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Analysis Of Erich Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

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All Quiet on the Western Front is a powerful anti-war novel written by Erich Remarque. Remarque was a young German solider that fought in World War One. Through his experiences, this novel embodies all the hard hitting, raw aspects of the war, from the physical and psychological horrors to who is the real enemy. Remarque has created a universal portrait of men at war. One of the aspects of war that Remarque highlighted was the physical horror’s that the soldiers had to go through. Every man during the war saw first-hand what the war could do to you physically. Kemmerich was the first of Paul’s friends that died. He was shot in the leg and had to have it amputated. “Kemmerich has lost his foot. The leg amputated... under the skin the life …show more content…

Unlike a wounded solider that can be taken to the first aid tent, a soldier that has been crazed has nowhere to seek help. Many new recruits experienced shell shock, a psychological condition due trauma of a bombardment “the first recruit seems actually to have gone insane. He butts his head against the wall like a goat”.(pg 76) Paul also experienced psychological problems himself. In society to kill a person is morality wrong and against the law. But once in the war it becomes second natures to kill. Pauls stabs a man in the throat on the opposition side, it was his first time he had killed a man with his hands and having to watch him die, push’s Paul over the edge “my state is getting worse, I can no longer control my thoughts. What would his wife look like? Like the little brunette on the other side of the canal?”(pg146) By revealing psychological horrors we can see Remarque unbroken message of anti …show more content…

Like Remarque himself many men enlisted in the war at a young age, fresh out of school and unsure of what to do with there life joining the army seemed like a honourable way to go. Sadly many of these men died never getting to experience life’s fullness and those that did survive would have no job to return to or skill to work with because all they’d known was death, loss and heart ach that they had suffered through. “Men will not understand us- for the generation that grew up before us…had a home and a calling… the war will be forgotten and the generation that has grown up after us will be strange to us and push us aside”. (pg190) the lost generation is important theme that supports the anti-war

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No generations will suffer like them. The older generation will just go back to old occupation. The future generation will simply disregard them as a whole.[7] The choices left for the suffering generation of this great war is, as they grow older, “few will adapt themselves, some others will merely submit, and most will be bewildered; - the years will pass by and in the end we (they) shall fall into ruin’’[8]The significance of that message, given by the main character, was the warning the author tried to proclaim. The German generation of young men of late teens and early twenties, will grow up with only knowing war.

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When the soldiers of World War One went off to fight they had no clue of what the outcome would be, or the horrors that went along with them. In the book as Paul is on the front, he describes the horrors and despair of bombardments, when he states that, Everyman is aware of the heavy shells tearing down the parapet, rooting up the embankment and demolishing upper layers of concrete. When the shells land in the trenches we note how the hollow, furious blast is like a blow from the paw of a raging beast of prey. Already by morning a few of the recruits are green and vomiting (106).

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In this particular occurrence, Paul does not identify the enemy he attacks. He merely mentions his enemy’s face without specificity. By describing the man only as “a wounded machine-gunner,” Paul represents the lack of humanity created when soldiers view the enemy as nothing more than a pawn in war. Paul fails to distinguish his enemies making his attack much more vicious. The more monstrous the attacks, the more effect these blood bath’s have on the soldier's' mental conditions.

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At the time, in order to understand the struggles and experiences of war, the person may have had to undergo war themselves due to the lack of the truth in writings about war, until Erich Maria Remarque wrote All quiet on the Western Front in 1929 and enlightened millions. Rather than glorifying war and portraying it as “heroic”, Remarque purpose was to reveal the truth about the horrors of war, therefore becoming the most loved and hated book of WW1. Remarque much of the time used personal situations he came across in combat as inspiration towards his writing. In an interview, he explains how “the shadow of war hung over [himself and friends]” even when they attempted their hardest to shut it out. With this common thought amongst them, Remarque

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The quotations “We are old folk” (Remarque 18) “The war has ruined us for everything” (Remarque 87) and “Young innocents” (Remarque 73) in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque profoundly expresses not only how the writer feels about the war, but a major theme communicated to us throughout the entire book. Remarque repetitively describes the effect of the war on the soldiers using words like “ruined” and “old”, showing the emotional, physical and psychological damage in the soldiers. Paul Baumer, a 19 year old, describes himself and his friends of the same age as “old folk”. This phrase is used as a metaphor to express how despite their young age, the sheer experience and trauma brought on by the intensities of

