All quiet on the western front

Brutal Face of War in All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque's novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, draws the reader into the horrors of war without becoming overly sensitive or dramatic. The success of the novel comes from Ramarque's voice and his ability to tell a story realistically. Through Baumer's experiences, we see the atrocity of war from the beginning moments of Kantorek's to Baumer's last moments when he realizes he is among a group of men lost and forgotten to be understood by no one. The experience of war is not one of simply fighting; it is a gradual transformation that occurs without little notice. One day Baumer realizes he and his fellow soldiers are in a messy war with no way out and the next day, he finds himself tossing a grenade at another man without flinching. The change is slow but it is real and it is terrifying because it cannot be undone. The brutality of war lies in the living that tell the story no one wants to hear.

The brutality of war begins with Kantorek. Baumer quickly lost respect for Kantorek and nationalists like him who mislead young men with the glory of war. Kantorek and others were "convinced that they were acting for the best -- in a way that cost them nothing. And that is why they let us down so badly" (12). Baumer recalls, "In our hearts, we trusted them . . . But the first death we saw shattered this belief . . . The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke in pieces" (12, 13). The war was not glorious from Baumer's point-of-view. In fact, Baumer writes, "While they continued to write and talk, we saw the wounded and dying . . . We loved our country as much as they; we went courageously into every action; but we also distinguished the false from the true, we had suddenly learned to see. And we saw there was nothing of their world left" (13). Here we see how Baumer matures quickly because of what he witnesses. This is not the kind of maturity one would wish for, however. Instead, it is a sense of reality that is almost too gruesome to bear. Kantorek lead the young men down a dangerous path. They trusted him and he betrayed them and this was the first bitter taste Baumer had of war.

Baumer and his friends witness the war the way Kantorek and his friends do not. The soldiers see things first hand and Baumer's experiences the horror of death when Kemmerich is killed. Upon reflecting on how Kantorek called the young men "Iron youth" (18), Baumer and his friends realize their innocence is torn from them with such dreadful sights. Baumer admits that he and his friends may be young but they know their lives were "cut off from the moment we came here" (19). Any connection with their former lives seems a million miles away and the cares of those days are miniscule to the cares of the battlefield. Death changes people and Baumer confesses that all soldiers fight with fear because they "do not know what the end may be" (20). Tomorrow is not a given in this war and Baumer must face this. There is no turning back and the soldiers have no choice but to fight in the trenches. This aspect of the war is paralyzing because we see the hopelessness of it all. Kantorek and his ilk will never know what the soldiers deal with on the field and this fact becomes cruel in its own way. They are not iron youth; they are fearful youth with everything in their futures to lose.

The brutality of war goes beyond what a soldier sees and experiences. Eventually, it begins to affect his mind and his heart. Soldiers too long on the battlefield grow hardened toward the war and death. This emerges in the trenches when Baumer says, "Chance makes us indifferent" (101). Life or death hangs in the balance every day for these soldiers and they can only face the unpredictable ways of war with apathy. The destruction of life is no longer shocking in the trenches. While the still, small human voice in Baumer's head tells him he cannot kill another human being, his animal instinct takes over in a "mad moment" (113) and he tosses a grenade at a solider, killing him. Baumer admits, "We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation" (113). Baumer experiences a change in himself while he guards the Russian prisoners. All he knows about these men is they are prisoners. He realizes any other information about these men might make him feel sorry for them. The war controls all aspects of Baumer's mind as he says, "But as it is I perceive behind them only the suffering of the creature, the awful melancholy of life and the pitilessness of men" (193). He sees empty faces when he looks at them. He does not see his fellow man and this causes him to understand the depth of how inhumane the war is. Powerful men like Kantorek decided these groups of men would be enemies, Baumer thinks. He also realizes, "A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends" (193). Baumer is full aware that nothing is in his control as far as the war goes. He must take care of defending his life in the immediacy of the moment while others decide further aspects of the war. The sense of loss is within and without and there is no place to escape from it.