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Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front
This novel takes place during World War I, and focuses on the changes inflicted by the war on one young German soldier. This character, Paul Baumer, transforms from something of an innocent youthful figure to more of a hardened and traumatized veteran. As the story progresses, Baumer becomes more isolated and loses ties with his parents, elders, school, and his religion. The things that drove his personality before the war were abandoned later on as Baumer becomes cold and hard. Many of the factors in society that was important before the enlistment no longer seemed as fundamental as they once were.
The environment that Paul experiences undoubtedly drives this transformation when his Company and his fellow soldiers become emerged in the trenches on the front lines. After experiencing the harsh realities of the war immersed...
Also, he then perceives much of the language that is used throughout society as meaningless and without merit; he can only communicate with people that have shared similar experience as he did in the military. Because the story is told from his first-person perspective, the reader is provided the explanations of these transformations from the first-person perspective. In his preface to the novel, Remarque argues that "generations of men ... were destroyed by the war."
Before Paul enlisted in the war, both he and virtually everyone in his life were sympathetic to his decision. For example, his teachers and parents were described as using words that were intended to persuade the youth to value the nation's cause as propaganda and nationalism were fostered. Baumer states that…
It alls seems useless to them now. Education, wealth, or any other civilian factor has no significance at the front. They have no reference point to imagine a future outside the military or how to assimilate back into society. The younger soldiers have different experiences from the older ones. The older men usually had prewar families and jobs. They thought of the war as an interruption in the normal cycle
Somewhere about half of the 70 million men and women serving in the war are killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. The brutality and horrors of the war are only one of the major themes in the book. It also addresses the alienation of the soldiers. Although remaining alive to the end of the war, many men return either physically or mentally maimed or both. Spiritually, they are empty shells who
There is no time for unnecessary or frivolous actions, no play time, or joke time, there is only survival time. But it is not only physically that a soldier must be prepared and act solely for survival, but also mentally as well. A soldier cannot daydream, long for home, reflect on the past, or even lose his concentration for even a split second. When a soldier loses his focus on
This type of heroism also frequently meant severed limbs and other horrifying injuries that "normal" people shy away from. His function in the novel is one of recruitment, but also as demonstration of the concept dichotomy of the war. Kantorek believes in his vision of the war. However, it is only a vision in the minds of the rich and powerful, who have no idea what the reality of
Corporal Himmelstoss is also an interesting figure in describing the relationship between authority and subordinates, and the author goes to greater length to create this character rather than the case of the schoolmaster, who has a brief appearance in the beginning of the book. As a noncommissioned training officer, Himmelstoss is the best example of an individual who grows from a subordinate position before the war (he had been a
Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. Specifically, it will contain a historical analysis of the book, and look at the question: "how and why does World War I have an impact on this novel as it does? "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a war novel that brings the true horrors of war home to the reader in an effort to show the futility of