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All Quiet On The Western Front: A Literary Analysis

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High school gossip can be tough to navigate around for many people, and in small, private schools such as Convent & Stuart Hall, rumors spread like wildfire. The rumors stem from an individual whose single story reverberates everywhere. Othello by William Shakespeare, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque show the dangers of a single story. The novels all follow very different plotlines but share the common literary aspect of a single story or rumor. Just as in real life, the stories or rumors take on a life of their own inside the heads of each character. Since there is a lack of opposing evidence, the single story tricks the mind into believing that it must be true. The single story …show more content…

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the racism of the time nullifies the argument of the black Tom Robinson and makes the story of white Mayella Ewell the only feasible story. When there was a trial in the 1930s in the American south, the whites always one. When Mayella Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of raping her, the accusation still stood, despite the lack of any incriminating evidence against Tom. In the courtroom, the white jury never question Mayella’s words, even when she disrespects them. Mayella says, “That nigger yonder took advantage of me an' if you fine fancy gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards, stinkin' cowards, the lot of you” (251). Racism is so prominent that going against the grain is unheard of and shameful. Mayella’s story is the only one which people are listening to. She and her story are single-handedly ruining Tom’s life, all because he is black. His conviction only reaffirms the racism. The danger of a single story is that people will use their position of power to overcome their inferiors. By not realizing that all people have an equal voice, only a single story is heard, and a single story in court will ruin people’s

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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.

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724 Words | 3 Pages

Q5. The book All Quiet on the Western Front taught me everything I know on war. Before reading this book I honestly knew absolutely nothing when it came to war. The only things I had known was that the United States of America had a strong army and they would protect us. War had never been a worry to me, occasionally I would hear about it in the news, but it never bothered me.

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264 Words | 2 Pages

In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque’s use of irony and metaphors to prove that the horrors and evils of war outweigh any positives. When Paul, the main character, and the other men in his company move to the front lines to lay down barbed wire they are shot at and find protection in a cemetery. Paul remarks, “I merely crawl still farther under the coffin, it shall protect me, thought Death himself lies in it.” (67). Paul knows that his only protection from the shootings is inside of one of the coffins, which ironically, is where he would end up if he was shot there.

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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1667 Words | 7 Pages

Before World War I, all of Europe in 1914, was tense and like a bomb or a fire was waiting to erupt. Europe had not seen a major war in years, but due to Militarism, Imperialism, Alliances, and Nationalism tensions grew high. Each country was competing to be the best by gaining more territory and growing in their military size and successful economies. World War 1 was waiting to happen and the assassination of the Archduke was the spark that lit Europe up. In All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque we see the effects of the assassination.

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1763 Words | 8 Pages

After investigators begun to suspect arson was in play, the testimonies turned into accusations and assumption of Willingham’s guilt. David Grann wrote, “Dozens of studies have shown that witnesses’ memories of events often change when they are supplied with new contextual information”, suggesting that after a certain period of time into an investigation, all testimonies should be taken with little confidence (Grann, “Trial by Fire”). If the witnesses and testimonies were taken from individuals who know nothing about the

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885 Words | 4 Pages

Then some people thought that Tom was innocent but the judge decided to make Tom go to prison. In the book it said that Mayella hugged and kissed Tom on the cheek. From this I can infer that Mayella is desperate and can get away with this because Tom Robinson is a black person. This reminds me of a couple southern movies I’ve watched where black people are always the first to suspect because of their color. Tom Robinson on trial for his life said Bob Ewell yelled “whore I’ll kill you” when he saw Mayella kiss Tom from the window.

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1147 Words | 5 Pages

In other words, this means that people elaborate and stretch the actual truth in a situation, rather than believing the astounding truth. Often times, this helps people compress the unknown, and fill in the gaps to the clues that don’t make sense. Not understanding the unknown is hard, and leads to people jumping to conclusions when they don 't even know exactly what happened. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, rumors spread throughout the town creating stereotypes and changing many people’s once honorable reputation and unfairly forcing them to alter their way of life forever. One situation where rumors got the best of an innocent person was in the situation of Tom Robinson.

