Critical Analysis Of All Quiet On The Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque tells the story of young German soldiers in World War I. Often, war novels tell intentionally exciting tales of triumph or purposefully agonizing accounts of defeat, but Remarque refuses to veil the tragic reality of war in order to make the story more entertaining for the reader. The book is meant to be “least of all an adventure.” Remarque served for the German army during World War I, and he therefore repeatedly encountered death, much like his narrator, Paul, and “death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it.” In his novel, Remarque tells a story that explains how home and identity were lost for many young men during the war. Philosophical ideas on the value of war fade

I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another… And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me… What do they expect of us if a time ever comes when the war is over? Through the years our business has been killing;—it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us?” (194)

This is the central theme of the novel. Paul and all of the other men his age began life with experiencing death. The older generations experienced the war after having laid a foundation for their lives, and the younger generation did not have to truly experience the war. Much of Paul’s generation did not survive the war, and those who survived physically still lost the opportunity to live normally. Before Paul’s death, he notes that time can take nothing from him: he had already lost his own hope in life, which is the only thing time can