All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

756 Words2 Pages

What is irony? Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is actually the opposite of what is expressed by the words the author used. This technique is used to ridicule or mock a particular subject by expressing laudatory remarks, but implying contempt and denigration. There are several examples of irony in the novel _All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_ by Erich Maria Remarque, a realistic, yet fabricated account of a soldier's experience in an international war. The lighthearted irony quickly transitions into dark satire with the use of dramatic irony, the setting, and situational irony to mock the glorification of war and introduce reality. In dramatic irony, the audience knows what is going to happen, but the characters do not. The names of the characters in Remarque's novel have certain meanings that correlate with what they experience. The first light-hearted and ironic account is Himmelstoss's name. "After a couple of days Himmelstoss comes up to us. He has had the bounce knocked out of him since he has been in the trenches and wants to get on good terms with us" (137) Himmeltoss translates to "Heaven, toss." This representation is the symbol for Himelstoss being tossed into reality. When Himmelstoss is beaten, the readers do not show pity because they do not like him, even if he helps Paul survive. On the other hand, Another character named, "Leer groans as he supports himself on his arm, he bleeds quickly, no one can help him."(284) Leer's name humorously stands for "looking with desire." However, his death is not funny at all, and sympathy is shown for Leer, because he is Paul's friend. Finally, The irony of Paul's name comes from his death scene, in which he says, "I raise my eyes, I let them move round, and ... ... middle of paper ... ...h a crash something black bears down on us"(69) The coffin is protecting Paul, but at the same time, it is a symbol of Paul's death. It represents the nonstop war, and the useless fighting. Paul will eventually be buried under many soldiers. This message is what Remarque tries to convey with this scene. Using these ironies, he alludes to how war is mentally scarring, meaninglessly violent, and it will keep continuing. There is no end to wars. The developing satire throughout the novel targets war as a whole, and challenges its effects. Remarque uses several ironic examples and techniques to convey his sarcasm, including: dramatic irony, setting, and situational irony. Remarque's remarks on war are used to ridicule and mock war. He uses irony to condemn and denigrate the act of sacrificing young individuals with great potential to war and violence between countries.

