The novel led to a new understanding and awareness

When you hear about war veterans, you think ‘wow, they’re lucky to have survived’ and you can’t help but wonder what it would really be like to serve in a World War. This novel described the Great War like I have never heard it before and it was absolutely horrific. All soldiers in this war had the same problems, which is why I kept forgetting that these were German soldiers I was reading about. Situations for soldiers these days are better, but back then it was much worse, especially in World War One because of the trenches. These trenches were unsanitary in every way. They had infestations of lice and very large rats. Then there are all the other things that make any war unbearable. Imagine leaving behind all family and friends, knowing that you may never see them again. There’s of course the fear of dying or of being killed slowly and painfully like so many did in this novel and in the real World War One. With this comes the thought that you’ll never be able to live a full and happy life with a house, a family and a job you enjoy. I think that killing another human being would be scarier than being killed. Even after the war, soldiers suffer severely from things like shell shock (this was a huge problem in WW1), depression, survivor’s guilt, the guilt of killing another person, and Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder.

There is another thing I considered as I remembered that Paul is a German soldier, fighting against what our country, Canada, believed in. Instead of thinking that our enemies are bad people, think about the situation from their point of view. It’s one thing to want to fight for your country, but Paul does not even agree with his German politic leaders. He is fighting in a war he doesn’t believe in. How helpless would you feel?

The setting of the book is unique and enhances the story

Remarque begins the novel with an author’s note in which he states “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.”

The setting of All Quiet on the Western Front has everything to do with the story. Without the setting, there would be no novel. The Western Front during the First World War was a very scary and dangerous place. This definitely creates the mood of the story to be suspenseful.

Before All Quiet on the Western Front, most war novels romanticized war by making it look as though being a soldier in a war was such a great experience filled with heroism and glory. However, Remarque’s book changed people’s views on this as he showed that the life of a soldier during World War One is actually a terrible experience and that nothing good came out of it for the individual soldier. Remarque clearly describes many of the horrors of the war which makes the reader sad, intrigues, ad scared for the protagonist.

What the author is trying to get across to the reader

War destroys the lives of everyone involved: those who are killed and those who survive and suffer for the rest of their lives. Remarque is trying to tell the truth about his own generation in the war. These men enlisted right out of school, before they had fully grown up. While they were at the Front, they had nothing to focus their thoughts on, nothing to hope for because they had nothing to return to back home. In other words, this generation of men, which Remarque was a part of, never had a fighting chance -no pun intended- at a normal, fulfilling life. When he kills his protagonist Paul, maybe it is Remarque’s way of saying that he wishes he himself had not been so unfortunate to survive only to be scarred eternally. Before he dies, Paul doesn’t even know what to think of his future because all he can believe in right now is war. He never had the chance to figure out who he is and what he really wants out of life.

Themes

One theme is that war destroys lives. It’s not only the people killed who are ruined; it’s also the survivors. The dead are able to escape the war and be at peace while the survivors must live with the dreadful memories for the rest of their lives. Sometimes they would be stuck in their dugout for days, while their trenches were bombed repeatedly. This was too much to handle for the new recruits, who had minimal training, and so they would go insane quickly. For Paul, compressing his emotions keeps him from going insane and to cope with the brutality of war.

A second theme in this novel is identity. In the beginning Paul is a student who loves classic literature and writing poetry, but as time goes on in the war, he becomes just another soldier. The things that used to matter to him don’t anymore. When Paul goes home for a visit he tries to bond feel at home, but he feels strange in his own house. The terror of war has numbed him He goes into his room only to discover he doesn’t care about any of his old belongings which used to mean so much to him. He finds himself wishing he was back at the front with his friends because that feels like home to him now. Numbing his emotions keeps Paul from losing his mind, but in return he loses his identity; everything that makes him who he is loses meaning.

A third theme is propaganda. Paul and his high school classmates used to look up to and respect their teacher, Kantorek. However, as soon as the class of young men graduates, Kantorek pressures the students into enlisting in the war. He persuades them into believing that it is their duty as young men to risk their lives for their country. And makes them feel like they have no choice and that if they refuse they will be cowards.

The protagonist seems real and believable

The detail Paul gives is amazing. He doesn’t show a lot of emotion and some would think that makes his character fake because the reader cannot relate to him. However, I think he is numbed by the horrors of war and therefore cannot show emotion or else he would become aware of reality and lose his sanity. I don’t know how I would feel in his situation, but I can only imagine that I would try to do the same.

It was also more believable because Paul dies at the end. He came unbelievably close to dying so often that it would have surprised me if he lived past the war. Although it is surprising still when he dies, against all odds, on a day when there is no action on the Front; it is completely quiet. This doesn’t make his character seem unreal however; it is just the author showing irony.

Knowing that Remarque was a German soldier during the First World War, I think that he used a lot of his own experiences, feelings, and memories to create his protagonist. The things that Paul talks about, sees and feels are actually, in my opinion, all the things that Remarque experienced. It seems that way anyhow.

How the protagonist changes throughout the story

Paul starts out as a young man who loves classic literature, music, and art. He used to love writing poetry and doodling during class. Soon, literally nothing matters to him except war because it is the only thing he knows anymore. He reasons that only facts are real and everything else is useless. When he enlists himself, he is changed completely as a result of the war. When he returns home for a visit, he is an entirely different person. He feels strange around his family and feels like he doesn’t belong in his own house. He finds himself wishing he was back on the Western Front because there, at least he feels like he belongs, he knows what he’s doing, and he’s good at it. The Great War has completely consumed Paul by the end of the story. Like many other stories, the protagonist is so innocent and unknowing in the beginning, but is forced to grow up much too quickly because of the situation he is put into. After just weeks of training for the war, Paul feels as though he has learned much more in just training than he ever did in school. Although he has learned so much, it not the type of things he should have to know at his young age. Again, this is the author saying how war destroys every aspect of the lives of everyone involved.