All Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque

Veronika kozachek

Mr.Solander

Sophomore Literature and Composition

B Set

7 March 2017

Trauma can lead to dehumanization, losing so many people in your life can make you lose all emotion towards death. In the book All Quiet On The Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, a soldier, Paul Baumer and his friends experience life on the German Western Front during World War I. He joins the army based on nationalism and regrets his decision of fighting for his country because of the realities of war which are harsh. Creating a bond with Kat, an older man, and forming bonds with other soldiers are the only good things about war. Despite the hardships of sudden bombardments, gas attacks, and witnessing so many deaths, they still manage

to survive with dehumanization. Paul and his comrades take action necessary to survive by suppressing their emotions and depend on inhumane qualities, they lose their will to live. In order have peace of mind, Paul and his comrades control their feelings by accepting that death is a normal and should not be mourned. The cook refuses to feed Paul, Tjaden, and the other 80 soldiers because he expects the arrival of 70 more men; Tjaden responds by saying, “They won't be fed by you today. They're either in the dressing station or pushing up daisies” (Remarque 4). Tjaden mentions death in a way which is not a big deal
by using the phrase pushing up daisies. The lack of concern in his tone shows that death happens everyday so he does not care about the constant loss of soldiers. Paul explains that reflecting on the gruesome days spent on the front lines should be avoided:
sink down in us like a stone; they are too grievous for us to be able to reflect on them at once. If we did that, we should have been destroyed long ago. I soon found out this much: terror can be endured so long as a man simply ducks; but it kills, if a man thinks about it. (138)
The crushing reality of losing a loved one affects the men’s mental state and brings out
further weakness. Paul understands the fear of witnessing the demise of his friends and the reality of dying, however, in order to be strong, any emotion must be repressed. Dwelling on the negative aspects of war causes further grief and anxiety, preventing a stable mindset needed to survive.
Paul eliminates all morals, and much like an untamed animal, depends on savage instinct
when fighting for survival. At the front line, English troops suddenly attack Paul and company immediately triggering an awareness of their surroundings: “The moment the first shells whistle over the air is rent with the explosions there is suddenly in our veins, in our hands, in our eyes a tense waiting, a watching, a heightening alertness, a strange sharpening of the senses” (54). A soldier cannot afford to be oblivious to his surroundings because death happens when least expected. By being so close to enemy territory, sudden bombardments or physical attacks are bound to happen so a soldier must be on high alert at all times. Their quick reaction to the sudden attack resembles a wild animal’s defense mechanism when being threatened by a predator. The
men attempt to avoid getting killed by hiding in trenches, oblivious to their surroundings, and eventually make it to the front line to lay out barbed wire: “We match up moody or good tempered soldiers-we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals” (56). Despite whatever country a soldier fights for, the main goal comes down to an intense battle between life or death. A change in personality by becoming bloodthirsty killing machines is necessary because being tame and benevolent will get a soldier killed. The violent and aggressive environment triggers the ill nature of human beings resulting in an intense and bloody competition for survival. Paul engages in combat with the enemy while witnessing the death surrounding him: “We can hardly control ourselves when our glance lights on the form of some other man. We are insensible, dead men, who through some trick, some dreadful magic, are still able to run and kill” (116). According to the mindset of every soldier, the enemy must be killed first in order for them to stay alive. Much like a lion hunting for prey, the moment an enemy is spotted he immediately becomes a target. There is no time for sympathy or compassion during a chaotic and bloody battle so many emotions are pent up. Spurts of anger and rage take over controlling the men’s violent actions.
Despite surviving for as long as he did, Paul loses his will to continue living due to the
loss of identity and his loved ones. The aftermath of the bombardment left Paul dead inside; he stares out at the ghostly craters: “They are not properly thoughts; they are memories which in my weakness haunt and strangely move me” (119). After moments of near death experiences and witnessing the brutal murders of his troop, maintaining sanity becomes difficult for Paul. By building an identity through the years spent fighting, all Paul’s memories are of death, bombardments, survival, etc. He has nothing joyful to remember or think about in order to escape from the physical and mental pain of war itself. With Kat and the rest of his friends dead,
Paul’s loneliness takes over and he loses hope in living: “I am very quiet.

Let the months and the years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear. The life that has been borne me through these years is still in my hands and my eyes. Whether I have subdued it, I know not” (295). Paul feels alone because all of his friends are now dead. He spent his adulthood building precious bonds with people that understood everything he experienced during the war when he loses that bit of happiness, Paul gives up on life. Life is now meaningless and he would rather be dead than continue living without a purpose. Just a month before the end of World War 1, Paul dies: “He fell fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front” (296). Despite all the effort and pain the soldiers went through, their deaths have been ignored by the living. Paul survived the constant bombings, gas attacks, and shelling, only to be acknowledged as another dead body laying around. Paul builds an identity as a suffering soldier and joy from the company of his friends disappear causing him to long the arrival of

death.
Dehumanization is necessary for survival but the effects of losing human attributes leads
to internal suffering. Repressing inner emotions creates a barrier from being negatively affected by the vicious and bloody events witnessed and the emphasis on the ill nature of human beings results in a better chance of survival. However, this effort of trying to stay alive leads to mental instability, and the mind will start to change. Being surrounded by chaos and bloodshed results in psychological trauma and the constant fight for survival triggers suicidal thoughts and a longing for death to come