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Direct Characterization In All Quiet On The Western Front

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World War I had millions of deaths but the soldiers did not want those deaths. The book All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is based around the outlook of a young soldier named Paul Baumer during World War I. The book shows all the ins and outs of what it was like as a soldier in World War I. Through the view of Paul we see an abundance of deaths. In AQotWF Erich Maria Remarque shows in war, one’s supposed enemy may not be one’s actual enemy--by using indirect characterization. In war, soldiers might find a woman that tickles their fancy. In the novel AQotWF this is shown when Paul and the boys find the group of French girls and are instantly drawn to the girls. Remarque says “I hold her arm tightly and press my lips into the palm of her hand. Her fingers close around my face. Close above me are her bewildering eyes, the soft brown of her skin and her red lips'' (Remarque 148). Paul has found himself attracted to one of the French girls and is describing the encounter. Paul is a soldier in the German army and is also getting involved with a French woman. Ironically the French and Germans are …show more content…

If he gets up to return to the trench he will be shot by the French soldiers so he is forced to wait for someone to run by so that he can stab them. Which does happen and Paul stabs a French soldier, Paul feels sorry and sad that he fatally injured the man. Remarque writes “In any case I must do it, so that if the fellows over there capture me they will see that I Wanted to help him, and so will not shoot me” (Remarque 220). Paul has found himself in a hole with a dying soldier whose injuries he is responsible for causing. Paul decides not to kill the man in case the French capture himl they will think that Paul was trying to save the soldier. Paul was supposed to show no remorse for the enemy but the soldier as human is not an actual enemy from Paul’s eyes the countries

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Remarque also uses imagery to display the horrid environment of war. For example, in the Catholic Hospital that Kropp and Paul go to in the novel, people are trying to kill themselves because they can no longer take the pain of war, "In the evening, while he is being fed, the sister is called away, and leaves the plate with the fork on his table. He gropes for the fork, seizes it and rives it with all his force against his heart, then he snatches up a shoe and strikes with it against the handle as hard as he can" (261). Paul portrays the petrifying environment Paul had to see as followed, "Two fellows die of tetanus. Their skin turns pale, their limbs stiffen, at last only their eyes live- stubbornly.

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Throughout All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and some of his comrades wonder why they’re fighting a war that they have no relation to. Furthermore, that doesn’t give them a sabbatical for going home, even though they aspire to go home to their families. In the book, Paul and the other soldiers are taught that the country they are fighting against is their enemy, and whenever they are to approach any of the “enemies” they are to tranquilize them promptly. Just because you are fighting against a country that you believe is atrocious or corrupt, doesn’t mean that an individual on that side is in that manner. Nevertheless, a book should not be judged by a cover.

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Paul is unable to dwell on his past because all that he is giving up will depress him. Caught in the middle of a gunfight, Paul crawls in a hole and pretends to be dead. As an enemy soldier steps in the hole, Paul stabs him with his knife and kills him. However, Paul says to the fallen soldier that he did not mean to kill him and ‘“If you jumped in here again, I would not do it, if you were sensible too” (223). Unknowing that these so called “enemies” were actually humans with families, Paul kills Gerad Duval and immediately regrets his decision.

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The novel All Quiet on the Western Front Written by Erich Maria Remarque is not only a specific story of World War I, but also a criticism of the destruction and pointlessness of war. The book was banned in Nazi Germany because it was critical of German military, and the idea of the “Iron Youth”, a campaign that promoted patriotism and war to young men. The novel tells the story of soldiers who endure the terrors of battle, and shows how war destroyed and entire generation of men and irreversibly detached them from the normal world. Remarque uses his experience in the war to explain that the entire generation of “Iron Youth” were either dead after the World War I, or too separated from their previous lives after experiencing the hatred and

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After the traumatic experiences he suffered through, Paul made mental growth in the human aspect. He figured out that “there are still human faces” even in his enemies. Further in this realization he sympathizes with the rest of the wounded soldiers stuck in similar hospitals all over the enemy lines. This identification attaches Paul to the enemy, positively affecting his mental condition. He recognizes that he is not as drastically different as he thought which ultimately changes his outlook on the war.

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Erich Remarque, author of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, presents a true story of a soldier throughout World War I. At the young age of 19, Paul Bäumer voluntarily enters the draft to fight for his home country, Germany. Throughout the war, Paul disconnects his mind from his feelings, keeping his emotions away from the bitter reality he is experiencing. This helps him survive mentally throughout the course of the war. The death of Paul 's friend Kemmerich forces him to cover his grief, “My limbs move supplely, I feel my joints strong, I breathe the air deeply. The night lives, I live.”

