ipl-logo

Writing Style And Plotline Developments In 'All Quiet On The Western Front'

1484 Words6 Pages

Isabella Campisi
Ms. Pomerantz
AP Literature and Composition
20 April 2023
The Significance of Writing Style and Plotline Developments in All Quiet on the Western Front The act of war is one of the most romanticized pieces of human existence. Voices of soldiers destroyed by war are silenced, and pro-war propaganda is spewed from both government officials and average citizens. Young people are targeted for recruitment because they are able bodied and naïve. Soldiers are unknowingly thrown into a world of death, destruction, and violence; and what remains afterwards is the shell of a human. All Quiet on the Western Front follows the life of German army recruit Paul Baümer. The novel is unapologetically brutal in its descriptions of war. Author …show more content…

Remarque writes egregious scenes in an apathetic manner to showcase how desensitized Paul has become to brutality. “The belly of one is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes tangled in them and falls, then he stands up again” (Remarque 63). This instance involves the miserable death of a horse. The incident is communicated bluntly by Paul, despite being callous, to highlight how numb he has become to violence. “Beside me a lance-corporal has his head torn off. He runs a few steps more while the blood spouts from his neck like a fountain” (Remarque 115). Yet again Paul describes a gruesome image, calmly. He has witnessed so much at this point that he only reports the facts and fails to have an emotional response. Remarque intentionally does this to call attention to the hardships soldiers regularly face. Paul had even become desensitized to the passing of friends. Following the death of fellow soldier Franz Kemmerich, Paul and his remaining comrades appear to be more captivated by the fate of his boots than the fate of Kemmerich himself. "It is also a sign of a general dehumanizing set of values in which the dying man's boots become more important than the dying man himself" (Birns). Remarque did not aim to portray these men as heinous monsters for wanting Kemmerich's boots. He wished to communicate that soldiers are forced to behave somewhat inhumanely to protect their mental and physical

Show More
Related
228 Words | 1 Pages

Remarque also uses imagery to display the horrid environment of war. For example, in the Catholic Hospital that Kropp and Paul go to in the novel, people are trying to kill themselves because they can no longer take the pain of war, "In the evening, while he is being fed, the sister is called away, and leaves the plate with the fork on his table. He gropes for the fork, seizes it and rives it with all his force against his heart, then he snatches up a shoe and strikes with it against the handle as hard as he can" (261). Paul portrays the petrifying environment Paul had to see as followed, "Two fellows die of tetanus. Their skin turns pale, their limbs stiffen, at last only their eyes live- stubbornly.

Read More
1891 Words | 8 Pages

1. Erich Remarque’s purpose for writing All Quiet on the Western Front was to show the devastating effects of war on soldiers and to protest against the war. He does this by depicting the experiences of a group of young German soldiers who are fighting in World War I. One example of how Remarque fulfills this purpose is when the protagonist, Paul Baumer, reflects on the futility of war and the sacrifices soldiers are forced to make. On page 49, Paul says, "We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial - I believe we are lost."

Read More
403 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
842 Words | 4 Pages

They look just as kindly as our own peasants in Friesland.” (p.190). Again the author's use of first person narrative works on two levels. On one, Paul is just describing the prisoners he sees, on another, Remarque is once again expressing how the men on either side are no different, and they have no personal reason to fight. Like Paul and his friends, they are all simply fighting for survival, eating any scraps they can, and he mentions they look unfit for battle.

Read More
182 Words | 1 Pages

Like the concept of survival of the fittest, it is essential for the soldiers to have an animal instinct to survive on the battlefield. Many moments are shown in which the soldiers become two faced, changing from good-mannered and soft soldier to animal - like characteristics. Paul informs us that they only way to survive in battle, is to block away all your emotions, if not, it would drive you insane. Another aspect as to the book’s anti-war sentiment, is how Remarque describes the consequences of war, the loss of the young life. Paul's generation was known as the "Iron Youth", which was a group of young boys who enlisted and fought in the war as a way of showing gratitude for their country, Germany, but his age group is lost because

Read More
1580 Words | 7 Pages

Their life during the war was hard on them at first. When they were just starting out, they had “proudly shaved for the first time before going to the barracks” (Remarque 21). Remarque is showing the reader how young these classmates really are. Paul recalls “how embarrassed we were as recruits in barracks when we had to use the general latrine” (Remarque 7), and how they have adapted now, and use “square, neat boxes with wooden sides” (Remarque 7). During World War I, many soldiers from all sides, and from many countries were killed.

