A Time of Brutality Throughout All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque expresses the harsh outcomes and brutalities of World War I. He portrays the events of his novel in Germany when soldiers come face to face to battle each other and endure the cruel aspects of the war. Remarque reflects a period of death, sorrow, and destruction as each of the characters in his novel experience the brutalities of the war. During the time, as the war progressed, many soldiers experienced death and pain while approaching the front to battle. The harsh aspects and severities of the war were expressed among the soldiers and fighters that took part in the war, as they endured a time of pain and suffering. Nonetheless, the events in All Quiet on …show more content…
He focused on the experiences of six men that enlisted in the army to battle in the war. The novel is told from the perspective of Paul, who shares his experiences as a young soldier fighting during a time of severity. He describes the massive bombardments, gas attacks, and explosions that were present as the war went on. As Paul began to live his life as a soldier along the front, he endured weeks of severe and brutal training that led him to the inevitably cruel aspects of the war. In order to express his experiences as a soldier at war, Paul used the words “The thunder of the guns swells to a single heavy roar and then breaks up again into separate explosions. The dry bursts of the machine guns rattle. Above us the air fulls with invisible swift movement, with howls, pipings, and hisses” (Remarque 59). Paul’s words describe the severities of the war that he and his companions went through as they endured a brutal life along the front during the period of conflict. As Paul joins the army to take part in the war, he endures the threatening sounds of the machine guns that were used for combat during the war. His experiences at war include a series of sounds that truly express the harshness and severities of the war. Remarque wrote “Then single shots crack out. But still it is not the end. The men cannot overtake the wounded beasts which fly in their pain, their wide open mouths full of …show more content…
It focuses on the journey and the experiences of Paul, a young soldier, and his friends as they enter the war to battle along the front. Unfortunately, the war resulted in a harsh and agonizing time period for Paul and the other men that took part in it. The inhuman parts of the war brutally impacted soldiers, putting them through a period of pain and torture. Remarque’s expressions of the cruel and futile aspects of the war developed a vast effect on the lives of many soldiers during the period of conflict. They experienced many agonizing parts of the way, including massive and threatening bombardments, explosions, gas attacks, shellings, and even death. Although the effects of the war helped to strengthen and improve the comradeship and brotherhood of the men that battled in the war, it resulted in a brutal and severe time period for them, leading to a period of
In a time of great nationalism, Remarque showed the true horrors of war which many did not know, for they were told war was noble. All Quiet On the Western Front breaks the illusion painted by the leaders of all countries, showing the true loss of life, and mental and physical effects that war had on the soldiers. As a veteran soldier from the Western Front himself, Remarque experienced the horrors that were not mentioned when he was told to sign up and help his country. Remarque tells how the many young men forced to fight in the war under their older commanders had their lives completely destroyed, even if they survived.
The author of All Quiet on the Western Front makes it very clear that he condemns war. The story is told through the eyes of an 18 year old student who enlisted in the army after his professor convinced the his class to serve for their country. From that point on, Remarque leads the reader through the battlefield with Paul and gives an unpleasant idea of the psychological impact the war has on the young soldiers. Paul begins to see his friends suffer from severe anxiety attacks with nightmares and uncontrollable shaking, while the “seasoned” soldiers in the company don’t seem to have any emotions toward the events going on around them. These are only a couple of the things that suggest that the author is against war and the stress it brings
Kemmerich, Paul’s classmate, is visited by his fellow soldiers at the hospital after he wounded his thigh. He states to Paul that “they have amputated my leg”, and as Paul tries to comfort him, Kemmerich explains how he “wanted to become a head-forester once” (Remarque 27-28). After being incited through nationalistic pressures by his teacher, Kemmerich enlists in the army only to lose a part of himself. Kemmerich’s lose and the cold pointlessness of his eventual death disillusions the idea that there is honor in war. Remarque also shows opposition to the war later on in the book when he illustrates a scene of soldiers starting to question the actions of the higher authorities and pondering the reasons for war.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a story, in which it allows people to know the true horrors of war. Throughout the story and in Erich Maria Remarque’s writing he uses many literary devices to emphasize what he experienced and the emotions he felt. The devices that he used are used in order to help the readers understand his experience and emphasize the theme of his war novel. Throughout this essay, I will show you a few of the literary devices used within the novel that emphasized the theme, the brutality of war. Within this essay you will learn about imagery, metaphors, and symbolism.
Remarque displays in All Quiet on the Western Front the toll this takes on the youthful soldiers that have partaken in the war. For since the beginning of time, war has always revolved around killing and destroying. The illustrious novel All Quiet on the Western Front exposes the drastic effects it has on the soldiers. War forces civil good men into doing acts they would never even imagine in their wildest dreams. At one point, Remarque artfully depicts a scene in which Paul is forced to kill another soldier in hand to hand combat.
The Struggles of a Soldier The brutalities of war are shown through a soldiers experience through a war. In the book All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque tells the story of a group of friends in World War 1. Remarque uses the protagonist, Paul, to display the brutalities of war by experiencing some of them himself. Brutalities of war are expressed through Paul’s experience of the war harming soldiers by negatively impacting their physical bodies, making it hard for soldiers to reintegrate themselves into society and, damaging their psychological health.
The author emphasizes the change in the soldiers’ mental state during war. They undergo these drastic changes in order to avoid the derangement that occurs as a result of their haunting war experiences. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque’s use of the motif of soldiers’ animalistic
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.
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,
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.
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.
Erich Maria Remarque was a man who had lived through the terrors of war, serving since he was eighteen. His first-hand experience shines through the text in his famous war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, which tells the life of young Paul Bäumer as he serves during World War 1. The book was, and still is, praised to be universal. The blatant show of brutality, and the characters’ questioning of politics and their own self often reaches into the hearts of the readers, regardless of who or where they are. Brutality and images of war are abundant in this book, giving the story a feeling of reality.
Erich Maria Remarque’s title choice was perfect for this novel. Although it was not all quiet on the western front until the last page (p.296), the whole novel describes the path the war took to reach that point. Each event that occurred magnifies the struggle of valiant men in their attempt to achieve peace and brotherhood. The story line of the book began with tension, evolved to hatred and decimation, and resulted in peace and relief. When Paul Baümer lay dead, he appeared calm because peace had finally been achieved.
In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque shows the reverence that soldiers feel for the earth whilst demonstrating how war causes men to lose their humanity in order to survive. Whilst fighting, the soldiers often find themselves being saved by the earth which results in them feeling reverence towards it. Since the Earth provides a place for the soldiers to hide and shelter, they rely on it for comfort and safety, seeing it as a maternal figure. Whilst feeling the intense fear of death, the earth becomes the soldier’s “only friend, his brother, [and] his mother” (39).
Name: _____________________________________ WWI and All Quiet on the Western Front Webquest You will research information about WWI and our next novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. This information will help you understand why Remarque’s characters were so hopeless and will help to put the novel’s themes into context for you. It will also help you understand why the novel is so universally accepted, although it was written by a German Soldier. Please type all your answers into this document using a different color font.