Remarque ties this specific theme of World War I to deliver the problem of bringing soldiers with no experience in the world, representing an entire country and consequently dying in the Front because they were not mature enough to fully comprehend their surroundings to light. Bringing young people away from their lives and to war takes away any chance they have at a normal life, sooner or later putting them in an exceptionally weak mental
Attacks and counter-attacks would alternate and “slowly the dead pile up in the field” with less people to fight for their own country (Remarque). This has to be one of the most frightening things, to witness attacks and the death of your comrades, and not know which day may be your last. This novel portrays the Horrors of War extremely well and each horror is described so well that you can visualise the troubles that each soldier went
This is used to enact sympathy from the reader and to call into question the prioritisation of patriotism over the lives of the soldiers. Alongside this, Erich Maria Remarque uses the Marxist view of solidarity between enemy and ally soldiers and points out the lack of difference between the two. He accuses those in power of abusing this and forcing the conflict to be fought out between the lower classes. With this in mind, the author shows the pointlessness and falsehood of patriotism during the First World War. The most prominent theme in Remarque 's novel is the idea of a 'lost generation ' of youth.
These thoughts terrify him because the prisoners could have been the German's allies with only "a word of command" (193). Such thoughts are perturbing to Paul because they place him in "the abyss" of non-feeling which is also known as the "annihilation of all human feeling" (194). Later in the book, Paul tries to save the life of the French soldier whom he has just stabbed because he has come to see the French soldier as a man rather than the enemy he feared when he suddenly jumped into the shell hole. Paul distinguishes his enemies such as the Russians and French as men because he wants to eschew the feeling of "abyss" or the "annihilation of all human
In Erich Remarque’s tragic novel, All Quiet On The Western Front, he depicts the hardships war has on an individual, especially the younger generation. From these hardships, the audience understands why the individual is not able to find a way to reconnect with his past life. Paul’s war experience destroys his empathy, as well as his connection to others and the society that he once was a part of. The impact of the war stripped Paul of his humane connections between him and his society, and in the end a naive teen had to endure bloodshed. Paul and his comrades had no idea what the war would do to them and sadly learned that the war was more a misfortune than an honor.
Unfortunately, Catherine’s successor and son, Paul I, did not share many of these views. His personal relationship with Catherine was poor. “-the difficult relationship with Catherine II, his disgust with the inefficiency and corruption of Catherine 's court,” are several main aspects behind Paul’s motivations and beliefs as a ruler (Mcgrew 770). As Catherine the Great looked towards the future as a basis for building her nation, being guided by enlightened principles, Paul I was quite the opposite. His governing approach had, inadvertently, overridden that of Catherine’s.
The extreme sadness faced by Remarque, inspired him to communicate to readers the strong brother-like bond between comrades, and the empty, hopeless feelings which accompany a death of a comrade which soldiers are supposed to simply except rather than grieve. Finally, the intentional actions of Remarque when composing the conclusion to his novel strongly portray his overall goal of communicating to his audience, that there are no true survivors of an atrocities such as World War 1, the severe psychological impacts on every soldier, including himself, are crushing and the weight of war was too much to bare by a young
This shows that Paul is compassionate about the earth and sees it as a living person and in his case, he sees the earth as a mother like figure. This helps him through the trauma of war because seeing the earth as a motherly figure gives Paul comfort. A good
In the beginning of the novel Paul introduces his friends he went to school with before going to war with. "During drill-time Kantorek gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went, under his sheparding, to the District Commandant and volunteered. I can see him now, as he used to glare at us through his spectacles and say In a moving voice 'Won 't you join up, comrades? '(Remarque 110)". Paul and his friends all went through the class with Kantorek who eventually persuaded them all to enlist where they would go to war together.
“Smile” discusses the general public’s views on the after-effect of war and contrasts them with soldiers’ perspective. While the Mail (a British newspaper) insists that men’s first instinct after the war will be to buy houses, soldiers “know their secret safe” and do not believe government propaganda (20). Their “secret” is their knowledge of the reality of war. Unlike what the government insists, they recognize that the war will either leave them dead or traumatized. Although their views may seem grim, Owen’s personal experiences give him the confidence to know that these are the only two outcomes; the events of a gruesome war do not simply