Irony in All Quiet on the Western Front
841 Words | 2 Pages
Irony is not always funny; verbal, dramatic, and situational irony are often used to assert truth or to add depth to an author’s writing. In Erich Maria Remarque’s book, All Quiet on the Western Front, the reader experiences years of life on the front of World War I through the eyes of a young German man, Paul Bäumer, who has enlisted with his classmates at the expectation of their schoolmaster. Remarque uses irony throughout his novel, best displayed in the names of the characters, the various settings, and in the deaths of the characters.
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The Courage and Strength in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
2436 Words | 5 Pages
... While the corpse represents each of these concepts, in the end it is Paul’s faith – his own luck – that saves his life once again. What, upon first glance, appears to be a hectic and confused account of a destructive shelling becomes a wonderfully connected verse of one soldier’s struggle to preserve himself against all odds. What more can be said about Paul?
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All Quiet On The Western Front Tone Analysis
775 Words | 2 Pages
To Pursue Remarque’s tone farther, his tone throughout this novel was rather easy to find because of the horrific, depressing, yet at the same time a little sympathetic, scenes. Paul explains a scene after a bombardment, “In the branches dead men are hanging. A naked soldier is squatting in the fork of a tree, he still has his helmet on, otherwise he is entirely unclad. There is only half of him sitting up there, the top half, the legs are missing” (93). The bombs are killing several men at a time. Paul not only observes this in real life, he ultimately has to live through it. Once a war has been going on for a long period, the soldiers know that war is all about death.
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All Quiet On The Western Front
1091 Words | 3 Pages
The details used make one think of how bad the war must be and how it changes one's perception of war. Another example Remarque uses to show the brutality of war is through the imagery of sound. In chapter four Paul talks about the paranoia everyone gets when they hear the loud death cries of the wounded horses at the front: "We can bear almost anything. But now the sweat breaks out on us. We must get up and run no matter where, but where these cries can no longer be heard" (Remarque 63-64).
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Stripped Innocence: Impact of War on Soldiers' Humanity
1939 Words | 4 Pages
Paul’s books symbolize the shadow of war that has been casted upon him through the horrid violence. Paul’s
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All Quiet On The Western Front the Novel
1068 Words | 3 Pages
Throughout the novel, Paul must face dangerous tasks. For example, in chapter nine Paul crawls through No Man's Land to gather information about enemy forces. While in No Man's Land, the enemy begins to bombard the Germans. Paul, fearing death, hides in an old shell crater and pretends to be dead. While feigning death, an enemy soldier enters the crater. Paul quickly reacts and strike at the enemy with his dagger, fatally wounding the soldier.
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All Quiet On The Western Front
611 Words | 2 Pages
War destroys Paul and his friends. Those who physically survive the bombing, the bullets and bayonets are annihilated by physical attacks on their sanity.
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Irony in "Brave New World"
1038 Words | 3 Pages
By now, you should have learned about irony, one of the most important literary devices used. There are many definitions of irony, but a simple definition is the contrast between what was supposed to happen and what actually happens. Irony is separated into three types: situational irony (you crave oranges, turns out you are allergic to them), verbal irony (“Oh, you are so funny!” when someone is not funny [sarcasm]), and dramatic irony (while reading, you know there is a monster in the closet, but the character does not). Many examples of irony are given in the novel Brave New World, a novel set in the future where humans are biologically engineered and conditioned for their role in society. The novel exemplifies irony because even though they have norms and regulations set, most people tend to not follow them, including the world leaders.
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Horror of War Exposed in Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front
1078 Words | 3 Pages
In the course of war, though, he is consumed by it and in the end is "weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope" (Remarque page #). Through Baümer, Remarque examines how war makes man inhuman. He uses excellent words and phrases to describe crucial details of this theme. "The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts," (page #). Baümer and his classmates who enlisted in the army see the true reality of the war.
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All Quiet on the Western Front - A Book Review
1912 Words | 4 Pages
Remarque also tried to teach his audience. Written within a decade of the end of the war, the book calls on those who forfeited their youth to the war not to allow time to hide what had happened. Time may heal all wounds, but the cause of those wounds must not be forgotten, nor allowed to repeat itself. The author is; however, pragmatic enough to realize that all will not learn the lesson; nevertheless, those who are willing to learn it will discover that the story has been told before, and without their intervention, it is doomed to be told again.
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Irony in Guests of the Nation
799 Words | 2 Pages
In the short story, "Guests of the Nation," Frank O'Connor uses irony to illustrate the conflict which men face when their roles as combatants force them to disregard the humanity of their enemies. In both life and literature, irony exists when there is a contrast between expectation and reality. Verbal irony is defined as "a figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words which carry the opposite meaning" (Thrall 248). In dramatic irony there is a contrast between a character's perception of a situation and the actual facts. Often "some of the actors on the stage or some of the characters in a story are 'blind' to facts known to the spectator or reader" (155) . The short story "Guests of the Nation" by Frank O'Connor illustrates both types of irony.
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The True Meaning of “Hills Like White Elephants”
807 Words | 2 Pages
There are several elements of symbolism in the story; however, “The deeper levels of this story are disclosed by examining not only what is implied through the irony but also what is indicated by symbolism and repetition” (Holla...
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Examples Of Injustice In Atonement
1119 Words | 3 Pages
Irony is something that seems to directly contradict a precedent set before it, and is seen everywhere in the world, often having dismal consequences, but it also serves to point out that there is something wrong with the current state of affairs. Briony Tallis, a character from Ian McEwan’s Atonement, is also a victim of this type of irony, as her undeveloped system of justice results in a great injustice; however, this injustice serves to improve her understanding of justice as she realizes her wrongdoings and attempts to atone for them meanwhile her life is used by McEwan to send parables to his audience that prove to enrich his novel. The exposition of Briony as a smart, but naive little girl influences her poor judgement, and helps relay
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Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death
727 Words | 2 Pages
This is highly ironic as He is connotatively depicted as gruesome, horrid, and like the Grim Reaper. Additionally ironic is that the Grim Reaper carries a scythe, and they pass a field of grain. As if the speaker is too busy and cannot find time for Death, “He kindly stops for [her]—” (line 2). There are further applications of metaphors and personification in “Immortality” (line 4), which is personified to represent the speaker’s soul riding in the carriage, and in, “[Death] knew no haste” (line 5), which emphasizes His docile description and can mean that the speaker had a slow
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Dramatic Irony In The Story Of An Hour
774 Words | 2 Pages
Defined by Dictionary.com dramatic irony is “irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience, but not grasped by the characters in the play” (“dramatic irony”). This type of irony is one that is not seen by characters, but is known to the reader. Towards the end of the story Josephine begs for Mrs. Mallard to open up the door and let her in, as she is afraid her sister is making herself ill (Chopin 201). This is dramatic irony as Josephine does not realize that her sister is not actually making herself ill, but is instead rejoicing in her husband’s death. Another instance at the conclusion of the story, Mr. Brently Mallard enters through the door, Richards quickly tries to block him from Mrs. Mallard seeing (Chopin 201). Richards assumes that Mrs. Mallard is still grieving from her husband’s death. He shields her from seeing Mr. Brently Mallard as he knows it will too much emotion. The dramatic irony is Richards does not realize that she is happy and blocking her view of her husband will make her upset, but only because Brently being alive means her freedom is
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All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Irony in All Quiet on the Western Front

The Courage and Strength in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

All Quiet On The Western Front Tone Analysis