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Brutality of War - All Quiet on The Western Front

            All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a suspense filled War novel that describes in detail the horrors of World War I in Germany. The commonly misconstrued thoughts about the war are quickly reversed by instances depicted to perfection, and the reader feels a sense of fear for the soldiers for the majority of the novel. The theme that Remarque portrays is one of the devastating horrors the war brings to young men who do not deserve it. He brings to life the harsh trench-warfare scene and many times states that no man should ever have to go through that. Remarque also ties in many smaller sub topics within the theme to display other characteristics not usually noticed by people not involved directly in the War. Ideas like comradeship and the feeling of indifference are greatly used to show a more accurate depiction of what life as a soldier was really like during this awful time.
             Although this book is not a biography, or necessarily based on a true story, the events that happen and detailed scenes are something that Erich Remarque had witnessed. Remarque was a soldier during the first World War and actually had a stint on the front at one time. This is important knowledge for the reader to have, because although the main character is not Remarque himself, many of the instances told are things that Remarque said personally witnessed. The fact that Remarque was in the army only adds more belief into the reader about the horrific events that take place in the story.
             The novel is set at the beginning of World War I. The soldiers who have just enlisted in the army together are all younger than twenty years of age, but to themselves and other recruits, they describe themselves as seasoned veterans. Paul Baumer is the main character and narrator in the novel and spills numerous stories from the vantage point of an actual solider who lived through all the difficult obstacles involved in the War.


Essays Related to Brutality of War - All Quiet on The Western Front

1. All Quiet On The Western Front

... him a long distance. The only friend left in the army was dead. Paul is the only one left out of all his friends that joined the army. It is only a matter of time before the war is at an end. Paul realizes he has nothing left to go home to. He ends up getting killed on a very quiet and peaceful day. This novel All Quiet on the Western Front displays all the horrors, brutality, and animosity of war. It shows you why ... this story was such an anti-war novel. Lives of men will ... ...

  • Word Count: 1099
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

2. All Quiet on the Western Front

In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, a young man of nineteen is thrust into the German army on the strong ideals of nationalism and patriotism. Paul, the young German, and his fellow schoolmates join the war voluntarily after listening to the patriotic speeches of their beloved schoolmaster, Mr. Kantorek. The young men soon realize that these ideals of nationalism and patriotism are empty promises. Paul and his friends soon realize that war is not glorious and honorable ... way for them to survive was to silence their thoughts and feelings and accept the pain of the bruta...

  • Word Count: 1086
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

3. All Quiet on the Western Front

... , we are feeble, and spent..." -Paul Baumer A book of the tragedy of war expressed in sorrow by Erich Maria Remarque explains All Quiet on the Western Front to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure. Throughout this novel many themes are expressed that of which all sum up to the major themes of the senselessness of war. Comradeship, wars brutality, and the lost generation, these themes express the book in its purest form, showing it from a soldier ... 's perspective. "We are at rest five miles behind the front." The importance of this line, the opening li...

  • Word Count: 533
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Follies of Nationalism

... burnings of All Quiet on the Western Front after exiling Remarque to Switzerland. Before it is possible to delve into the aforementioned themes of the futile agonies of war and the perils of Nationalism, it is necessary to understand the political and social climate in which Remarque was writing. (All subsequent historical references from HI 30 class lecture on 10/7/2003.) The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, sole heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, may have lit the fuse of The Great War, but the ... this downward spiral within the actions and emotions of Paul Baumer, the nov...

  • Word Count: 1278
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. All Quiet On the Western Front

... from the front of disaster and tragedy, one man decided that he would tell the world of his experiences. Erich Remarque, a German soldier was the man and the story was All Quiet On the Western Front; this book describe is gruesome detail the brutality that soldiers faced from the first day of recruitment up until the end of the service, which also meant death. In fact this book, eventually becoming a movie, provided such a descriptive portrayal of the suffering and pain in the war, that ... is was banned from many countries around Europe. This film depicted a life on the front that was ...

  • Word Count: 614
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

6. All Quiet on the Western Front

Remarque in the first pages of his book All Quiet on the Western Front summarises the theme of his entire text by dedicating it to "a generation that was destroyed by the war - even those who survived the shelling". This text is the tragic account of a young man, and the other millions of young men killed or emotionally and mentally shattered by World War I. The novel is brutally honest and is told from the unique first-person viewpoint of a young German soldier, Paul ... may be held by his readers of the glamour, glory and romance of war. He shows instead the animal brutality, the torn and h...

  • Word Count: 424
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. The Searchers By John Ford

... scene located in front of the Jorgensens" pioneer home, in which Mose is peacefully sitting on the porch rocking chair, having found the answer to his persistent dream to find civilization and never wander again, the Jorgensens see approaching riders. Laurie rushes off the porch, running to the second rider - Martin. In the lead, Ethan carries Debbie on his horse up to the front door of the Jorgensen's pioneer ... the raid). He scalps the dead chief, because it is the only vengeful alternative left to him since he has been robbed of the opportunity to kill him. He seems to be repaying S...

  • Word Count: 3497
  • Approx Pages: 14
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Review on All Quiet on the Western Front

The story "All Quiet on the Western Front" centers on a young man named Paul Baumer narrates the story. Paul is of the age of nineteen, when he is convinced to enlist in the German army in the World War I. Paul and several of his friends are encouraged to join the army by their teacher Kantorek, who would never join the army himself. After enlisting in the army, Paul and his friends trained under a cruel Corporal Himmelstoss, a strictly disciplined commander who ... read, and yet portrays life as realistically complicated. The central idea of the novel describes the horror and brutality of w...

  • Word Count: 803
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Political Hardships of World War II

... ended in 1918 when countries of the Central Powers signed armistice agreements. The novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque describes the experiences of German soldier Paul Baumer and his comrades during the war. The novel illustrates the soldiers' physical and psychological effects during the war, and how they are unable to re-attach to ordinary civilian lifestyle once they return home from the front. When looking closely at the events of World War I, it becomes clear that ... how cruel and inhumane he has become. Paul describes his animalistic instincts while on t...

  • Word Count: 1660
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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