All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is not a typical war novel. There is no glorious win, no remarkable war hero, no romance. It doesn’t over-dramatize and it isn’t the least bit glamorous. All Quiet is the brutally honest tale of ordinary young soldiers faced with the horrifying reality of World War I. Remarque himself was a drafted into the German army at age 18, but was wounded in battle and spent the rest of the war recovering. It is clear from this novel that Remarque’s experiences as a soldier left him with a certain mindset. Remarque explains what the book sets out to do in the epigraph: “It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” Remarque wants to show the true nature of war: Innocent men are placed in a grim situation by an all-powerful few, and, while the soldier may survive, his humanity does not.
The narrator, a 19-year-old German soldier named Paul Baumer, volunteered into the Army along with most of his class. Throughout the book, Paul and his friends go through bouts of fighting on the front lines, resting in the camp, and even occasionally a couple weeks of leave. During their time resting, they reflect on society and life outside of the war. Remarque uses these reflections and opinions of the book’s
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Before the war, they were boys, looking forward to their youth. Most had an image of the army as enchanting and patriotic, which is what caused them to volunteer. However they soon learned that war is ugly, harsh and unforgiving. They watched friends die gruesome deaths and caused those deaths upon others. Because of this they learned not to feel. They numbed their emotions and didn’t allow themselves to think for too long on anything that might cause guilt, sadness, confusion or anger. In the end, all of Paul’s friends and finally, Paul himself, died in the war