The Theme Of Conflict In All Quiet On The Western Front

Conflict is what drives all stories, but stories with similar themes may use them differently in order to give different lessons and persuade you to form different opinions. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque and The Redemption of Althalus by David & Leigh Eddings have the similar themes of war, morals, and family, but display them in very different contexts to create unique conflict between their characters. Although war is a large theme in both books, the characters face different types of conflicts in war. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul describes the realistic, bleak parts as a soldier in a real war; he has to face the death of friends, starvation, illness, enemy troops, and the ultimate destruction of his innocence and humanity in the span of only about 3 years. As he describes it,

"It must all be lies and of no account when the culture of a thousand years could not prevent this stream of blood being poured out, these

Morals are also a big aspect in the stories, since what they believed was right or wrong before now has to be seen differently in order for them to grow and survive. In The Redemption of Althalus, Althalus is originally a thief, liar, and braggart. However, once recruited by Dweia, he has to alter the way he handles situations in order to appease her, since she 's never too fond of murder. Other characters in the story also change some of their ways for the better. As Bheid puts it, "In their hearts, mean really want to be just and kindly, but other things get in the way." (page 186) In All Quiet on the Western Front, however, Paul has to do just the opposite. Paul, originally a high school graduate, now had to numb himself to the death and violence of the front. He put it as "Men who have been up as often as we have become thick skinned. Only the young recruits are agitated." (page 53) The characters both have their morales challenged which creates this conflict that eventually becomes character