A Comparison Of All Quiet On The Western Front And The Hurt Locker

Bombs, death, and gunfire, don’t these aspects of war sound fantastic? Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front develops the theme of the thoughts of a group of students who voluntarily enlist for World War I, and Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker is an intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. A soldier in the midst of warfare seems heroic, but battle can also cause immense trauma to the soldier. While All Quiet on the Western Front and The Hurt Locker both share similar depictions of war, ultimately All Quiet on the Western Front is a more realistic depiction of war. Although All Quiet on the Western Front and The Hurt Locker differ, they both represent

To begin, Paul’s, “face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come” (Remarque 296). Whenever Paul is asked about the front when he returns home he has, “little inclination to talk” (Remarque 162), signifying that battle has mentally destroyed him. The mood of this suggests that a soldier’s mind becomes out of place with society when one arrives back home. Evidently, his depression unveils, “[w]hen a man has seen so many dead he cannot understand any longer why there should be so much anguish over a single individual” (Remarque 181). Here, Remarque has Paul informing a mother of a fallen comrade. This plot development from chapter one to chapter seven clearly depicts his transformation from a trained and tough nineteen year old recruit out of high school, to a sad individual who is forever lost in the dismay of humanity. On the contrary, Sergeant James is a perfect invention for war who is highly progressed in the ranks of the US Army. As James says, “the way you don’t die, sir” (Bigelow). It is depicted that James is prepared for any imminent dangers on the battlefield while defusing bombs. At this point, James has no fear of death, or potential injury, and he’s never shown regret for the decisions he has made in war, so presumably James thinks himself above any other soldier,