The Impact of War on Individuals Wars are produced by the powerful. They take young faced men to fight, however the impact of war on those cannot be erased. Erich Maria Remarque the author of All quiet on the Western Front has taken the viewer through the eyes of young 18-year-old Paul Buemer and his horrific experience of being sent to fight on the Western Front during World War One. The novel takes the reader through the physical, social and the psychological effects of an individual impacted by war. Paul’s physical experiences of pain and loss has contributed to his character’s survival instincts and loss of innocence that he feels when joining the army. “The loss of innocence comes as soon as you sign up”, suggests the negative loss …show more content…
Throughout the novel Remarque symbolizes the soldier’s behavior is similar to “dangerous animals” – they ignore their human instinct to survive death, and “for the first time in three days we can defend ourselves against it”. Representing the social impact that war can have on individuals becoming aggressive, conveying to the reader the effects of being in the environment of a war zone can have and the influence it provides on how they see their enemies and themselves. Paul’s characterization towered the enemy changes significantly when his confronted face to face with the Russian Prisoner of War camp, “I sense in them is the pain of a dumb animal”, however changes his point of view towards the prisoners. “A word of command has made these…figures our, enemies a command might transform them into our friends”, this defines a sense of comradeship towards the enemy. The transformation of Paul’s character reflects to the reader the sympathy he has towerds them an ignores the propaganda of . The impact of war on those can have a negative however positive social effect on an …show more content…
The trauma of being in the war has set Paul’s tone frail and afraid “Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more”. Conveys his loneliness of confronting death “I can confront them without fear.” foreshadowing that soon his end will come. Remarque has emphasized death as a subject of time in the novel, provides a foreshadowing effect on the reader to understand that each friend Paul losses has a new psychological impact on Paul, nearing him to his
The book All Quiet on the Western Front is based on the story of Erich Maria Remarque, an 18 year old German boy that fought in World War I. The book is set out to describe 3 things; the war, the fate of a generation and true comradeship but it describes so much more than this. Published in 1963 and translated into English by Australian Arthur Wesley Wheen who is famous for translating 4 war novels for many more people’s enjoyment. Remarque’s character is names Paul Bäumer in the book.
The book All Quiet on the western front, by Erich maria Remarque, tells the story of young men who have been convinced to join world war 1 and fight with germany. The narrator of the book is paul, a 18 year old that explains what his friends and him do during the war. War has harmful effects on people due to a loss of identity and breaking families apart. War hands harmful effects on people due to a loss of identity.
When Paul Baumer enlisted for World War I, he was unaware of how his mentality would drastically change. Throughout All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul is presented with situations that conflicts with his personality, and the war itself conflicts with how he feels he should acts. A once sensitive man who wrote poetry, Paul was a dynamic character who ended up a burnt-out, torn up man with no regards to other’s feelings, much less his own. All Quiet on the Western Front exemplifies how repeated exposure to the horrors of war left Paul Baumer a hollow shell of a man.
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front soldiers admit themselves in the war and struggle more than just staying alive. Oftentimes their lives as regular humans are threatened. Remarques purpose in writing this novel was to show how the war dehumanizes the soldiers,how comradity is created during war, and how their life after war is changed. One of the most common motifs throughout the novel is how soldiers in the war are dehumanized and turned into killing machines. In an article written by Common Dreams a story is shared about a veteran who simply became dehumanized.
For example, “life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death;--it has transformed us into unthinking animals...awakened in us the sense of comradeship, so that we escape the abyss of solitude--it has lent us the indifference of wild creatures, so that in spite of all, we perceive the positive in every moment, and store it up as a reserve against the onslaught of nothingness.” (273-274). In other words, this quote shows the process of dehumanization because nature has given the soldiers the instinct of an animal, so they can survive. Since this quote is about dehumanization, it shows the theme of loneliness because it is the trigger of the process of soldiers being dehumanized, and once they are dehumanized, they do not have to alone because there will be other soldiers that are also dehumanized. Additionally, Paul Baumer, the narrator, have witnessed the death of Kemmerich and “He looks ghastly, yellow and wan.
War has always existed in the world, but do we ever consider what the effects are on the young men we send to fight them? World War I was a brutal time for all countries involved. Over 17 million people were killed both soldiers and civilians. In All Quiet on the Western Front Written by Erich Maria Remarque, he expertly portrays the loss of young men’s innocence and youth. He accurately displays this through the gruesome conditions, the horrendous acts, and altered home life the soldiers had to endure.
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.
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.
World War One was a very gruesome and lengthy war that physically and emotionally wrecked the soldiers who fought for their country. All Quiet on the Western Front is a book written by Erich Maria Remarque that defines what war is like in the eyes of soldiers. Some of Remarque's main characters in his book include Paul, his high school peers, and his schoolmaster Kantorek. These 19-year-old boys were fresh out of grade school and decided to enlist in the military due to Kantorek's forceful pressure for the boys to fulfill their patriotic duties. He pushed nationalism and patriotism in his lectures when recruiting the young boys to serve their country which the boys believed until they became soldiers and quickly learned that Kantorek's opinion
Turning a Blind Eye on Catastrophe In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, the author uses thoughts and flashbacks to introduce the regularity of atrocities in war and illustrate the desensitizing effects they have on the soldiers. Likewise, in the news article “Food, Medicine Delivered to Besieged Syrian Town,” by Raja Abdulrahim, the author illustrates how these catastrophes occur in present-day society and have a similar effect on the bystanders, including the rest of world. The impacts of these events, although they vary in setting, provide a clear message: overtime, the human race has adapted to tragedy, thus becoming ignorant to the needs of their own community and others at times of catastrophe.
Due to this, the topic of war has been present in them for thousands of years. Books like All Quiet On the Western Front tore down the romanticised depiction of war that were commonly thrown around before the mechanized slaughter that was brought about in the 20th. This book and the brutality portrayed within, make people think twice about war and the consequences of all those involved. The anti-war sentiment is show by Remarque and his personal experiences in WWI in All Quiet On the Western Front, “We are not youth any longer.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a war novel which discusses a soldier’s life during World War 1. Paul Baumer and his classmates, which soon became comrades, knew nothing about war and life at war. Propaganda, influence, and
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.
Throughout the ages, wars have wreaked havoc and caused great destruction that lead to the loss of millions of lives. However, wars also have an immensely destructive effect on the individual soldier. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, one is able to see exactly to what extent soldiers suffered during World War 1 as well as the effect that war had on them. In this essay I will explain the effect that war has on young soldiers by referring to the loss of innocence of young soldiers, the disillusionment of the soldiers and the debasement of soldiers to animalistic men. Many soldiers entered World War 1 as innocent young boys, but as they experienced the full effect of the war they consequently lost their innocence.
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.