All Quiet on the Western Front is a riveting novel about World War 1, told through the eyes of a German soldier, Paul. This novel is different than other war stories because it forces you to experience the war from a point of view other than a United States Soldier. The author, Erich Maria Remarque, beautifully balances the hardships, horrors and loss of innocence that war brings to young men, with scenes of serenity, as soldiers fight to save their country.
In chapter one Remarque writes, “Yesterday we were relieved, and our bellies were full of beef and beans. We are satisfied and at peace” (1.1). The start of the novel begins with young soldiers who have not given their innocence to the horrors of the war yet. Paul and his comrades have no idea of what hardships are headed their way. Paul has an odd outlook on death throughout the book. He chooses to personify death, and once figuratively hides behind death to save his life. “But the shelling is stronger than everything. It wipes out the sensibilities, I merely crawl still deeper in the coffin, it should protect me, and especially as Death himself lies in it too” (88). Remarque captures the essence of life throughout the novel, by counteracting the horrors of war with moments of peace and comradeship between soldiers.
Most war novels tend to romanticize the ideas of glory and
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Once we had such desires – but they return not. They are past, they belong to another world that is gone from us” (100). All Quiet on the Western Front is a war novel unlike all the rest. Remarque does not romanticize the horrors of looking death in the eye every day, while fighting for what you believe in. While illustrating young soldiers losing their innocence on the battlefield, moments of perfect serenity and happiness arise, helping to balancing all the terrible realities of