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All Quiet on The Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, is a novel composed after World War One to convey the experiences of German soldiers during this horrific time of fighting. He brought to light many important issues that occur during wars. In this book, three horrors of war that had the largest impact were the lack of sanitation in the trenches, the loss of comrades, and the shock that came from unexpected and ongoing shelling. The lack of sanitation in the trenches caused many diseases, infections, and terrible memories to me made.

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Tim Burton is a film director who has produced some very well received movies. Early in his life he add many influences two of whom were the Grimm brother’s and Roald dahl’s stories. Early in his apprenticeship Burton produced Vincent a Short film that shows Vincent a small child who dreams of playing as actor Vincent Price in Edgar Allan Poe's stories. After Vincent he started working on films as a director. Director Tim Burton's Style is a darker more suspenseful style, as shown in his movies Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Nightmare before Christmas; the three cinematic techniques that best portray this style are low-key lighting, non-diegetic music/sound, and the establishing shot.

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The entire army must take care of its own, even though Paul came face to face with the enemy, he knew that war is war and he must have killed to stay

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The ruthless killing brings a toll on the people who will remember that the enemies are men just like them, as Paul does when he instantly regrets his actions, saying that he would not kill him if he could redo the situation. Thus Paul sees value in being a coward, as he thinks it would be more courageous not to kill him than to go by the standards he learns. The German soldiers train as if they were animals acting upon their instincts to do so, which bears similarity to the human nature of war. Paul is at the stage where he lacks any hope for the war and does not see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is in the winter and at the time when Paul is so accustomed to the war that it is just another day for him.

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In the story, “Mama Gone”, by Jane Yolen, Mandy Jane-the daughter of a now vampire-helps Papa to hunt Mama down in order to protect the rest of the village from being attacked by her. Papa did not follow the vampire ritual after Mama died, leading her to a life of blood sucking. Mandy Jane and her father must find a way to protect all from Mama. A lesson that the author brings up in the story is that it is important to have inner strength in times of crisis.

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Present throughout the book is the theme of disillusionment. In the school, they’ve been told by their schoolmasters and parents that unless they join the war, they would remain cowards. They see propaganda after propaganda, all alluding towards the glory of battle and warfare. Out on the front, they realize that nothing was further from the truth. Their dreams of being heroes shattered, like when they compare themselves to the soldier on a poster in chapter 7.

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I was a soldier, and now I am nothing but an agony for myself, for my mother, for everything that is so comfortless and without end. I ought never to have come on leave" (Remarque 185). Here, Paul puts aside his emotions, a symbol of his humanity, in favor of animal-like instincts to survive during the war. During his leave, Paul struggles to connect with his family and friends due to his war experiences. He can not agree with the principal's vision of the war because Paul sees through the lies of nationalism and actually experiences the horrors of war.

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In Housman’s poem “HERE DEAD WE LIE” the dead are talking to the living soldiers, encouraging their fight and risking their lives. Reassuring the young soldiers that life is really nothing to lose when fighting for your country, “[although] young men think it is, And [they] were young,” not knowing that they died for the right cause (Housman). The fallen soldiers, although young, are ironically convincing the living soldiers that it is alright to die for their country, and not to worry if they fall in the war as well. The lost generation is another key theme exemplified throughout the works of Remarque and Housman by the mass of soldiers killed from

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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).

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I am a young woman from Nigeria who is very proud of her African heritage and looks forward to contributing to the study of African peoples to realize the fullest possible levels of human development, achievement and social progress. My choice of sociology as my field of professional study, the area in which I want to very much to make my mark in life, is a result of my keen intellectual interest in gender, ethnicity and race and most of all human behavior at the level of social organizations. I want to very much to be admitted to your program at the faculty of sociology in Rice University Houston because I am entirely convinced that it is one of the finest programs in Rice University Houston. Growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood

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