Analysis Of The Soldier In Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

The trauma soldiers experience in war follows them for their entire lifetimes. It is not uncommon for injured soldiers to wish they had died, because trying to assimilate back into society afterwards is difficult, and there is a struggle to continue life like they did before. Remarque’s All Quiet On The Western Front shares a common theme of Siegfried Sassoon’s “Does it Matter?” because of soldiers’ grim experiences have been disregarded. This erasure, as well as a lost sense of belonging and the glorification of war and warfare by ignorant civilians, all takes a psychological toll on the soldiers for the rest of their lives.

The kind of horror soldiers encounter is unimaginable by most, but they’re expected to forget it all in order to fit

When Paul, protagonist and narrator of All Quiet, is home and surrounded by civilians, a man tells him: ‘Here, try one. Waiter, bring a beer as well for our young warrior” (Remarque 160). This referring to Paul as a “warrior” is flattering, but altogether damaging because in reality he’s just a boy who got caught up in the combat. This trauma is overlooked, though, because no one is expecting a brave soldier to have fears and lasting psychological destruction. Civilians don’t sympathize with the men, instead they find themselves erasing what the soldiers have lived through. Additionally, “Does it Matter?” addresses this same theme of being seen as a hero and a noble man, even though their actual experiences really lack the patriotic glory. The poem reads: “You can drink and be glad, And people won’t say that you’re mad; For

Society refuses to see them as boys with horrible experiences, but rather as celebrities who deserve glory and attention. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul tells of his mother being “pleased to see me wearing civilian clothes; it makes me less strange to her. But my father would rather I kept my uniform on so that he could take me to visit his acquaintances. But I refuse” (164). Though Paul’s mother just wants to see the Paul she remembers again, his father takes pride in his heroic son. Paul’s downright refusal of being paraded around in his uniform goes to show that he’s aware of how he’s seen, but would rather want to let go of his violent past. “Does it Matter?” highlights this treatment of the soldiers how they’re looked up to and respected when they come back from the front. Sassoon, a fellow soldier himself, writes: “For people will always be kind, And you need not show that you mind” (2-3). Civilians can respect a man who risks their life for their homeland. In another scene, Paul says that “a red-cross sister offers me something to drink. I turn away, (...) ‘Just look, I am giving a soldier coffee!’--She calls me ‘Comrade,’ but I will have none of it” (156). This complete awe the woman has for Paul goes to show how the soldiers are seen, yet again. They are patriotic and they are brave, with heroic stories from the front and endless glory. Society