The Theme Of All Quiet On The Western Front Loss Of Innocence

War is something won by a country, but lost by every soldier. The inevitable reality of war, causes soldiers to lose attributes, he or she would not have thought they could lose, one of which is their innocence. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque, this concept of loss of innocence is conveyed through the iron youth. As the book progresses, innocence possessed by the boys quickly decreases as they realize the true horrors of war. In the beginning of the book, the boys are seen with bits of innocence left inside them. On a beautiful quiet day, the boys desperately wait for their mail. Paul adds a little more beauty to the day, “To-day is wonderfully good. The mail has come, and almost every man has a few letters and

Realizing what he truly is, a boy in war, Paul realizes his true purpose. Noting that the older men have something to fight for back home he says, “The war swept us away […] we know that in some strange and melancholy way we have become a wasteland” (20). Not only has the war physically swept the boys away, but with it the war has taken their innocence. Paul starts to realize that he once had a purpose in life, but now they are just merely dummies waiting to be taken by the bullet, just like everybody else who signed up. With this realization, Paul and the soldiers start to lose their innocence. As Kemmerich reaches his final moments, Paul is there with to offer comfort. However, Paul’s comfort was not strong enough to combat Kemmerichs’ wounds which have now taken his life. As he heads back to camp he hands over Kemmerichs’ boots which were much desired by Muller. As he hands the boots over Muller decided to trade them for something: “He roots among his supplies and offers me a fine piece of saveloy. With it goes hot tea and rum” (33). The boots represent the only memory of Kemmerich left in the boys’ life. The innocent side of them would keep them safe as a testimony to all the things Kemmerich has done for them. However, Paul decided to trade them away to Muller, because he was in need of a new pair of boots. Not only was he handing over boots, but also the last piece of

Observing the new recruits coming into the camps, the soldiers immediately begin to imitate something they are not. Paul recalls what they had done when seeing the new soldiers: “We stick out our chests, shave in the open, shove our hands in our pockets, inspect the recruits and feel ourselves stone age veterans” (35).The boys seem to have forgotten that just prior to this, they too were the young scared recruits entering a whole new world. Now realizing the reality of war, the boys learn that they are no longer school boys like these recruits but rather soldiers. In addition, they note that their sole mission is to survive and if losing all innocence is what will accomplish that mission, then that is what they will do. Camping out on a cold night, the soldiers catch sight of Himmelstoss. They immediately begin to plot what they will do to their hated commander. As the soldiers jump on top of him and begin to pound him to the ground, Paul describes the scene: “It was a wonderful picture: Himmelstoss on the ground. Haie bending over him with a fiendish grin and his mouth open with bloodlust, Himmelstoss’s head on his knees; then the convulsed striped drawers, the knock knees, executing ta ever blow most original movements in the lowered breeches, and towering over them like a woodcutter the indefatigable Tjaden” (49). These men are no longer soldiers who have lost their