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Essay On All Quiet On The Western Front

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During the course of this class I have had the opportunity to read a very daunting list of books in regards to The Great War. While I did enjoy the extra insight given through each of these books, two come to mind when I think of as a way to introduce students to the time period; All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque; and Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway. While these fictional books about a defining point in human history are famous in their own right, between the two, I believe that Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front does exceedingly well to convey the thoughts, emotions, and physical hardships which was The Great War. “Kantorek would say that we stood on the threshold of life. And so it would seem. We had taken no root. The war swept us away.” (Remarque, pp 20) Remarque illustrated that the generation that fought this war lost out on their young and innocent life, for all they knew of their short adult life was warfare. In the early days of the war, these men were shepherded to enlist, not physically, but by speeches of grandeur and glory for the Fatherland. Even if an individual didn’t want to volunteer, they were obligated to enlist by their peers. Remarque …show more content…

Despite the fact this tale isn’t very whimsical and is tragic in the end, it doesn’t paint the picture of The Great War. While Hemmingway’s protagonist was not a soldier, but an ambulance driver, he did not experience the full harshness of the war. The small band of soldiers of All Quiet on the Western front would consider a barn with some hay as a commodity; Hemmingway’s character would enjoy “a good room. It was very big and light and looked out on a lake.” (Hemmingway, pp 212) The reader would realize that not all experiences are the same, but for the majority of belligerents (especially on the western front) lived in a constant state of

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It is in these conditions that Erich Maria Remarque’s, All Quiet on the Western Front‒ a novel about a young German soldier’s experience in World War I‒ takes place. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque accurately depicts the trench conditions of World War I and the psychological affects the war has on soldiers in order to call attention to how war cheats young soldiers of their adolescence and causes permanent physical and emotional damage. Firstly, Remarque truthfully portrays the trench conditions in World War I to bring awareness to the traumas soldiers experienced due to the dangers and discomforts of trench life and how this continues to affect them after the war. Trench warfare was a combat tactic used in World War I in which opposing troops fought from dug up ditches, or trenches, that faced each other with an empty expanse

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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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After reading this great antiwar novel “All quiet on the western front” by Erich Maria Remarque I have felt such deep emotions towards the life of these soldiers who fought during WW1. The writer Erich Maria Remarque was ultimately trying to tell the story of how this young generation fought for their lives and for the fatherland. A generation that was lost because of the true horrors of the war. Paul and his friend were just teenagers at the time, the iron youth of Germany from what they called it. when the war broke out they immediately enlist and gave their lives to the fatherland.

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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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Remarque uses that statement to show and criticize how people describe war as an exciting adventure because they do not understand what it is like to be constantly on death’s doorstep. Remarque feels that war cannot be majestic or respected, if there is so much continual death surrounding everyone. Later, the main character, Paul Bäumer, is used to criticize how people fancifully talk about war and show it off, regardless of how much they understand. When Bäumer goes home during his leave, his dad asks him a bunch of questions because “he is curious in a way that I find [Bäumer finds] stupid and distressing” (165). Bäumer does not want to talk about the war because he is afraid that flashbacks of his traumatic war experiences will overwhelm him (165).

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The author of All Quiet on the Western Front makes it very clear that he condemns war. The story is told through the eyes of an 18 year old student who enlisted in the army after his professor convinced the his class to serve for their country. From that point on, Remarque leads the reader through the battlefield with Paul and gives an unpleasant idea of the psychological impact the war has on the young soldiers. Paul begins to see his friends suffer from severe anxiety attacks with nightmares and uncontrollable shaking, while the “seasoned” soldiers in the company don’t seem to have any emotions toward the events going on around them. These are only a couple of the things that suggest that the author is against war and the stress it brings

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If we come back late from the Soldiers’ Home we have to show passes” (Remarque,1985,1929,p.187).Although the soldiers were not under the same exact confinements as the prisoners some of their restrictions flowed over into the lives of soldiers. The soldiers were confined and watched under the guards along with the soldiers unknowingly. The separation from their families is something both men had to deal with unwillingly due to the circumstances they were placed in. In war, men are separated from their family for months at a time.

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Remarque writes about the future of the lost generation as being physically and physiologically maimed. Remarque sets up the reader to realize the tragedies of war with "even if they manage

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While many soldiers thought that World War I was going to be exciting, they hadn’t yet realized the horrendous conditions they would have to live in. Remarque writes in the narrator and main character Paul Baumer's perspective: “Our food is bad and mixed up with do much substitute stuff that it makes us ill… The latrine poles are always densely crowded; the people at home ought to be shown these gray, yellow, miserable, wasted faces here, these bent figures”(280). Words like "miserable" and "wasted faces" let the reader clearly understand how the trenches' conditions affect the troops' morale. Furthermore, Remarque also employs nature and the earth as a comfort for the soldiers.

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During the First World war, soldiers all around the world were met with a plethora of long-lasting injuries and challenges. The novels, Generals Die In Bed by Charles Yale Harrison and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque portray the similar wartime experiences of Canadian and German soldiers. The historical concept of causation is shown throughout these novels, particularly in how the soldiers experienced extreme violence, which led to the desensitization to such violence and the dehumanization of their allies and enemies. Both Canadian and German soldiers were psychologically affected which was caused by the horrors of the war, highlighting the mental effects the war had on soldiers. World War 1 was home to extreme violence, which soldiers had frequently met face to face during

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Today, there are 48% of people that are in between the age of 22 to 30 who are in the US active duty forces, which means that they are involved in warfare; the average age of these young soldiers is 29 ("Demographics of Active Duty"). Although today there are many films and books that expose the carnage of war, there are still many adolescents who enlist without knowing the negative experiences and outcomes of war itself. All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, provides a large amount of themes. These themes include the detrimental results of WWI, such as the savagery of the bloodbath, the psychological drain of fighting, automata, dehumanization, and estrangement. The text is able to reveal these topics and many more through

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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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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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The novel all quiet on the western front by Remarque is quite different in comparison to the propaganda poster from Great Britain, 1915, “There’s Room for you enlist today.” Although the true theme of this novel is of a lost generation of young adults. There is one similar them from the poster and the novel, comradery rings true for the soldiers that endured the front together. Instead of the portrayal of heroism and adventure in the poster. The novel portrays the sadness and love for the man that stands beside you.

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