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Acting on instinct Paul stabs the soldier and in watching him die Paul begins to spiral. Remarque uses dehumanizing diction when he describes the soldier's death which shows Paul's descent from his past self. Paul describes how the only thing he felt while killing the soldier was how “the body suddenly [convulsed]” and then “ [became] limp” and “[collapsed] (216). The author's use of dehumanizing diction in this passage regarding the French soldier's murder is significant because the connotation of “body” lends itself to an unempathetic tone, enhancing the discussion on the loss of humanity because it demonstrates how Paul doesn't even think of the man he killed as a person; same as he. Remarques description of the person as a “body” makes the reader see the soldier as less than a human, how the war has impacted Paul.

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Throughout the story Paul shows that he cares about his comrades by protecting them from the dangers of war, and he also displays that he will guide them in war. Paul uses his skills of intelligence to guide his team in the trenches and at the front, and he passes on his knowledge and tricks of war to the new recruits. Not many soldiers have all of these qualities, which makes Paul stand out more than his comrades. Even today some men don't express the passion and leadership Paul shows in All Quiet on the Western Front, which brings up the fact that the war needs more men like Paul. To sum up, Paul is an honest and true man who will always be there for his comrades when needed, and he is a man the troops are proud to say is a patriotic

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Paul encounters an enemy soldier in no-man’s land and says “Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and the same agony–Forgive me comrade; how could you be my enemy?” (215)Paul is starting to realize that the enemy is basically the same that they are and he is starting to question war in general. But with him witnessing Gerard Duval, it definitely starts to change his sense of perspective because Paul witnessed him die and wants to write to Duval’s Wife after realizing that he too has a family who loves him. This whole idea of questioning the war really comes into play when the Kaiser visits their army. The army realizes that the Kaiser is no more special than anyone else and that the Nationalism and propaganda they were forced into seeing made people think that the Kaiser was their supreme leader, but realistically he was just a normal man and it disappointed the soldiers.

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Erich Maria Remarque was a man who had lived through the terrors of war, serving since he was eighteen. His first-hand experience shines through the text in his famous war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which tells the life of young Paul Bäumer as he serves during World War 1. The book was, and still is, praised to be universal. The blatant show of brutality, and the characters’ questioning of politics and their own self often reaches into the hearts of the readers, regardless of who or where they are. Brutality and images of war are abundant in this book, giving the story a feeling of reality.

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Throughout the novel, Paul illustrates his compassion to his fellow recruits as the war goes on. Paul then goes on to say, “comrade, I did not want to kill you. If you jumped in here again, I would not do it, if you were sensible too” (Remarque 223). At this point

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In one of the most heartfelt moments of The Odyssey, Odysseus meets his mother in Hades on his journey back to Ithaca and discovers of her passing. So she spoke, and my heart yearned To embrace the ghost of my dead mother.

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Throughout the ages, wars have wreaked havoc and caused great destruction that lead to the loss of millions of lives. However, wars also have an immensely destructive effect on the individual soldier. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, one is able to see exactly to what extent soldiers suffered during World War 1 as well as the effect that war had on them. In this essay I will explain the effect that war has on young soldiers by referring to the loss of innocence of young soldiers, the disillusionment of the soldiers and the debasement of soldiers to animalistic men. Many soldiers entered World War 1 as innocent young boys, but as they experienced the full effect of the war they consequently lost their innocence.

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Erich Maria Remarque, a World War I veteran, took his own personal war experience to paper, which resulted in one of the most critically acclaimed anti-war movement novels of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front. The voice of the novel, Paul Baumer, describes his daily life as a soldier during the First World War. Through the characters he creates in the novel, Remarque addresses his own issues with the war. Specifically, Remarque brings to light the idea of the “Iron Youth,” the living conditions in the trenches, and the sense of detachment soldiers feel, among other things. Therefore, All Quiet on the Western Front criticizes the sense of nationalism, which war tends to create among citizens by quickly diminishing any belief regarding it as a glorious and courageous act.

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This demonstrates how much these soldiers depend and need one another. In the novel it says, “Our only comfort is the steady breathing of our comrades asleep, and thus we wait for the morning” (Remarque 275). I imagine being in a dangerous environment such as an ongoing war it would be difficult to find comfort. However, Paul knowing his comrades are alive and getting some rest brings him comfort.

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