An Analysis Of Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front: The Greatest Anti-War Novel

The honor of defending your country, the pride of fulfilling a purpose greater than yourself, and the unwavering sense of patriotic duty felt by soldiers are some of the calling cards that invite citizens to join the army. Unfortunately, war proponents simply use these reasons as a guise to hide the true nature of war. Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front pulls the veil off of this facade and reveals the dark and twisted realities of war. Through the eyes of Paul Baumer, we witness the atrocities of war and the damaging psychological effect it has on him on his companions which paints the perfect picture as to why All Quiet on the Western Front is an anti-war novel.

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Unfortunately, that could not be any further from the truth, as Paul describes himself and his companions turning more beast than man in the face of combat. “It has transformed us into unthinking animals... reinforced us with dullness...” is a prime example of the savage nature of war (274). Instead of trying to be rational thinking men in the face of adversity, Paul and company has to resort to their animalistic survival instincts to simply survive. Furthermore, every time they go into combat and turn to their “animal side”, they lose a piece of their humanity, since that is the cost to simply survive. Paul even compares his experience to that of a polar expedition, stating that the only way to stay alive is to only consider what is going to keep you alive, everything else is superficial. He even credits his focus on the “preservation of existence”, as one of the chief reasons he and his friends have not gone mad or died yet(273). This plays a key role on why Detering actually went mad and deserted. Once he saw the cherry tree, he was flushed with emotions of home and became so fixated on them that it drove him to the point of desertion. Had he ignored it and simply focused on the animalistic urge to survive, he may not have gone

The death of Kemmerich is pivotal as it illustrated that the result of falling in combat was not a glorious moment where the soldier feels elated for doing his part to defend his country but instead has to suffer unimaginable pain for hours or days until his body finally gives up. Remarque even dedicates a section of the novel to describing patients in a hospital and the abysmal conditions they live in and the amount of suffering they are exposed to in their final hours. Paul even goes as far as to say that a “hospital alone shows what war is”, and this clearly maintains the point that war is not a place where a soldier can find purpose and patriotic fulfillment but instead he can find a slow and sufferable death (263). Paul’s death was interestingly enough quick and painless as portrayed by the calmness in his face but that calmness was not because he felt he did his duty but instead because he was finally able to find peace from the living hell the war put him