We Want You
The poem Plato Told by E.E. Cummings illustrates the character of a soldier's thoughts which could be agreeable to the idea of war but how ultimately war results in death. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque sends the subtle message of the reality of war and how losing one's life isn't as honorable as it is presented to be. Remarque shows this reality by the experiences he gives the main character and other soldiers in order to argue against war and build accusations against those who promote it.
Remarque paints a very drastic and probably quite accurate picture of war. Our main character Paul Bäumer narrates how much the war not only affects him but all those around him by explaining and taking note of battle and all the prospects that go along with it. The first important area Remarque has Paul address about the reality of war is the continuous and what seems like never ending amounts of death. When Kemmerich dies, his death is sadly looked upon. Even before his death, his comrades could see that “under the skin [his] life no longer [pulsed], it [had] already pressed out
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Despite the message he gives in the very beginning of the book explaining how the book is neither an accusation nor a confession, Remarque is trying to debunk the honorable idea of joining the war by giving his characters realistic experiences of the war. Towards the end of our novel, we see how the perspective changes from Paul’s first person view, to a third person view which is no longer Paul. This last scene of the novel describes the death of our narrator which just goes to show how even though Paul was the main character and lived through the entirety of the book, he ended up dying because that’s the reality of
Like 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
Each of their deaths tremendously impacted Paul, but over time, Paul reacted less to each death until he became almost entirely numb to the concept of death. When Albert Kropp died, Paul said nothing more of him than, “parting from my friend Albert Kropp was very hard. But a man gets used to that sort of thing in the army” (Remarque 269). At this point, Paul Baumer became so desensitized that he lost the ability to grieve for his fallen comrade. The implication of his statement infers that Paul adapted to similar situations, and lost the ability to cope with grief long before the death of
The choice Erich Maria Remarque made to use first person point of view was more effective than using third person point of view because the reader is closer to the story and Paul. Throughout the novel, the readers can feel the pain and suffering Paul is going through in the war. This is more effective than third person because if it were third person it would be narrated, they wouldn't be part of the action, and wouldn't feel what Paul feels. For example, on page 16 Paul says, “I become faint, all at once I cannot do any more. I won't revile any more, it is senseless, I could drop down and never rise up again.
Erich Remarque, author of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, presents a true story of a soldier throughout World War I. At the young age of 19, Paul Bäumer voluntarily enters the draft to fight for his home country, Germany. Throughout the war, Paul disconnects his mind from his feelings, keeping his emotions away from the bitter reality he is experiencing. This helps him survive mentally throughout the course of the war. The death of Paul 's friend Kemmerich forces him to cover his grief, “My limbs move supplely, I feel my joints strong, I breathe the air deeply. The night lives, I live.”
In the year 1914, a war started that would turn innocent people against each other, and have aftermaths that include thousands of people dead due to new equipment like tanks, gas attacks, and hand-to-hand combat. In this war there was a soldier named Paul Bäumer who is a German nineteen year old who has made friends that will last a lifetime during this experience, but has also felt immense pain. His daily routine is to sleep, eat, and fight in the trenches, and he experiences death every day. Most soldiers view death as a recurring event, but Paul views it as wretchedness, which makes him different from others by caring about his comrades more than others. Paul shows many qualities through this experience of being a soldier in the First World War, and he learns what is necessary in life, which takes some people years to figure out.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is a war novel by Erich Maria Remarque that reveals the ways in which war is not glorious, and the ways in which destroys a soldier 's happiness, innocence, and youthfulness. In addition, it uses imagery and characterization to describe some of the hardships the soldiers face in the trenches and at the front. Likewise, "Suicide in the Trenches" is a poem by Siegfried Sassoon that glosses over these topics as well, in the form of a poem. While both Remarque 's "All Quiet on the Western Front" and Sassoon 's "Suicide in the Trenches" portray war as a destroyer of innocence and youthfulness, Remarque 's use of characterization to illustrate the theme is more effective than Sassoon 's use of imagery and word play, because it is more
In addition, Paul was injured in the book and goes home and stays with her family while he recovers. He is no longer able to relate to his family, since it is very difficult to think and have emotions and at the same time with much death all around him in the war. There is much talk of how he and his friends do not think about deep things, but just think about eating and silly things. His father and people over all his people want me to tell them stories of war and hate Paul because their experiences are horrible. Paul has just returned to the fight and basically everyone in the book is wounded and dies.
The First World War was a lengthy and brutal affair that claimed the lives of over 17 million individuals. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, its effects were equally as ferocious on the intellectual front, where it marked a turning point in the clash of European intellectual values. Philosophers such as Nietzsche had already challenged established institutions of Positivistic thinking toward knowledge and progress; however, his movement lacked widespread support. It was the disaster of WWI that accelerated their movement by inspiring culture-wide undermining of prior intellectual beliefs through newfound uncertainty: authors such as Erich Remarque and Vera Brittain drew upon sudden doubt underscored by the war to completely reverse prior thinking by breaking down pre-war notions of intellectual
Throughout the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator of the story, Paul Baumer goes through the realization how joining the war was destroying his and others’ youth while turning people against each other. Remarque uses the phrase “abyss of sorrow” as figurative language to describe the suffering and heartbreak the young boys experience in the front line, earning the generation of boys that served in World War 1 the name “the Lost Generation”. After Paul observes the pain of the prisoners that he is assigned to watch, he sees for himself “how people are set against one another, and in silence…slay one another”. Just because two sides are waging war, people are brainwashed or persuaded to sacrifice themselves for a fight that is
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.
However, when they were sent out into the midst of the war many of them realised the misconceptions they had and were led to believe. They became disillusioned as they realized that the war was much more brutal and horrific than they had previously believed. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque effectively comments on the horrors of war from Paul’s perspective, especially when Paul comments on injuries the soldiers endure and witness by stating “We see men go on living with the top of their skulls missing; we see soldiers go on running when both their feet have been shot away…Another man…with his guts spilling out over his hands as he holds them in.” (Remarque,
Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war. War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through. The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through. In the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front" is the description by Erich Maria Remarque of the graphic violence and gore and the psychological pain that the average soldier endured on the western front.
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.
Erich Maria Remarque’s title choice was perfect for this novel. Although it was not all quiet on the western front until the last page (p.296), the whole novel describes the path the war took to reach that point. Each event that occurred magnifies the struggle of valiant men in their attempt to achieve peace and brotherhood. The story line of the book began with tension, evolved to hatred and decimation, and resulted in peace and relief. When Paul Baümer lay dead, he appeared calm because peace had finally been achieved.
Paul 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