The Cruel Realities Of War In All Quiet On The Western Front
The Cruel Realities of War
In war, is there anything honorable about violence, murder, and cruelty? After becoming a soldier and being exposed to the cold realities of war, Paul Bäumer, a 20-year-old, realizes that the government has lied to the soldiers; they told them that it is an honor to fight for their country. The theme of the anti-war novel “All Quiet on The Western Front” is that war changes you for the worse. Remarque conveys to the readers that it is not an honor to fight for your country through the use of irony, symbolism, and imagery.
War causes all soldiers to eventually become indifferent. When Paul is explaining the process of being a soldier, he says, “At first astonished, then embittered, and finally indifferent” (Remarque
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When Paul was talking about how the war has affected everyone, he says, “We know that in some strange and melancholy way, we have become a waste land” (Remarque 20). A waste land is a “land where nothing can grow or be built” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In this novel, the waste land symbolizes the deprivation of growth in Paul and the other soldiers. They can no longer grow because war has changed them for the worse. It has scarred and traumatized them, enough that even if they wanted to grow, they couldn’t be able to–like a waste land.
Paul and his comrades have to fight in a war where death is no longer something that is dreaded, but an escape–something that can rid them of the suffering(reality) that war has brought upon them, thus proving that fighting in war is not an honor. Near the end of the novel, when Kat is injured, Paul says, “I bind his wound; his shin seems to be smashed. It has got the bone, and Kat groans desperately: ‘At last––just at the last––‘” (Remarque 287). Kat gets a life-threatening injury to the head while fighting; Paul thinks that he just has a leg injury, Kat knows this but he doesn’t want to tell Paul because he wants to escape war through death. War is so horrible that soldiers would rather die than continue
Summary Of All Quiet On The Western Front
857 Words | 4 PagesKemmerich, 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.
Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front
182 Words | 1 PagesLike the concept of survival of the fittest, it is essential for the soldiers to have an animal instinct to survive on the battlefield. Many moments are shown in which the soldiers become two faced, changing from good-mannered and soft soldier to animal - like characteristics. Paul informs us that they only way to survive in battle, is to block away all your emotions, if not, it would drive you insane. Another aspect as to the book’s anti-war sentiment, is how Remarque describes the consequences of war, the loss of the young life. Paul's generation was known as the "Iron Youth", which was a group of young boys who enlisted and fought in the war as a way of showing gratitude for their country, Germany, but his age group is lost because
Summary Of All Quiet On The Western Front
761 Words | 4 PagesThe book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque portrayed war as a great hole of death and despair dug by a nation's higher power for the citizens to patriotically march into. All Quiet on the Western Front was written as a 'new-age' war story; The book focused on the horrors of war rather than the romantic veneer other previous writers had plastered on. The War obliterated the distinction between civilian and military targets. 'Armies were no longer targeting just their opponents, but the civilian towns that supply them too, killing innocent people. People still today, who are innocent civilians, are being killed for being on the wrong side.
All Quiet On The Western Front Nihilism Analysis
906 Words | 4 PagesIn the book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, displays that nihilism is a result of war. Throughout the book, several key events occur that point back to that theme, nihilism is a result of war. War fosters nihilism and creates a loss of innocence in the soldiers. The feeling of nihilism causes the soldiers to expect death, and channel their feelings into caring only about material things. This book, All Quiet on the Western Front, gives countless examples that point to the main theme, war causes nihilism.
All Quiet On The Western Front Cowardliness Quotes
1410 Words | 6 PagesPaul reaches this stage when he returns to the front after staying at the hospital due to a leg injury. In a moment of deep thought, Paul ponders, “...life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death;--It has transformed us into unthinking animals to give us the weapon of instinct...“ (Remarque 273-274). The soldiers may be courageous for their spontaneous acts but are thoughtless, controlled creatures. In this case, it is a negative as they are sacrificing their wits to
What Are The Major Changes In All Quiet On The Western Front
1068 Words | 5 PagesBefore the war Paul was innocent. He knew none of war and was just a kid who had never experienced anything bad. War can effect one in a way that can never be changed. Due to how they used to be the war has changed them so much that they will never be friendly, well-adjusted children again. Not just war has created major effects on the way people live it also somewhat belongs to the person themselves.
All Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque
1192 Words | 5 PagesThe inhumanity that he witnesses makes Paul conscious of the animal-like suffrage that the soldiers experience throughout their time in the war. To Baumer, the Russian soldiers “are so feeble” (Remarque 193) and have lost their sense of humanity as they are the “pitilessness of men” (Remarque 193). However, Paul can relate to the men as they are all soldiers fighting for a cause that they do not necessarily believe in, bringing out their inner beast in order to survive. He then begins to realize that the more he finds connections and a sense of
Theme Of War In All Quiet On The Western Front
1182 Words | 5 PagesWar creates tremendous amount of trauma and destruction to the human race from explosions to mass massacres. At the front-line a soldier is a brave man who sacrifices his life to fight for the freedom of his country and if he is not killed by the war he is scared by the psychological effects of war that will live on for the rest of his life. Within the novel All Quiet on the Western Front and film Born on the 4th of July the author Erich Maria Remarque and director Oliver Stone both set a strong example and express the true gruesome and terror of war. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front and film Born on the Fourth of July, Paul Baumer and Ron Kovic are characters that both share similarities and differences through their experiences
The Psychological Trauma In All Quiet On The Western Front
902 Words | 4 PagesWar Prompt War always has an impact no matter who is involved. This can be a good thing to the nations and groups who win the war, or a bad thing for those on the other side, but the men involved on either end are forced to endure specific things that affect them for life. The psychological trauma on soldiers not only affects them when in war, but also afterwards when they are in society. Experiencing an event or taking part in an act leaves scars on these people who sometimes have to live with it for the rest of their lives. What a soldier experiences and sees during war leaves them with traumatic memories even though they may have not taken part in it.
All Quiet On The Western Front 'And War Triptych'
931 Words | 4 PagesIn comparison to Dix, Remarque 's All Quiet on the Western Front depicts soldiers who are used to fighting on the front line; forcing them to forget how to adjust into a civilized society considering the horrors they face on a daily basis. Soldiers ' are familiar with their obligations on the front line as opposed to when they enter the real world after the war. Remarque includes a passage in which Paul, the protagonist of the novel, fights against his own conscience, reconnects with human morals, and ultimately concludes that war is real and that he must learn to adapt to it. After Paul stabs a Frenchman, he immediately questions if he would 've committed the killing if it were his loved ones, which uncovers his guilt built up inside of him. The author states, "Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy?
Lost Generation In All Quiet On The Western Front
1080 Words | 5 PagesI was a soldier, and now I am nothing but an agony for myself, for my mother, for everything that is so comfortless and without end. I ought never to have come on leave" (Remarque 185). Here, Paul puts aside his emotions, a symbol of his humanity, in favor of animal-like instincts to survive during the war. During his leave, Paul struggles to connect with his family and friends due to his war experiences. He can not agree with the principal's vision of the war because Paul sees through the lies of nationalism and actually experiences the horrors of war.
All Quiet On The Western Front Effects Of War Essay
1064 Words | 5 PagesThroughout 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.
All Quiet On The Western Front: An Analysis
1181 Words | 5 PagesThrough the growth of his rediscovered humanity, very humane feelings such as sympathy are revealed. Sympathy comes from the recognition that both sides of war are more similar than they care to admit. While bedridden in a hospital, Paul wrestled with the thoughts that “a man cannot realize that above such shattered bodies there are still human faces in which life goes its daily round. And this is only one hospital, one single station; there are hundreds of thousands in Germany, hundreds of thousands in France, hundreds of thousands in Russia. A hospital alone is war”(263).
All Quiet On The Western-Western Front Thesis
665 Words | 3 PagesErich 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.
Character Analysis: All Quiet On The Western Front
804 Words | 4 PagesPaul learns that war obtains the capability to demolish society. War destroys so many innocent people’s lives, whether it kills innocent human beings or shatters the innocence of those who fight in
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