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Summary: All Quiet On The Western Front

999 Words4 Pages

War, a feeling of familiarity and belonging and at the same time horrifying and mind altering leaving soldiers senseless and numb to protect their minds from going insane and to help them stay alive.

War destroys men long before it kills them. It seems as Paul Bäumer and his comrades were merely numbers and bodies to their government. Young men barely finished with school, their entire life ahead of them, destroyed by matters no one really understands. Imprisoned in their minds by their memories of war, and forever changed by the experiences they endure. The so-called lost generation as Paul Bäumer calls it, straight from childhood to war. The overwhelming feeling of not fitting in once the war is over, not fitting in a society that thinks …show more content…

It helps us readers realize that soldiers are human beings that suffered from PTSD way before there was ever a term for this mental disease. The feeling of belonging because of the strong bond between comrades and the feeling of not belonging or fitting in society because of what they’ve been through. The many struggles Paul went through in his head shows how much our human mind can endure and adapt to any environment no matter how bad the circumstances. It also shows both sides of the battlefield, there is no right or wrong it’s just men who want to survive, driven by the thoughts and memories of home or what once was. The cost of war is too high of a price to pay for all the pain and suffering soldiers, their families and the civilians have to endure. The book describes perfectly how soldiers and civilians struggle during the war, both soldiers and civilians struggle with hunger, fear of the unknown, fear of not being reunited with your loved ones. War destroys way more than it fixes, it impacts generations after generations for reasons that seem to be driven by money and power at the expense of the little

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All Quiet On The Western Front: Chapter Summary

299 Words | 2 Pages

we meet our four main characters, Paul Baumer, Stanislaus Katczinsky Muller, and Tjaden. In this book we see how these men are devastated by Germany's infantry, as it rips apart their humanity, leaving them as empty shells deprived of their souls. As we continue to see how long they continue to progress as individuals, we see them devastated by all-out war. Chapter two introduces us to Corporal Himmelstoss, the power-hungry man put in charge of training the soldiers, who treats them with inhumane cruelty and complete disrespect. As they are able to escape his evil tyranny, they are confronted with the death of their friend Franz Kemmerich, who dies at the end of chapter two, leaves them with the only concern of who will get his boots.

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All Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque

1192 Words | 5 Pages

The author of this anti-war novel set out to portray war as a meaningless and brutal way of life that ruined the life of many of the soldiers. Paul observes the gory and butchered bodies scattered everywhere around the battlefield and “cannot realize that above such shattered bodies there are still human faces in which life goes its daily round” (Remarque 263). The war has completely altered Baumer’s conception of military conflict with its disastrous extent of violence and slaughter. His description of the dead men who even Paul is left an utterly broken and destroyed man after the war. Furthermore, the horror of war and the animalistic nature it brings out in people is thoroughly addressed in Baumer’s description of the impoverished Russian soldiers, who like them were forced to “unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another” (Remarque 263).

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Summary Of All Quiet On The Western Front

1062 Words | 5 Pages

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarqueis a book about a German soldier Paul Bäumer and some of his friends from school who joined the army voluntarily after their teacher talked about joining the war. The group of nineteen year olds started the war with a great sense of nationalism and enthusiasm, but after experiencing ten weeks of hard training from Corporal Himmelstoss and the brutality of life on the front. Paul and his friends realize that the reasons of for which they enlisted are simply meaningless after some time on the front. Also, Paul and his friend realize that war is not as glorious or honorable as it is made out to be, and constantly lived in strain both mental and physical.

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A Brief Review Of The Things They Carried 'By Tim O' Brien

1328 Words | 6 Pages

In this story, the author exposes the idea of how war can significantly

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Summary Of All Quiet On The Western Front

319 Words | 2 Pages

1- Technological advances in machine guns and tanks allowed for greater accuracy and larger explosion range caused faster deaths. 2- The soldiers were traumatized and couldn't work well when they went back to their environment. Pg 828 #1-2 1- Paul realized the soldier was still alive after their altercation.

