Theme Of Fear In All Quiet On The Western Front

The novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is the story of young Paul Baumer and Troop 9 as they battle in World War I on the Western Front for Germany. This novel differs from most every war novel in that it shows the true emotions and feelings of a soldier on the battle field. It does not portray the men as valiant soldiers protecting their country, but strips away the romanticized view of soldier’s war to portray the raw feelings that soldiers have in the midst of warfare. The troop does not die all together but they are seen dropping one by one. As both Paul Baumer’s life and the battle on the Western Front move forward, Paul’s values, along with those of other the soldiers, evolve until they culminate in Baumer’s

All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel written by Erich Maria Remarque that takes place in World War I. This novel is about an eighteen-year-old German boy that enlists with his classmates to the war. All of the boys that enlisted are very excited but they have no idea what war is really like. Throughout the years of fighting, Paul realizes that war is his life. He never really had a life after school so once the war is over he will have nothing to go back to. Paul thinks that war is horrible but that is all he has. During this novel, Paul experiences lots of brutal deaths. He watches his friends die and he can't do anything about it. He also sees young men risking their lives for their country. In this essay, I will go over the brutality of war using similes and personification quotes from All Quiet on the Western Front.

He feels as if he does not “belong here (home) anymore” because he is used to life during warfare and he feels home is now a “foreign world” (Remarque 168) and does not know anything but warfare. The war has had such a mental effect on Paul so much so that he is reminded by the constant terror of war. A terror that he can not escape even when he is not enduring it. Paul’s thoughts at home are very similar to those of real soldiers who have fought in wars.

In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque demonstrates that war changes men in irreparable ways. Paul, the main character of the novel is a compassionate, nice, sensitive guy and his life was changed forever after getting drafted to the front. Remarque paints the picture that Paul, once a totally different person before the war, changed into a numb, dispassionate man. Paul loved his family and wrote poetry, but the war changed him “It is strange to think that at home in the drawer of my writing table there lies the beginning of a play called “Saul” and a bundle of poems” in the way needing to keep certain warming and enlightening feelings at bay in order to keep his mind straight to survive in the horrific war (19).

At one point during the story, Paul Baumer returns home for a short leave from the front line. While at home he is faced with old faces, some who want only to hear of the war. Those who want to hear the war and stories constantly put a strain on Paul’s psyche. He describes in several occasions that when the conversation of war came up he would only others funny stories but nothing of his hardship. Some, like his mother, asked about the conditions of the front line. Paul is unable to describe world of the front line because he is afraid once the conversation starts he will be unable to control his feelings. “I am afraid they [words] might then become gigantic and I be no longer able to master them” (Remarque, 165). This is paramount to the life a soldier, he must be able to control his emotions in order to survive. In other circumstances, the older men wish to know of the progress of the war. In one part of the story, a few elderly gentlemen were speaking of strategy and how to win the war with Paul. The older men do not appear to be very sympathetic to Paul’s struggles and ask him sensitive questions. Paul, though angry, does not react to their prying. At one point one of the men talks of destroying the “froggies” and “johnnies”, in reference to the French and English soldiers, and remarks that Paul and the army should “shove ahead a bit out there with your

Many of Paul's fellow army men do not survive. After the loss of Paul's closest friends,

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

Along with personal feelings, the same goes for everyone Paul witnessing his best friend’s death have impacted their group so that they cannot feel or care for each other. After a battle that left many injured. While Paul rests he thinks of how everyone is left on their own, claiming, "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 and to kill" (Remarque, 116). During another day in the trenches Paul sees many bodies everywhere, soldiers being killed in front of him. Losing everyone that was close to him has caused him to lose himself mentally making him unstable. He carries the pressure of telling the families which furthermore carriers his depression. He carries a comrade’s boots as they are passed down from soldiers after each owner dies, Paul carries these boots to represent unimportance of human life. In addition to young soldiers have to follow and look up to older generation and higher rank officers which lead to betrayal. Propaganda played a huge role in World War 1 giving everyone biased opinions and bad judgements of others. These opinions gave Paul a false perspective of older generations.

Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front brings the reader directly into the harrowing battlefields of World War I, where the young German soldier Paul witnesses frequent bloodshed and attempts to keep himself alive. The author, a veteran himself, chooses to leave a political overview of the war from his book in order to truly reveal the anguish of those serving at the front. He criticizes the brainwashing of young men into joining the army, using the narrator’s story to convey the ways in which the conflict desensitizes soldiers to killing. Paul realizes how the war has affected him when he stabs a French soldier and must remain hidden in a shell-hole with him. As he witnesses the man’s slow death, he finally understands that

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

All Quiet on the Western Front Essay We learn about past wars in history. We hear stories from soldiers that partake in these wars, but do we really understand what goes on out on that battlefield? We would have to see and experience it ourselves to fully grasp why soldiers come back so scarred. Not only physically but emotionally, and socially as well.

Gabriel Chevallier’s autobiographical novel Fear: A Novel of World War I started with a young university student Jean Dartemont, like many others around his age getting drafted into the French army to fight at the front. Dartemont was pleased to know that he met the qualifications to join the army but would soon learn that the war was nothing to be proud of.

The French soldier dies an agonizingly painful and prolonged death; his gurgling and whimpering haunting Paul, but when the soldier finally dies, the resulting silence is even more haunting and debilitating. “Paul describes the trenches, the shelling, the screams of wounded horses and men, the poison gas attack, and the rain that drenches everything. [He] describes the tension and the horror of a major battle, with the confusion, the noise, and death turning the soldiers into numbed, unthinking machines.” (All). Paul recognizes how war forces people to think and act in ways that differ from their values and beliefs, as they are desperate to survive. Remarque uses imagery and sensory details to skillfully formulate a raw and grisly atmosphere that leaves no aspect hidden. Towards the end of the novel, many of Paul’s comrades have died, and he is the only person left in his class who is alive. He expresses the desolation and misery he feels, “I am very quiet. Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear.” (Remarque 295). Paul has nothing left to lose at this point, so he faces his enemies free of fear and obligation to return back to his friends and his home. His sorrowful tone conveys his indifference towards death and his desire

In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque the reader sees World War One from a German’s perspective. The main character Paul Bäumer joins German forces after with his friend. The main character Paul Baumer goes through many difficulties and struggles in time of War. The author suggests that symbols give a better understanding of the brutality of war through butterflies, boots, and women.

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