuses. When Paul later goes back to the hospital, Kemmerich dies and Paul takes his boots to Muller.
“We have lost all feeling for one another. We can hardly control ourselves when our hunted glance lights on the form of some other man. We are insensible, dead men, who through some trick, some dreadful magic, are still able to run” (Remarque 115). This quote shows the thoughts that run through Paul Baumer’s mind during a long battle. The quote demonstrates the stripped sense of humanity and self-control the soldiers have, and the animalistic nature the soldiers have developed. Throughout the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Baumer and the Second Company become isolated from their humanity, their childhood, and other humans.
In All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich M. Remarque, his tone is rather depressing. He uses Paul to explain his thoughts and opinions of war. Using Paul as the storyteller helps to trouble the reader, yet still makes Paul portray as calm. In addition to his sincere tone, Remarque uses imagery to make it feel as if the reader were one of the soldiers in war. Both of these key elements for a novel come together quite well and make for an interesting war story.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, is a novel illustrating the struggles in World War 1. Paul, whom the novel is based upon, is forced to change his personality to avoid mental damage during war. Paul and his group of friends are altered not only physically, but also mentally. Experiences during war causes them to cast their emotions away to avoid getting hurt emotionally. Paul and his comrades are being shaped by the experiences during war and are beginning to accept that life is fragile. As war drags on, death becomes common enough to become a casual thing for Paul. When Paul goes back to talk to Kemmerich’s mother, he is shock how much pain she is in, “. . . she strikes me as rather stupid all the same. . .Kemmerich
The novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is story of the fictional character Paul Baumer and his troop Troop 9 as they battle in World War I on the Western Front for Germany. This novel differs from most war novels in that it does not portray the men as valiant soldiers protecting their country. The way that the story is told strips away the romanticized view warfare and portrays the raw emotions that come with being on the front lines of a battle. As both Paul Baumer’s life and the battle progress, Paul’s values, along with those of the other soldiers, evolve until they culminate in Baumer’s own passing.
Remarsque had a worse vantage point of the war, he explains how the war caused a loss of unity in the German army. The two books have completely different views even though they were written from the German vantage point. All Quiet on the Western Front is about a German G. I. named Paul Baumer who is launched into war . Paul trudges through the war as they see the nightmares of war and what it has to offer. It is a fictional story so the accuracy of the events can be questioned. The story shows the dread of war and the mindset that led to the
In addition, Paul and his friends view, their real enemies are the men in power. This is because they believe that they have been betrayed to war in order to increase their nation’s power and glory. Meanwhile, the film also depicts the theme of the effect and horror of the war. Another theme in All Quiet on the Western Front is the terrible brutality and the inhumanity of war, which is shown in every scene of the film. At the end of the film, almost every major character is dead, including Paul.
When someone thinks of war, it is usually the uniform, the pride, that comes to mind. The aftermath of war, to those who do not know much about it, will come as a surprise. In the movie, All Quiet on the Western Front, the character, Paul Baumer, enters the war as an innocent person; with no idea on the effects, it may have on him. In the beginning of the movie Paul is shown as an innocent eighteen-year-old teenage boy who likes to draw and read. It is when he enters military training that his innocence starts to wither away. During military training, Paul no longer does what he likes to do, and only spends his time training on how to become a good German soldier. During training, Paul is tortured by his training officer, Corporal Himmelstoss.
“He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to a single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front” (Remarque 296). Paul Baumer, the narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front, enlisted into the German army at a young age of nineteen with a group of friends from school. Kantorek, Paul’s teacher, “gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went, under his shepherding, to the District Commandant and volunteered” (Remarque 11). After Paul and his friends underwent the ten weeks of horrific training, under the control of brutal Corporal Himmelstoss, they found out that everything Kantorek had told them about the war being illustrious was inaccurate. Paul and his fellow combatants experienced the war to be an alienating event that led the young men to feel alone because of the relationships between the young men at the front, the problems Paul faced when returning home, and the prewar and wartime civilian society.
All Quiet on the Western Front is the story of Paul Baumer’s service as a soldier in the German army during World War I. Paul and his classmates enlist together, share experiences together, grow together, share disillusionment over the loss of their youth, and the friends even experience the horrors of death-- together. Though the book is a novel, it gives the reader
“I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another (263).” Powerful changes result from horrifying experiences. Paul Baumer, the protagonists of Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front utters these words signifying the loss of his humanity and the reduction to a numbed creature, devoid of emotion. Paul’s character originates in the novel as a young adult, out for an adventure, and eager to serve his country. He never realizes the terrible pressures that war
He explores the grim reality the soldiers' faced on a daily basis and demonstrates the tremendous toll the war took on the mental and physical condition of the soldiers. The author, Erich Remarque depicts the brutality of the front and how the war brainwashes many people into thinking that their opponents are evil. The impulse of Paul killing his opponent shows the survival and fear of death. It is not against the men that they fling their bombs, but it is the idea of them being killed in an instance and ending their lives at a very young age. Out of 4 stars I would rate this novel a 4 out of 4 because of its description of how the war changed a nation and its people. All Quiet On The Western Front paints a very vivid picture of the realities of WW1 and the nature of warfare experienced by the soldiers' at the front. The impact of the war of those at the front was undoubtedly life altering for the few who were lucky to survive, the consequences of which would be witnessed in civilian life for generations to come until the process repeated
In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul is morphed from an innocent child into a war veteran who has a new look on society. Paul used to have a carefree life where he was able to be a kid, but when he enlisted into the army it all changed. Paul became a person whose beliefs were changed because of the war. Paul doesn't believe in society anymore especially parents, elders, and school, which used to play a big part in his life. He changed his beliefs because society does not really understand how bad war really is and pushed many young men, who were not ready, into the army. Paul connects with his fellow soldiers because they are going through the same situation and
Yet another example of the brutalization and dehumanization of the soldiers caused by the war occurs during Paul’s leave. On leave, Paul decides to visit his hometown. While there, he finds it difficult to discuss the war and his experiences with anyone. Furthermore, Paul struggles to fit in at home: “I breathe deeply and say over to myself:– ‘You are at home, you are at home.’ But a sense of strangeness will not leave me; I cannot feel at home amongst these things. There is my mother, there is my sister, there my case of butterflies, and there the mahogany piano – but I am not myself there. There is a distance, a