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The View From The Ground Chapter Summary

804 Words | 4 Pages

As the book continues it shows the soldiers experiencing the realities of war. It then goes onto show the soldier's role in their home fronts and the struggle to stay as their former selves. The book’s major point to me was to show these men weren’t just soldiers but ordinary people. For example, the book shows the importance of faith during the war with the soldiers. David W. Rolfs explains that many Northern Christians went off to war but they had no idea the effect it would have on their faith.

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Summary Of All Quiet On The Western Front

1531 Words | 7 Pages

The book gives the reader a look inside of the mind of a young soldier, and his many philosophical ideas and thoughts, and how the war slowly ate at

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All Quiet On The Western Front: Chapter Analysis

465 Words | 2 Pages

“breeding, education are changing…hardly recognizable any longer”(121)this shows how the norm for paul has become the war. Paul has been in the war for so long that when he returns home he feels out of place and later goes on to talk about he his new home is the front line. Towards the end of the book paul goes into great detail about how the war has drastically changed them all and that for those who have survived the war things will never be the same “few will adapt themselves, some others will merely submit and most will be bewildered”(131). This depicts how paul and his generation will never fully recover from the war things will never be the same few will be able start over but most were scared and lost at war. Paul and his generation are considered the lost generation because they will never be able to fully recover from the war they will forever live in the war mentality because of PTSD or other mental health

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Summary Of All Quiet On The Western Front

482 Words | 2 Pages

The Vietnam War was a long war full of casualties, a tragic product of war. Many Americans were drafted to fight for their country, and over 50,000 U.S. soldier were killed in combat. In All Quiet on the Western Front, a World War I novel, by Erich Maria Remarque, the soldiers and even the animals used by the military face the horrors of war by experiencing slow and agonizing deaths. The events that Paul Bäumer has witnessed gives insight to the horrors of war. The soldiers and horses used by the military face the horrors of war.

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All Quiet On The Western Front: An Analysis

1181 Words | 5 Pages

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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Summary Of All Quiet On The Western Front

761 Words | 4 Pages

The book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque portrayed war as a great hole of death and despair dug by a nation's higher power for the citizens to patriotically march into. All Quiet on the Western Front was written as a 'new-age' war story; The book focused on the horrors of war rather than the romantic veneer other previous writers had plastered on. The War obliterated the distinction between civilian and military targets. 'Armies were no longer targeting just their opponents, but the civilian towns that supply them too, killing innocent people. People still today, who are innocent civilians, are being killed for being on the wrong side.

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Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

734 Words | 3 Pages

During the time that the Frist World War broke out, many were affected. However, a whole generation experienced a loss like no other. Having little to no idea the challenges they would soon face, many eighteen and nineteen year olds got ready to fight honorably for their country. The young men entered the traumatic war zone, leaving their home as an adolescent having had no time to build a life for themselves. Hence, leaving home as an adolescent produced a lost generation and left the young men lost emotionally, in their maturity, and in their relationships, when the war came to an end.

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All Quiet On The Western Front: A Character Analysis

1245 Words | 5 Pages

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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Psychoanalysis Of The Wars By Timothy Findley

3223 Words | 13 Pages

A Psychoanalysis on The Wars In human history, war has greatly affected the lives of people in an extremely detrimental way which can be understood in Timothy Findley’s novel The Wars through a psychoanalytic approach in character development and their deterioration; the readers are able to identify the loss of innocence intertwined between characters, the search for self-identity in the symbolic and metaphorical aspect, as well as the essence of life. Those that are not able to overcome these mental challenges may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Rape trauma Syndrome, and sadly, some resort to suicide as the last option to escape their insecurities. However, soldiers are not the only ones affected by war; family members also face

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1504 Words | 7 Pages

The novel focuses on coping with the death and horror of war. It also speaks volumes about the true nature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the never-ending struggle of dealing with it. In the

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