How does the extreme hardship and conflict of war destroy an individual? War often has profound and drastic effects on an individual. It deeply wounds the soul and deprives the body. Erich Maria Remarque investigates these damaging effects on an individual’s fragile identity in his novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. Paul Bäumer, the protagonist of Remarque’s novel, is a soldier in World War I, but more importantly, a victim of the spiritually and mentally depriving conditions of war. Paul, a young, artistic boy before the war, enlists into the German army in World War I with his entire class of young, eighteen-year old boys. Slowly throughout the conflict, Paul has horrifying, utterly brutal experiences; he sees his comrades die one by one, until he himself dies, the last of the class that enlisted together in the army. Such terrible experiences as a friend’s death from a grisly bullet wound destroy the human spirit. Paul, by the end of the novel, has lost his humanity, purpose, creative spirit, and ability to relate to society. At the end, Paul is left broken, both physically and mentally, and without the identity of his former self. Paul, a symbol for all soldiers in World War I, reveals a universal truth about war: The brutality of war shatters the identity of an individual, leaving only a shell of the former self. Paul, who has seen the death and depravity of the front, has become completely unable to relate to civilian society. His experience affects him so much that he can no longer connect with those who have never been in war. When Paul goes on leave, he has an opportunity to immerse himself in civilian life. While back home, Paul comes to a shocking realization of how the war has changed him, and how little he can understand civilians. Upon this realization, he says, “It is I of course that have changed in the interval. There lies a gulf between that time and to-day. At that time I still knew nothing about the war, we had only been in quiet sectors. But now I see that I have been crushed without knowing it. I find that I do not belong here any more, it is a foreign world.” (168) Paul sees the dramatic transformation that he has undergone in his war experience. He no longer connects with his family and friends at home, but can only understand the fear and violence of war. Remarque chooses the diction “crushed” to show the extent of Paul’s loss of connection with society. Paul has, in essence, become isolated by his experience of the brutality of war from the “foreign world” that is civilian society. His inability to connect with his friends at home shows a loss of connection with society itself. Originally, before the war, Paul himself was a civilian, knew nothing of war, and connected well with society. Now that Paul has actually experienced the horrors of the battlefield, and has the spiritual scars of battle, he has lost touch with his old self, and his identity is crippled. Paul is no longer the young, innocent boy he was before. Rather, he is a callous soldier who can no longer integrate into nonmilitary matters. Even after his brutal experiences in war, Paul comes back to the front, mentally and physically exhausted by his return from civilian life. Upon his return to his friends from leave, Paul says, “I can hardly control myself any longer. But it will soon be all right again back here with Kat and Albert. This is where I belong.”(201) Because of his military experience, Paul has become increasingly drawn toward his comrades at war, and distanced from his home before the war. Even on his leave, Paul longs for the companionship of his fellow soldiers. Although Paul is fearful and miserable on the front, the pull of his comrades is stronger than the repulsion of military conflict. Paul’s increased connection with his friends on the front is a lingering motif in All Quiet on the Western Front, but this connection is an ominous sign of Paul’s loss of connection with society. Paul’s connection to his
Angelo Padilla Dawn Ross Per 5 Eng 2A All Quiet on the Western Front War, war never changes. Since the dawn of human kind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of a rock and bone, blood has been shed. Spilled in the name of God, the belief of justice, and in simple rage. One wrong move, and an all out war begins, with both sides believing they are doing the world a favor. As both sides quarrel, the lives of countless men are lost for their views. As the war…
All Quiet on the Western Front, is greatly impacted by the views of many characters. The most important being Paul Baumer. Paul Baumer is the main character in the novel and his point of view effects the outcome of the story the most. As the war progresses he offers views on certain subjects based on his prior knowledge. As Paul meets new people in the military and is included in many battles he is able to add on to his prior knowledge which improves his ability to address many problems he finds…
The war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, is written by Erich Maria Remarque and is based on a real soldier’s experience during World War I. The main character, Paul, is a twenty-year-old German soldier who is greatly affected by the war. The lost generation war brings out the worst in people as well as the best in people are all themes exhibited by Remarque throughout the book to show the positive and negative aspects of war. Paul, only being twenty years of age had been stripped of his…
Dear Dad, I woke up this morning to face another day of horrible fighting. This war is so terrible and every day I see tons of people die. The only good thing that has happened in this war is all of the friendships that I have made. My soldier friends and I have shared experiences in the war that have brought us close to together. Unfortunately the war has caused the death of some of friends and this makes me unhappy. I hate being on the front and being in trenches because there is a chance that…
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front successfully conveys many of his views on war to the reader. Remarque tells the story of Paul Baumer, a twenty-year-old German soldier who enlists with many of his classmates into the German infantry of World War one. Through the story of Paul Baumer, Remarque portrays many of his own views on war and can vividly explain these views to the reader. Throughout the story Remarque shows the personal struggles…
All Quiet on the Western Front In the war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque uses first person point of view to describe and introduce the hardships that soldiers endure in war. Remarque shows the extents the soldiers are willing go in order to have pleasure and leisure during the war. He uses the main characters, Kat and Paul, to show how the two go to great extents to ease the hardships of war. Erich Remarque uses the literary element of the first person point…
Kevin Sanchez Ms. Gorrell English 10 HON 28 August 29, 2013 Biography of Erich Maria Remarque Enrich Maria Remarque was born in 22 June 1898 and died in 25 September 1970. Was a German author and was known for writing the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. It was in Osnabruck where Remarque was raised, developing boyhood interests of fishing and butterfly collecting. In Catholic school, he was labeled as talented and gifted. Music, specifically the piano, became an important part of his life…
David Campbell Remarque, Erich Maria. All quiet on the western front. United States: Ballentine books, 1982. An insider’s perspective on the brutality of World War 1. When Erich Maria Remarque wrote All Quiet On The Western Front, he created a story unlike any that had been seen before. Novels based on warfare tend to be romanticized; this is partly due to the fact that history tends to be written by the victors. While writing All Quiet On The Western Front, Remarque was able to tell the story…
The Betrayal in War All Quiet on the Western Front is an autobiographical novel, written by Erich Maria Remarque, and was published in 1928. Remarque had fought for the German army on the Western front in World War I and had become a militant pacifist. From his experiences in World War I, Remarque had written All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel that talks about how young men are tricked into thinking that going to war is a glorious, honorable thing; but in reality it leaves men traumatized…
All Quiet on the Western Front All Quiet on the Western Front could definitely be considered an anti-war novel. The changes the characters in the novel subjected themselves to throughout the book allow the reader to view the negative effects soldiers went through during, as well as after the war. Anti-war means that you are against the war and leaning more towards the idea of peace. This novel showed the dissatisfaction and disappointment in each character once they begun to truly…