All Quiet On The Western Front Analysis

It’s no surprise that soldiers will more-than-likely never come home the same. Those who have not served do not often think of the torment and negative consequences that the soldiers who make it out of war face. Erich Remarque was someone who was able to take the torment that he faced after his experience in World War I and shed light on the brutality of war. Remarque was able to illustrate the psychological problems that was experienced by men in battle with his best-selling novel All Quiet on the Western Front (Hunt). The symbolism used in the classic anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front is significant not only for showing citizens the negative attributes of war, but also the mental, physical, and emotional impact that the vicious war had on the soldiers.

In war, both violence and fear revokes a soldier’s humanity. These elements of war cause a person to shut down their emotional instincts, which causes the soldiers to mature rapidly by taking innocence along with joy and happiness in life. Through the experiences that the soldiers encounter, their humanity is compromised. Thus, as war strips soldiers of their innocence, they start to become disconnected from themselves and others. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque illustrates the negative effects war has on a soldier’s humanity, through his use of Paul’s books and the potato pancakes by revealing the soldiers loss of emotion that causes them to become detached from society. Through these symbols they deepen the theme by visually depicting war’s impact on Paul. Paul’s books helps the theme by depicting how the war locked his heart to old values by taking his innocence. Likewise the potato pancakes reveal Paul’s emotional state damaged by the war with his lack of happiness and gratitude.

One of the best, if not the best war novels that is Erich Remarque's “All Quiet on the

In 1929 Erich Maria Remarque published a vivid novel that highlighted the brutality of war, All Quiet on the Western Front. Remarque takes the reader on the journey of nineteen-year-old Paul Baumer, a young soldier fighting on the front line for Germany during World War I. Despite its critical acclaim, this celebrated war novel did little to celebrate war.

The beginning is the starting point of Paul’s change throughout the novel; first going into war, Paul knew who he was, not just another solider. But the literal line where the front starts is the launch of the stripping of his humane and individual identity. Paul narrates the exact point where a physical and mental borderline is set up, “We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers – we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals” (27). His identity shifts when he acknowledges that there must be change for like on the field, he becomes an “instant human animal;” no matter “moody of good-tempered” prior to arriving at the line, their individuality is demolished. War rips the uniqueness off civilian men and throws them in backwards evolution and forces them to act like animals: attacking, killing, and surviving.

Paul watched his entire high school class die in war. When Albert got shot he sweared “If they take off my leg, I'll put an end to it” to Paul (Remarque,242). Paul try's his hardest to keep them together, but in the end Paul get sent off to the front knowing once he leaves Albert will end his own life. When Paul is back at the front his father figure Kat gets shot. He carries Kat to the matic and thinks “Kat is saved” (Remarque,290). But “it'll never be over, until” he “tell me it's over” (Fiasco). Paul is told by a matic “he is dead”, he tried to prove he was alive, but to Paul's dismay he found his last friend was dead (Remarque,290). Paul has lost everyone he has ever loved and then lost all hope and strength to live on. Out of physical wounds and mental wounds the loss of a loved one and loss of hope is the worst part of

In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque, starting with the epigraph of the book, defaces the didactic tips that the war burdens Bäumer with, "This book is to be neither 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 simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war" (1). A variety of books are written about wars, aggression, and the vast majority of them are full of patriotic pathos and romantic passages. As the novel's raconteur and protagonist, Bäumer is the focal figure in All Quiet on the Western Front and fills in as the mouthpiece for Remarque's reflections about war. All through the novel, Bäumer's internal identity is stood out from the way the war drives him to act and feel. His recollections of the time before the war demonstrate that he was at one time an altogether different man from the miserable fighter who now portrays the novel. Bäumer is a caring and naive schoolboy; before the war, he adored his family and composed poetry. Witnessing the awfulness of the war and the tension it instigates, Bäumer, as different warriors, figures out how to separate his psyche from his sentiments, keeping his feelings under control with a specific end goal to save his rational soundness and survive. With his epigraph, Remarque immediately separates

While on leave, Paul also visits his father and some of his father's friends, but does not wish to speak to them about the war. The men are "curious [about the war] in a way that [Paul finds] stupid and distressing." They try to imagine what war is like but they have never experienced it for themselves, so they cannot see the reality of it. When Paul tries to state his opinion, the men argue that "[he] sees only [his] general sector so [he is] not able to judge." These men believe they know more about the war and this makes Paul feel lost. He realizes that "they are different men here, men [he] can not understand..." and Paul wants to be back with those he can relate to, his fellow soldiers. Paul wishes he had never gone on leave because out there "[he] was a soldier, but [at home] he is nothing but an agony to himself." When Paul returns to the battlefield, he is excited to be with his comrades. When he sees his company, "[Paul] jumps up, pushes in amongst them, [his] eyes searching," until he finds his friends. It is then

Paul explains his view of the constant attacks in the war and the overall negative atmosphere of the war. He feels as if the atmosphere itself “clogs the lungs,” and “suffocates” (Remarque 29) because of the loss that Paul has endured. Paul feels that the constant warfare and atmosphere surrounding him is slowly killing him. He is used to the constant loss and death around him so much so he does not know what living a normal life is anymore either. When Paul returns home he does not feel like he can live a normal life anymore.

All Quiet On The Western Front Essay | English – Parks | 9/8/2017 | Noah Fallon

Guided by the ideas of patriotism and honor from their old schoolmaster Kantorek, Paul, and his classmates enlisted in the German Army (11-12). But after returning from battle, Paul explains,”… in our hearts we trusted them…. The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke in pieces,”(12-13). Through the first encounter of warfare, Paul learns that war was nothing he expected and that he was set on a path that would lead to destruction. As a part of the younger generation, Paul looked up to the authority figures of the older generation as his guidance to the future. But in contrast, the first death shattered his belief, and because of it, Paul believed that most of the older generation is incapable of teaching them. Consequentially, Paul must turn towards the younger generation and his survival instincts to concentrate on war as he enters a hopeless

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.

The fighting in the war resulted in the soldiers losing their humanity and suffering from PTSD. In Remarque’s novel, Paul and his comrades experience traumatic events, which result into them feeling no concern and compassion. Before entering war, Paul says, “By the animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it is far quicker, much more sure, less fallible, than consciousness” (Remarque 56). The horror in the war causes the soldiers to lose their humanity and slowly become

World War I was one of the most destructive wars in recorded Human History and it was only 100 years ago. The book, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque proves that war is very destructive. The people we are looking at are Paul Baumer, Albert Kropp, and Detering. These people are brainwashed and are told that they are the “iron youth” and are coerced to join the army during World War I. Then they go into the war and see that war is not glorious, but see an ugly reality that is war. War is very destructive of physical places, emotionally, and can cause a loss of a generation, and this book shows this very well.

Through the use of symbolism, setting, and character, Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front demonstrates the psychological effects war has on the soldiers.