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Summary Of Siegfried Sassoon And All Quiet On The Western Front

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"All Quiet on the Western Front" is a war novel by Erich Maria Remarque that reveals the ways in which war is not glorious, and the ways in which destroys a soldier 's happiness, innocence, and youthfulness. In addition, it uses imagery and characterization to describe some of the hardships the soldiers face in the trenches and at the front. Likewise, "Suicide in the Trenches" is a poem by Siegfried Sassoon that glosses over these topics as well, in the form of a poem. While both Remarque 's "All Quiet on the Western Front" and Sassoon 's "Suicide in the Trenches" portray war as a destroyer of innocence and youthfulness, Remarque 's use of characterization to illustrate the theme is more effective than Sassoon 's use of imagery and word play, because it is more …show more content…

The use of imagery to describe trenches in both texts plays a big role in building up the theme that war destroys innocence and youth. For example, in Sassoon 's "Suicide in the Trenches", the phrase 'winter trenches ' is paired with words such as glum and lice, both of which have a negative connotation. (Sassoon, 5-6.) Sassoon also uses imagery to portray the front/the trenches as hell, and explicitly states that that is where youth, innocence, and laughter go to "die" because war destroys a person mentally, even if it doesn 't physically them. (Sassoon, 12.) Similarly, lice and glum are used to describe the conditions of the trenches/front in "All Quiet on the Western Front". Remarque shows the trenches as hell for the soldiers, especially Paul and his comrades. The extent is more severe in "Suicide in the Trenches", because the soldier boy ends up committing suicide, hence the title. However,

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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.

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Review All Quiet on the Western Front is great piece of literature because it incorporates a lot of different aspects into the book. It has the action of war, the happiness of friendship, and the sorrowness of loss and given up hope. It varies from other books i have read about war and loss because it gives a perspective that I have never seen through before. The book is based on the lives of German soldiers in World War I, rather than the usual book through the eyes of an American soldier.

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War is a harsh reality that is inflicted upon the unwilling through the “need” of it’s predecessors and those whom wish it. All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is about 19 year old Paul and his friends in the “Second Company”. Even though they are just out of school age, they have already seen things that many could not bear to even think about. Eventually, all of his friends die, and even Paul too, dies. Remarque uses diction and syntax as literary devices to express his anti-war theme, or lesson.

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Colton Sawires Mrs. Brahmst English 10, Period 3 26 October 2015 All Quiet on The Western Front In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, Remarque shows how much destruction and devastation was caused by WWII. Paul Balmer, a young but experienced soldier, and his fellow comrades were put in the front line during the war. He and his friend, Kat, were fighting alongside recruits who have never seen the battlefield and understood how deadly it is. “Every day he can live will be a howling torture...

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The soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front, have experienced many hardships and they are expressed in a way of great horror and violence along with In The Field written by Tim O’Brien, and In Flanders Fields, written by John McCrae. Throughout the novel of All Quiet on the Western Front, which was written by Erich Maria Remarque, there are countless mentions that truly show the true horrors of war. Paul Baumer, the leading protagonist in All Quiet on the Western Front, states his surroundings in a way that entices the reader to his perspective and really coaxes with their mind to induce the harsh surroundings and environments that lie in war. In the beginning of chapter six, Paul and the other soldiers are settled along the front, which for the average person, is enough to scare them to a point where they would not even consider going into warfare because of the horrors that lie within Paul Baumer and the other soldiers.

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Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war. War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through. The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through. In the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front" is the description by Erich Maria Remarque of the graphic violence and gore and the psychological pain that the average soldier endured on the western front.

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Present throughout the book is the theme of disillusionment. In the school, they’ve been told by their schoolmasters and parents that unless they join the war, they would remain cowards. They see propaganda after propaganda, all alluding towards the glory of battle and warfare. Out on the front, they realize that nothing was further from the truth. Their dreams of being heroes shattered, like when they compare themselves to the soldier on a poster in chapter 7.

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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,

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The war novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque depicts one protagonist, Paul, as he undergoes a psychological transformation. Paul plays a role as a soldier fighting in World War I. His experiences during the war are not episodes the average person would simply experience. Alternatively, his experiences allow him to develop into a more sophisticated individual. Remarque illustrates these metamorphic experiences to expose his theme of the loss of not only people’s lives but also innocence and tranquility that occurs in war.

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“Imagine yourself in the pitch dark, after two or three days of wet, cold, hunger, sleeplessness, staggering down a trench, knee-deep in mud, carrying various burdens that almost equal your own body-weight” (Ellis, 48). This was the everyday life of the typical soldier involved in the World War I trench warfare. During WWI trench warfare was common. It began in September 1914 with the German army digging themselves in for a battle that would last what seemed like a life time for the soldiers involved. Soldiers on either side alike lived in deplorable conditions.

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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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Lastly, in addition to all the chemical weapons and diseases the soldiers also suffered emotionally greatly from the environment they had to live in. The conditions in the trenches were deplorable from all the filth to all the vermin everywhere. The conditions were just perfect for illness and death, “The damp conditions caused the injuries to become more infected as they didn’t have a dry environment to heal in.” The different weathers brought different problems. For example, winter brought frostbite and the summer would bring dehydration.

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An inevitable part of trench life was the tedious task of maintaining the trenches when not under fire. In one newspaper, a soldier reports that trench life is “simply, dull, dreary work...where there’s more mud than glory and more chills on the liver than cheers” (“Dreary Work in the Trenches”). The same type of complaint of dreary work is held by the soldiers in the play who complain of “twelve weary hours..and wasting hours...and hot and heavy hours” of transporting ammunition (O’Casey 34). The alternative, according to the first soldier, is “glory” and “cheers”. However, surrounding this scene are two sets of stage directions which detail past and future destruction.

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