ipl-logo

Effects Of PTSD In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

716 Words3 Pages

PTSD has been known by numerous different names throughout history. Returning soldiers from the Civil War were said to have suffered from “soldier’s heart”. Used later in history, the term nervous shock was used in the late 19th century. At this point in history doctors thought nervous shock was only only caused physically. However, some doctors opposed this viewpoint and believed patients suffering from nervous shock had symptoms of hysteria, an outdated medical term for anxiety. These doctors started to piece together that nervous shock could be a mental illness rather than a physical disability. By the time World War I took place this debate became an even more pressing matter.
World War I took place in Europe between 1914-1918. Within …show more content…

Although Erich Maria Remarque wrote a couple more war stories after All Quiet on the Western Front, none became nearly as popular ("Erich Maria Remarque."). Remarque created a story about Paul, a young German soldier who suffers the effects of war. By being placed in the everyday life of Paul, the readers are able to read about the slow progression of PTSD. The experiences of war have aged these characters beyond their years, leaving Paul to believe they are “ forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, [they] are crude and sorrowful and superficial.” (Remarque 123). This feeling of disconnection from other people and society as a whole is a common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (Frey & Fran; Poole 30; “Post-traumatic stress disorder.”). Paul and his comrades are unable to relate to anyone outside of their company. This isolation is depicted again when Paul returns home to his family. “But a sense of strangeness will not leave me, I cannot feel at home among these things. There is my mother, there is my sister, there my case of butterflies, and there the mahogany piano―but I am not myself there. There is a distance, a veil between us.” (Remarque 160). Individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder not only feel disconnected from society as a whole but also from their loved ones (Frey & Fran; Poole 30; "Post-traumatic stress

Show More
Related

Erich Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

1240 Words | 5 Pages

The book cover of, All Quiet on The Western Front, quotes to be ‘’the greatest war novel of all time’’. The author, Erich Remarque, experiencing war himself; uses the protagonist, Paul Baumer, to express his own background and horrors of World War One. With this, it alternates between his vividly dying memories of the times before the war and the nightmares of trench warfare; although a first person narrative. Erich served in combat during WW1 in Germany and was wounded five times. The last injury was very severe and kept him out of the war.

Read More

All Quiet On The Western Front Dialectical Journal Answers

1891 Words | 8 Pages

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."

Read More

PTSD In Fallen Angels By Walter Dean Myers

495 Words | 2 Pages

PTSD Affecting Soldiers He stood there, frozen, shocked, not knowing what to do when he saw a gun pointed at him. Thankfully, the trigger didn’t work, but he had to witness a scarring event, in which he had shot his enemy in the head. It is not surprising that soldiers returning from a stressful war often suffer from a psychological condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. For instance, in the book Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, the principle character Perry unmistakably demonstrates how war troopers can be damaged and experience the ill effects of PTSD.

Read More

All Quiet On The Western Front Bildungsroman Analysis

124 Words | 1 Pages

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.”

Read More

All Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque

1401 Words | 6 Pages

Ali Alzein Case Final draft 31 May 2018 A German-American Novelist WW1 had many brutal and cruel moments and many people believed that they would become a hero if they had became a soldier themselves but according to Erich Maria Remarque and his experience this is false. In the novel All Quiet on the Western front by Erich Maria Remarque talks about his WW1 experience as Paul Baumer who is the main character in this novel. Readers will be advised with Erich Maria Remarque personal background. The main purpose is to inform readers about the life of Erich Maria Remarque and his experience in WW1 as a German soldier.

Read More

How Does Arthur Miller Present Deception In The Crucible

857 Words | 4 Pages

Arthur Miller's The Crucible's portrayal of the accusations leading to the demise of any convicted being shows the reader that humans are inherently accusatory, and will do anything to ease blame from ourselves, no matter how outlandish the claim. This treatment of fellow man can only be equated to that of the Red Scare during the Cold War years. The Crucible was published between 1952 and 1953, in the heart of the Cold War, where Miller wrote The Crucible while under stress of Russian engagement. Miller's portrayal of deception is well conceived in the novel, and ties in directly with the deception and espionage-like treatment of people during the Red Scare. Miller also sheds light upon the effects of saving oneself by conviction of another.

