Paul Bäumer is introduced as the main character in the novel, and the novel is told in his experience and his perspective. He starts the story off by explaining what happens during a daily life of a soldier at a war. He goes on to explains the amount of what they eat and a number of smoking supplies that they can have. He explains that the war that they are currently in, their supplies are rationed. He then explains that 14 days ago they had to go to the front line and to go to battle.
However, this novel can be used in connection to almost any war, regardless of the time period. Many say that older wars, such as WWI, were extremely different than current ones. Their reasoning usually includes the fact that there are new technology, and strategies on the battlefield. While this is true, the war in Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front and modern warfare contains an extensive amount of similarities regarding the emotional and mental state of the soldiers, specifically their experience with PTSD, reactions to desensitization, and a reduction to animal quality and instinct. Remarque’s
“There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.” (C.S. Lewis) In Enrich Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front, a story is told through the eyes of a young soldier named Paul Baumer.
1. Erich Remarque’s purpose for writing All Quiet on the Western Front was to show the devastating effects of war on soldiers and to protest against the war. He does this by depicting the experiences of a group of young German soldiers who are fighting in World War I. One example of how Remarque fulfills this purpose is when the protagonist, Paul Baumer, reflects on the futility of war and the sacrifices soldiers are forced to make. On page 49, Paul says, "We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial - I believe we are lost."
World War I and All Quiet on the Western Front World War I was the first of two major wars that affected the world. Germany was one of the Central Powers during the war. In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel All Quiet on the Western Front follows the story of how German soldiers braved complications during World War I.
Throughout the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator of the story, Paul Baumer goes through the realization how joining the war was destroying his and others’ youth while turning people against each other. Remarque uses the phrase “abyss of sorrow” as figurative language to describe the suffering and heartbreak the young boys experience in the front line, earning the generation of boys that served in World War 1 the name “the Lost Generation”. After Paul observes the pain of the prisoners that he is assigned to watch, he sees for himself “how people are set against one another, and in silence…slay one another”. Just because two sides are waging war, people are brainwashed or persuaded to sacrifice themselves for a fight that is
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.
Millions of people have gone through life-altering experiences in their time in World War I. In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Bäumer, a 19-year-old German soldier, narrates his personal memoirs of this war. He describes the mental change and suffering he goes through as he is forced to mature from a young boy to a soldier in order to survive, leaving him permanently scarred from the throes of war. By employing juxtaposition to contrast Paul’s mindset, before and after the war, Remarque demonstrates how the mental health of the World War I soldiers is damaged because of the abrupt loss of their youth, leaving them in a state of survival and mental instability.
Erich Maria Remarque is the German Novelist responsible for writing All Quiet on the Western Front, which is regarded as one of the most important historical documents from that time period. This piece of history proves to be greatly significant because it gives a great perspective of World War I from a trench soldier’s point of view and illustrates the detrimental implications of war not only on society but on the individual as well. Remarque was born on June 22nd, 1898 in Osnabruck, Germany. He was conscripted at eighteen years old and served in the German military from June 12th, 1917 to July 31st, 1917 . Although Remarque is technically a veteran of World War I, it’s thought a lot of his information is primarily collected second hand since he was only on the front line for about a month due to various injuries.
Once the bloodshed of two nations falls into the hands of a soldier, that unfortunate man begins to fall apart as his subconscious thoughts change his perspective of the world around him. Throughout the classic war novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Erich Maria Remarque builds up a memorable story about survival in the eyes of a German soldier named Paul Baumer. By the influence of their unified government and their intimate relationship with grown-ups, Paul and his comrades are being taken to the front line to stand and fight for their war-torn country against France. The longer they stay at the front, the more conflicts they tend to face during the time of the Great War. As the novel progresses, Remarque transforms the German Soldiers' perspectives of their glorious fatherland and dear comrades to reveal the hidden side effects of war.
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.
"This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war" (Remarque 1). The author of this book, Erich Maria Remarque discusses the reality of war and the detrimental affects it holds on our hard working soldiers. During the war era, survival comes first followed by comfort. Erich does an excellent job in showing the context and severe brutality used in the war front accompanied with the violence and terror used.
From 1914 to 1918 World War One occurred due to the murder of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by a Serbian group named the Black Hand. Additionally, several powerful countries, including Germany, France, and Britain, established a series of alliances that amplifies the size of the war. Likewise, the war expanded by the strong nationalist beliefs of each country, therefore a countless amount of men desired to fight the war, in order to support their country. This sense of nationalism is a theme explored throughout Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front, through the lense of a young German Soldier. The protagonist, Paul, a 19 year old soldier, explores the horrors of war through strong comradeship, the death of companions,
The war was everything. After an inspiring patriotic speech by Kantorek, their teacher, Paul and his classmates joined the German army to help fight in the war that would later be named World War One. Like most eighteen-year-old, they thought it was their duty to join the war, yet now at nineteen years old, Paul and his classmates are not so sure. Fighting at the French front, they experience small rations of food, daily bombing, and watching their fellow comrades die. Twenty were in their class that enlisted, and from that twenty, seven are dead, four wounded, one in the mad house, but three became lieutenant.
In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque exposes the reality of war by refuting the idea of the “Iron Youth,” revealing the mistreatment of soldiers, and showing the critical effects war imprints on them. When any war begins, young men are always the first ones to be sent into the war zones. To clarify, older generations believe young adults are the best options for fighting; these boys are strong, full of energy, and do not have anything to lose. “The chief source of this pro-war ideology were the older men of the nation: professors, publicists, politicians, and even pastors” (Literature and Its Times).
