All Quiet On The Westward Front By Erich Maria Remarque

“I do not think at all, I make no decision- I strike him madly at home” (Remarque 216). All Quiet On The Westward Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a book about a young German and his classmates fighting in World War 1. The main character is named Paullistened and he finds himself exposed to the reality of war. Paul and his friends try their best to survive, and it feels like everything they learned before in school was useless to them. Remarque shows that Paul lost his humanity in the war. One example of brutality in war is when Paul stabs a French soldier twice. Paul was scared and panicked so he stabbed him again “I want to stop his mouth, stuff it with earth, stab him again, he must be quiet, he is betraying me; now at last I regain control of myself, but have suddenly become so feeble that I cannot any more lift my

Also, Paul pulled out his dagger to protect himself from any soldiers trying to attack him. Paul killing a man shows that the brutality of war has affected him and his humanity. Another example of when Paul loses his humanity is when he says he only knows about death and despair. “I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how people are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. (Remarque 263).” Paul realizes that all war is killing and fighting to survive. He also realizes that killing is easy but also hard emotionally for him and the person he is killing. The last example of the brutality of war is Paul not knowing if you are going to survive through the day. “We have lost all feeling for one another. We can hardly control ourselves when our hunted glance lights in the form of some other man. We are insensible, dead men, who through some trick, some dreadful magic, are still able to run” (Remarque 115). Paul says he feels