All Quiet on the Western Front:
The months pass by. The summer of 1918 is the most bloody and the most terrible. The days stand like angels in blue and gold, incomprehensible, above the ring of annihilation. Every man here knows that we are losing the war. Not much is said about it, we are falling back, we will not be able to attack again after this big offensive, we have no more men and no more ammunition.
Still the campaign goes on—the dying goes on—
Summer of 1918—Never has life in its niggardliness seemed to us so desirable as now; —the red poppies in the meadows round our billets, the smooth beetles on the blades of grass, the warm evenings in the cool, dim rooms, the black mysterious trees of the twilight, the stars and the flowing waters, dreams and long sleep— O Life, life, life!
Summer of 1918—Never was so much silently suffered as in the moment when we depart once again for the front-line. Wild, tormenting rumours of an armistice and peace are in the air, they lay hold on our hearts and make the return to the front harder than ever.
Summer of 1918—Never was life in the line more bitter and full of horror than in the hours of the bombardment, when the blanched faces lie in the dirt and the hands clutch at the one thought: No! No! Not now! Not now at the last moment!
Summer of 1918—Breath of hope that sweeps over the scorched fields, raging fever of impatience, of disappointment, of the most agonizing terror of death, insensate question: Why? Why do they make an end? And why do these rumours of an end fly about?
[page 285]
my view?--i believe that to be one of the most moving passages of the book. Erich Marie Remarque is a marvelous writer. Although most of my friends think this book is terribly boring, i found it to be amazingly interactive. anyone who is anyone will read this book and learn an abundant amount of info about war and its morals. look at me, trying to be a critic. well anyways, i love this book. it moved my heart as much as alanis did when i heard 'perfect' and it can compare to the influence it has over me with Blur. what else can i say? well i deinitely know how it feels to be a soldier in any war, especially the Great War. the stereotype of today is that 'the germans were bad' or 'those germans only want war'. but that is totally bullshit. soldiers only follow commands.... paul baumer, the bravest soul i have ever encountered, is a man of strength, courage, and everything i need to have in myself to live. does that make sense? well it doesnt to me. i just am very surprised by how much i learned from reading this supposedly boring war novel. i recommend it to everyone everywhere.
okay heres an ugly paper i wrote in the summer after freshman year. note: i was an incoming sophoimore, and this was a MANDATORY assignment for acceptance into Honors Lit. i am not so dumb as to write it just for the hell of it. do you think im crazy? i know you dont really care, but i will post it anyway.
All Quiet on the Western Front
"...life is simply one continual watch against the menace of death..." (page 273, chapter 11) Within the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, many young men realize that death continually surrounds them, and sometime in their lives, they are going to have to suffer its results. Starting off with several peaceful young men, Paul Baümer and his friends experience the wonders of war, home, and love. But the men, who were full of life and adventure, discover the tragedies of death and hopelessness in the most relentless ways, by losing their comrades one by one, week by week. As eighteen year old civilians in Germany, the young men volunteer as recruits in the army during World War I, pressured by their old schoolmaster Kantorek. Directed by the group’s oldest, wisest, and most experienced soldier Stanislaus Katczinsky, the men fight, teach, and fool around like other people their age do but encounter pains and suffering due to hunger, bafflement, and the loss of comrades. After two years of fighting, though, these men are broken into wild beasts, combating only to survive, and they realize that there is no more hope for them in winning the war. This paper examines the extraneous problem of war being artificial, the consequences of war causing destruction to the world, and a resolution that annihilates all people’s souls and minds. Therefore, Erich Maria Remarque explains that the hopelessness and destruction that are caused by war can never be resolved.
The forced actions of the war on the soldiers shows the expanding problem of superficial information in the war’s front-lines during World War I. To start, the young soldiers are confused about life after a surprise attack from their enemy. Paul describes himself and his friends "forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial--I believe we are lost." (page 123, chapter 6) He explains that these young men are children, but they act as if they are grown men, people they only long to be. Symbolizing the recruits who aren’t actually soldiers, Paul and his friends are individually very confused civilians pulled into live fire action, revealing that war makes people change and lose their identities. For example, the soldiers are given new furnishings to keep for only a week until the Kaiser, the emperor of Germany, comes. But the fortune is lost when the men "...have to return almost all the new things and take back our old rags again. The good ones were merely for the inspection." (page 207, chapter 9) Used only to present to the Kaiser, the new clothes given to the poor soldiers are forcefully taken back as if the soldiers-in-training are just for "show." However, this false information given to the Emperor represents how the war and men seem to be well off and confident outside, but the soldiers, inside, are still fearful and hopeless. From the changing of identities and forcefully retrieving materials, the war gives a false impression on people of all kinds. But that impression is not the worst that war can impel onto the fatigued soldiers.