Read More

Effects Of PTSD In All Quiet On The Western Front

325 Words | 2 Pages

PTSD affects more than 3 million people a year and people can either forget about what happened to them that caused them PTSD or people can get serious symptoms. PTSD is when someone experiences or witnesses a horrifying accident that they can’t forget. PTSD is caused by physical and emotional feelings or thoughts. Some effects of PTSD can negatively affect your physical and mental health. All Quiet on the Western Front is a book that can relate to people nowadays that have PTSD by talking about a soldier named Paul that goes through terrifying experiences in World War 1.

Read More

Erich Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

1578 Words | 7 Pages

In the year 1916,German born Erich Remarque was drafted into the German army to fight many battles of World War I, to which he was evidently wounded. He published, Im Westen Nichts Neues, ten years following the ending of the war. a year later, All Quiet on the Western Front was rewritten in English, a novel surrounding the confrontations German warriors faced. Remarque captures the essence of World War I in his all famous novel, which entices the readers opinion on this particular war. In creating his brutal but practical novel of a normal soldier's experience, Remarque exhibited a delightful war story in his accurate anti-war novel All Quiet on the Western Front.

Read More

The Impact Of War In Night And All Quiet On The Western Front

1161 Words | 5 Pages

In the book, All Quiet on the Western Front an enemy soldier jumped into the shell hole with Paul causing him to stab the soldier. Paul states, “The body is still perfectly still, without a sound, the gurgle has ceased, but the eyes cry out, yell,” (Remarque 219). This isn’t showing the loss of family or friends but the loss of Paul himself. He is sacrificing his hopes and dreams by being in the war. He is young and killing someone is taking away any kind of hope for a future.

Read More

All Quiet On The Western-Western Front Thesis

665 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

The Psychological Trauma Effect Of Shell Shock During World War I

272 Words | 2 Pages

Shell Shock was the term used during the World War I to describe the psychological trauma effect that men suffer during their wars. Shell Shock was resulted from being exposed to artillery that was dangerous in the war. When men spent a lot of time in the trenches or on the battlefield listening to the sound of the weapons and bombs being used. It took into effect on the solider, which caused the solider to have a mental breakdown stress in their mind. The process of the battle tactic caused the solider to have a shock of a nightmare because in their mind they think the war was still going on in their head.

Read More

All Quiet On The Western Front Effects Of War Essay

1064 Words | 5 Pages

However, when they were sent out into the midst of the war many of them realised the misconceptions they had and were led to believe. They became disillusioned as they realized that the war was much more brutal and horrific than they had previously believed. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque effectively comments on the horrors of war from Paul’s perspective, especially when Paul comments on injuries the soldiers endure and witness by stating “We see men go on living with the top of their skulls missing; we see soldiers go on running when both their feet have been shot away…Another man…with his guts spilling out over his hands as he holds them in.” (Remarque,

Read More

Examples Of PTSD In The Civil War

438 Words | 2 Pages

Those who had mental illnesses were placed in institutions that were essentially like jails, and those patients were mistreated heavily, confined in small spaces, and were receiving harsh methods of treatment. The first account of the term PTSD being used is in 1980; one hundred and fifteen years after the Civil War. The Civil War was essentially the reason that mental health- especially in soldiers coming home from war- was finally being researched. Until PTSD was given its name in 1980, it was called shell shock- referring to the reaction to the explosion of artillery shells-, war neuroses, combat stress reaction, and battle fatigue ("History of Mental Health"). Overall, mental health was not thoroughly researched until post Civil War when soldiers that came home showed -what will be known as PTSD-

Read More

Character Analysis: All Quiet On The Western Front

804 Words | 4 Pages

Paul’s reunion with his mother permits him to recognize the impacts war has had on his mind and life. In the seventh chapter, Paul receives 17 days of leave. During this time, he visits his mother as she suffers in ominous distress. After Paul witnesses his mother deteriorating, he aspires to “weep and be comforted too, indeed I am little more than a child” (Remarque 183). Paul feels little, if any, content with his life as a consequence of experiencing a plentiful

Read More

All Quiet On The Western Front Critical Analysis

1326 Words | 6 Pages

His mind has been programmed to be a soldier ever since he was in combat. In chapter 7 we see how being a soldier has affected Paul when he states the following, “I ought never to have come here. Out there I was indifferent and often hopeless;--I will never be able to be so again. 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).

Read More

More about Effects Of PTSD In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

Related Topics

Open Document