Read More
436 Words | 2 Pages

Remarque shows that Paul lost his humanity in the war. One example of brutality in war is when Paul stabs a French soldier twice. Paul was scared and panicked so he stabbed him again “I want to stop his mouth, stuff it with earth, stab him again, he must be quiet, he is betraying me; now at last I regain control of myself, but have suddenly become so feeble that I cannot any more lift my

Read More
626 Words | 3 Pages

Acting on instinct Paul stabs the soldier and in watching him die Paul begins to spiral. Remarque uses dehumanizing diction when he describes the soldier's death which shows Paul's descent from his past self. Paul describes how the only thing he felt while killing the soldier was how “the body suddenly [convulsed]” and then “ [became] limp” and “[collapsed] (216). The author's use of dehumanizing diction in this passage regarding the French soldier's murder is significant because the connotation of “body” lends itself to an unempathetic tone, enhancing the discussion on the loss of humanity because it demonstrates how Paul doesn't even think of the man he killed as a person; same as he. Remarques description of the person as a “body” makes the reader see the soldier as less than a human, how the war has impacted Paul.

Read More
961 Words | 4 Pages

Paul and his comrade, Albert Kropp were taken to a Catholic war hospital because they were shot in the leg. As Paul heals, he limped around the hospital looking at all the other injuries as he sees, “shattered bones hanging free in the air from a gallows; underneath the wound, a basin is placed, into which drips the pus. ”(Remarque Ch.#10) Through this Remarque shows us that war is very dangerous as it shatters bones into pieces in a way that it can never heal using imagery. This is abominable because of the amount of pain that one has to go through while suffering that injury.

Read More
1211 Words | 5 Pages

Ghosts Follow Did memories from the war follow and destroy him like a demon, or was it from the living demons in his society? Written by Tim O'brien, The Things They Carried prevailed as a powerful writing according to the Milwaukee Journal. In this novel, O'brien dedicated a couple chapters to a soldier who was once named Norman Bowker. This man’s memories drove him to death.

Read More
1046 Words | 5 Pages

After Paul returns from leave, he is sent to a German soldier training camp. Next to the camp, Paul witnesses the vivid scenes of debilitated Russian soldiers being transported into the prison. Paul states, “They seem nervous and fearful, though most of them are big fellows with beards – they look like meek, scolded, St. Benard dogs” (Remarque 189). The public perception of St Benard dogs is that they are gentle giants. Remarque compares the Russian prisoners to St. Benards by establishing a visual connection between the two.

Read More
1064 Words | 5 Pages

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,

Read More
1091 Words | 5 Pages

Moreover, commonly, soldiers are exhilarated to finally go home after long periods of time at the front, and the men dread when they have to return to battle. However, in Paul’s case, he desires to return to the front, rather than staying in his home town and seeing his mother in pain, he yearns to feel numb again. Therefore, Paul is in “agony” because before going on leave, he was hopeless and had no will to live, thus making him a better soldier. Although, after visiting his mother and sister, he has rediscovered a reason to survive, making it harder to go back. Moreover, the word, “comfortless,” illustrates how Paul feels isolated even at home, he feels little comfort where he grew up.

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

Annotated Bibliography Burnham, Douglas. " Gottfried Leibniz: Metaphysics." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed April 25, 2018.

Read More
841 Words | 4 Pages

This demonstrates how much these soldiers depend and need one another. In the novel it says, “Our only comfort is the steady breathing of our comrades asleep, and thus we wait for the morning” (Remarque 275). I imagine being in a dangerous environment such as an ongoing war it would be difficult to find comfort. However, Paul knowing his comrades are alive and getting some rest brings him comfort.

Read More

More about Writing Style And Plotline Developments In 'All Quiet On The Western Front'

Related Topics

Open Document