The setting of the war in this novel represents the tormenting consequences of death and destruction that may destroy civilization, but not the nature surrounding it. During a rest period, Paul and his friends observe their surroundings, noticing that the environment around them, even after bombardment, still survives.
"These are wonderfully care-free hours. Over us is the blue sky. On the horizon float the bright yellow, sunlit observation balloons, and the many little white clouds of the anti-aircraft shells. Often they rise in a sheaf as they follow after an airman. We hear the muffled rumble of bees droning by quite drown it. Around us their tall spears, the white butterflies flutter around and float on the soft wind of the late summer..."
(page 9, chapter 1) Paul discerns that even if war still goes on, nature overcomes the destruction and builds its home around the ruins. This setting of beautiful meadows, conjoined with aircrafts of war, shows that the war does destroy lives, but nature and its surroundings will never be conquered. In addition, Paul is at a training camp after his leave , and he recognizes the forest encircling him. "But most beautiful are the woods with their line of birch trees. Their colour changes with every minute. Now the stems gleam purest white, and between them airy and silken, hangs the pastel-green of the leaves; the next moment all changes to an opalescent blue, as the shivering breezes pass down from the heights and touch the green lightly and away; and again in one place it deepens almost to black as a cloud passes over the sun. And this shadow moves like a ghost through the dim trunks and rides far out over the moor to the sky--then the birches stand out again like gay banners on white poles, with their red and gold patches of autumn-tinted leaves." (page 188, chapter 8) The scenery in this quote shows what Paul thinks of the war, chaotic and changing constantly, and the setting around him shows this. Peaceful, quiet, and beautiful, sometimes war is very pacific, but at other times, when the stormy clouds come, war is full of fear, aggression, and brutality. These two scenarios constantly interchange throughout life in a war, but what can these soldiers do? Is there a passage to the end of war?
Destroying people’s minds and souls, the continuous problem of artificial and destructive war can never be solved, but only comforted by comradeship. First of all, after a bombardment, Paul’s comrade Albert Kropp discusses some ideas about the war that changed their whole lives. Paul agrees and responds, "We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war."
(pages 87-88, chapter 5)This terrible war changed all the soldier’s youth and souls into a desperate struggle for life in defending themselves against the throes of death. Converting a wonderful, playful life into a struggle for existence, the war destroys lives and transforms people into animals that fight for survival. In contrast, after coming back to the front-line from home leave, Paul is on the bridge of death until he thinks to himself,
"At once a new warmth flows through me. These voices, these quiet words, these footsteps in the trench behind me recall me at a bound from the terrible loneliness and fear of death by which I had been almost destroyed. They are more to me than life, these voices, they are more than motherliness and more than fear; they are the strongest, most comforting thing there is
anywhere: they are the voices of my comrades." (page 212, chapter 9) Saving a soldier’s life, these calming, tranquil voices that lead Paul through combat allow him to stay confident and rational. Without his comrades, Paul would be in his chamber of fear and loneliness, which will kill a man if he lives in those conditions for a short amount of time. This deadly war can destroy once joyful lives, but if one has comradeship, he will stay sane and in reach of others.
In conclusion, Erich Maria Remarque stated that there is no resolution in stopping the destruction and hopelessness caused by the detrimental war. This paper examined the problem of artificial war onto the soldiers, the destructive consequences of war to the environment surrounding the camps, and the solution that kills peoples souls, unless they have the comfort of friendship. After analyzing the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, readers have a new understanding of what soldiers go through, experiencing the pain and mania suffered by these young men. The next time any war comes through to you on television, you will know the hardships that these faithful men go through to save our country, how they think and what they dream. Understanding the agony and death endured by soldiers in a war, people will know to respect these soldiers instead of opposing the war. Inspiring people to regard these devoted beings, these soldiers will be acknowledged, and so honored as servers of their country.
