All Quiet on the Western Front

Enrich Maria Remarque stated in his preface, “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the greatest war novels of all time. It is a story, not of Germans, but of men, who even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. The entire purpose of this novel was to illustrate the vivid horror and raw nature of war and to change the popular belief that war is an idealistic and romantic character. The story centers on Paul Baumer, who enlists in the German army with glowing enthusiasm. But in the course of war he is broken up and in the end is left without hope. Through Paul Baumer. Remarque examines how war makes man inhumane.

Remarque used the destructiveness of war as a major theme throughout his book. Primarily, war exposes innocent lives to violence that it leaves physical and mental damage to the victims for the rest of their lives. War strips all baggage of life away from the participant leaving only raw emotions; fear, hate, pa

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They need to know how to escape the shells, as well as how to escape the emotional suffering of war. The impact of war on the spirit is faint. They are brimstone-butterflies, with red spots on their yellow wings. How will we ever get used to one after this, here?” (p. The war affects the victims and soldiers physically yet, more so emotionally. What can they be looking for here? There is not a plant nor flower for miles. Throughout many scenes in the book, Remarque was able to demonstrate how war destroys and alters the world. Kat and Detering and Haie can go back to their jobs because they had them already. These men fought for nothing but the mere principle of other people’s hate. The cost of life was to give up his emotions and leave them buried with all the dead soldiers in the trenches. Paul had become accustomed to the amount of deaths in war. One example that shows the reality of the theme that Remarque was trying to show is when Paul returns home on leave. Everything they were thought in school is no longer of any use to them all they need to know is how to survive.

Approximate Word count = 975
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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