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All Quiet On The Western Front Theme Essay

654 Words3 Pages

The Lost Generation is a very prevalent theme in the novel, All Quiet On the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. The Lost Generation are soldiers who fought in World War One, as a result of the war, they become clueless of the rest of society. Most of the soldiers are around 18 years old, and the rate they mature is almost horrifying. They go from being 18-year-olds who may or may not have finished high school, to men who fought in a war that will forever change them. The lost generation is a generation who will never be the same, throughout the book All Quiet On the Western Front, many of the characters will face moments where they realize the war has ruined them, ultimately, becoming the lost generation themselves. In the book, All Quiet On the Western front, the main character is Paul Baumer, an eighteen-year-old boy. Many of his classmates also enlisted to be in the war, they were around Pauls age. One of the reasons why the war takes such a huge toll on the soldiers is because they are being forced into a state of mind where it is either kill or be killed. They are not children in high school anymore. This relates to the lost generation because it asserts the loss of the innocence in the soldiers. It adds to the theme that these soldiers will never be the same again. …show more content…

Things are horrendous throughout the war, but the real effect of it happens outside of the war. Things such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and also the loss of very close friends. Near the end of the book, Paul is the last survivor of his original classmates who enlisted. “Now if we go back we will be weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope” (Remarque 294) This captures the feelings Paul has towards the war. He feels as if he goes back to the front, he will have no motivation, no drive to fight because all of his friends who pushed him to fight, are not there

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