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557 Words | 3 Pages

In to Kill a Mockingbird Tom Robinson a colored man during the Great Depression was accused of rapeing Mayella they went to court and they fought for each other's innocence. Victims of rape and abuse are affected one way or another. Some physically and others mentally or even both. Mayella is a pitiful lonely girl who doesn't have any friends, is poor and has a drunk father. This causes her to make a unforgivable decision to seduce a man of different skin color.

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343 Words | 2 Pages

Imagery/Language(Metaphor) The use of metaphors are an important part of any piece of literature as they establish depth and color. In the story All Quiet on the Western Front, E.M. Remarque is effective in using many metaphors to connect the characters to their thoughts, to their primitive state and to their surrounding conditions. Kat, Deterning, Albert and some of the other characters express their thoughts on the corruption of power, to whom the war is useful to. When conversing about the war, Albert states that he “think[s of] it [as] more of a kind of fever,” comparing war to a fever of some kind (206).

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776 Words | 4 Pages

We see injustice and narrow-mindedness throughout but is most prevalent with Tom Robinson’s trial, with Mayella and Bob Ewell taking the stand and giving their testimony. Because of Mayella’s ignorance and selfishness, she was able to put an innocent man in jail. She didn’t care about the social code that she would be breaking, and lured Tom Robinson, an african american that worked for Mr. Deas. She kisses him, and after Tom is able to run away, faces the consequences of her father. During the trial, Mayella

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358 Words | 2 Pages

The testimonies reveal how deep-rooted the racism within Maycomb runs, as it is present even in court rulings and how casually present it is. The court is taking place, and the order of prosecutor’s witnesses who are: Mr. Heck Tate, the sheriff; Mr. Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father; and Mayella Ewell, the one who is accusing Tom Robinson of raping her. When it’s Mr. Ewell’s turn to speak, he does so with many racial slurs and slang embedded in his accusations. When relaying what he saw to the jury, he points at Tom and yells “―I seen that black n*gger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” Mr. Ewell, who, although, has never been a part of a court case or viewed one, doesn’t truly care, or notice, that so far into the formal case, not one person has used racial slang to talk about Tom, and uses the term n*gger quite casually.

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1680 Words | 7 Pages

In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper lee, a book taking place in the 1900’s-an era where racism was a matter of the utmost importance. Atticus Finch-A white folk, father of Jem and Scout, raising two children on his own due to the loss of their mother is known to his family and the town of Maycomb County, an inheritably racist county as a niger-lover is taking the role of being Tom Robinson- a black male being accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a nineteen year old white female. She states-Tom Robinson broke into her house and took utmost advantage of her; raped her. This leads to a trial in which Atticus acts as Tom’s lawyer and defends his client from what he has been accused of; rape. Atticus becomes very assiduous in order to prove his client innocent, despite the fact that Atticus is told no black human has proven right over a white human.

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730 Words | 3 Pages

First, she had to make up a story about Tom Robinson because she had kissed a black man, which was frowned upon for a white woman to do. “She was white and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society in unspeakable: she kissed a black man”(272). Mayella is also used as an example when she convinces the jury to convict an innocent black man because of Southern Womanhood. “That n***** took advantage of me, an’ if you fine fancy gentlemen don’t wanna do nothin’ about it then you’re all yellow stinkin’ cowards, stinkin’ cowards, the lot of you”(251).

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813 Words | 4 Pages

When discovered she covers her guilt and shame by accusing him of rape. In this era and in this community, Mayella’s accusation is seen as reasonable and unfortunately believable, which leaves Tom beaten before he enters the trial. However, Atticus expresses a powerful message in his closing argument to create a move for change in his society. The argument is expressed subliminally, by communicating that in the 1930’s society disregarded that all were equal, and categorised men and women based on the colour of their skin.

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