Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - English All quiet on the western front All quiet on the western front The novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque describes the psychological and physical battles of young soldiers such as the main character Paul Baumer who was pressured by the spirit of nationalism and his school master into joining the German army during World War I. In the beginning the young students are glowing with enthusiasm with the honor to be trusted with serving their nation in a time of crisis. The inexperienced soldiers soon loose their innocence and eagerness as they watch the new technological capabilities of the twentieth century painfully kill their comrades one by one and in the end become weary, burnt out, rootless, and hopeless. Over time the young soldiers, through experience, begin to realize their years of schooling are completely useless in a society filled with war. They were taught the basics of the world of work, duty, culture, and progress when the only knowledge they need is how to survive. The author, through his novel All Quiet on the Western Front, attempts to portray the vivid horrors and the raw nature of war and to change the popular belief of war as an idealistic and romantic character. This is evident through the barriers placed between Paul and the relationship with his parents and the rest of society who still view war as glamorous and cherish his war stories as though he were telling them a fairy tale. The novel also attempts to explain the purposes of war and its uselessness in society. The ultimate question that Erich Remarque raises in his novel is what did a whole generation give up their lives and precious innocence to accomplish. All Quiet on the Western Front is a story not of Germans, but of men, who even though “they frequently escape shells, are destroyed by the war”. This novel have could easily been transformed into the tale of a Frenchmen, an Englishmen, or an American fighting in World War I. Throughout the entire novel Erich Remarque uses the characterization of Paul Baumer, a youthful soldier, to demonstrate how war is not the glamorous, idealistic scenario that many people make it out to be but the gory, inhumane, and inescapable experience that it truly is. In the beginning of the novel the young student was ambitious, but as time goes on Paul’s attitude toward life completely changes. In the beginning, he felt that there was hope for him and that he could have a pleasant life after the war. The battle’s invasion of the serenity and holiness of the cemetery depicts the all invasiveness of war. Paul’s attitude began to change soon after going home on leave when he realized that he no longer had any connections with his old community except for his school mates who also enlisted and eventually died in the army. Even the conditions at home were hopeless as illustrated in the moldy food, his father’s futile efforts to change the situation, and his mother’s illness. The hopelessness of war is obvious to the reader and to Paul when Tjaden and Paul are severely injured while attempting to protect a town. They resist medical treatment due to the number of fatalities that result from amputation. They realized that death was almost inescapable if they allowed themselves to be treated in just any hospital. At the end of the novel, one of Paul’s closest friends, Katczinsky has recently died due to a small splinter to the head as Paul was attempting to carry him to safety on one of the last days of battle. At this moment it is evident to the reader that because of the war this young man has lost everything that he once held including all of the members of his class and the ability to connect with the rest of the world. In October 1918, Paul even lost his most precious commodity - his life to a stray bullet on what the army pronounced to be still and quiet day on the entire front. It is ironic that the army considers only a few deaths to be a peaceful and quiet day. Death has become such apart of reality that only great quantities of deaths are even noticed. Death in war is impersonal and faceless. This complete loss was foreshadowed in the beginning of the book with Paul’s slow loss of connection with the rest of the world. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque portrays how somber and frightful the priorities of young innocent boys are forced to be when they are placed in the path of war. Remarque demonstrates this key theme through his ornate use of tone and irony. A prime example of irony in the novel is when Paul, the young soldier is heading back to the barracks when a surprise attack takes place in the graveyard. Paul surveys his surroundings and describes it as, “A mass of wreckage. Coffins and corpses lie strewn around. They have been killed once again; but each of them that was flung up saved one of us.”(Remarque, 70-71.) This scenario is extremely ironic due to the fact that even in death a soldier can not completely escape the wrath of war. During this particular battle, the piles of coffins, on the otherwise flat terrain may have saved the lives of many soldiers. For this reason even in death the deceased soldier cannot be left in peace but instead is forced to act as a hero. This ironic situation also portrays the idea that once a man is forced to behave as an inhumane animal during battle he can not be transformed back into the civilized individual that he once was. Because during war the only knowledge a man needs a time of war is how to escape the shells and gas as well as the emotional and psychological torment of war. During battle when a soldier looks in the eyes of an enemy soldier, he does not see a man with a mother, father, sister or brother, but sees death starting him directly in the face. To these brave and selfless individuals the only commodity that strongly hold fast to is their lives even if this means not respecting the holiness that surrounds a cemetery. Toward the end of the novel All Quiet on the Western Front the authors’ tone clearly depicts the hopelessness of war. Paul Baumer toward the very end of World War I comments after losing everyone of his closest comrades that he no longer imagine life without war and death. This evident when Paul states, “Shells, gas clouds, flotillas of tanks – shattering, corroding, death. Dysentery, influenza, typhus – scalding, choking, death. Trenches, hospitals, the common grave – there are no other possibilities.” (Remarque, 283) In this statement it is obvious that Paul has given up hope and can no longer mentally and emotionally keep fighting against his true identity. This idea is foreshadowed earlier in the book when Paul discovers that he no longer has the ability to communicate with individuals who have not experienced the vivid horrors of war such as, his parents who still view war as glamorous and idealistic. War takes a heavy toll on soldiers who fight in it and in these dangerous moments anybody would have gone insane. It takes a very special type of soldier to be able to handle both the psychological and physical challenges that a soldier has to face in everyday battle. A soldier such as this must be capable of handling the sight of a mutilated comrade and not immediately chatter to pieces. The author conveys this message in his extreme use of words with negative connotation such as shells, typhus, dysentery, and trenches. In this portion of the novel a great deal of emphasis is placed on the word death which is repeated several times and standing on its own it holds a great deal of negative connotations. Therefore, due to the severity of the situation and the extensive use of words with negative connotations the overall tone of the novel appeared to be very depressing or serious. This selection also demonstrates just how mythical the character of war that many individuals who have not experienced the tragedy of battle believe to be true by illustrating just how appalling and grim war is in reality. Bibliography: Word Count: 1399
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