Ernest Hemingway's All Quiet On The Western Front

The World War One novelist Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “There were many words you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene” (Hemingway, ‘A Farewell to Arms’, 1929). Hemingway knew the horrors of war. He was a veteran of World War One. This was a war where 65 million troops were mobilized, and 37 million were killed, wounded, or went missing. War was seen as glorious until these views were brought in. Hemingway became famous for his writing as a member of the ‘Lost Generation’ of American writers. He, along with writers such as Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T. S. Eliot made up the great American writers of the time. However, they did have their European

counterparts.

Erich Maria Remarque was a German novelist who was also a war veteran from the same war as Hemingway. His book, All Quiet on the Western Front, would be very controversial because of the description of the war as a terrible thing and the main character’s struggles with loyalty to Germany and loyalty to his morals. Paul, the protagonist, is faced with many traumatic moments, and he no longer feels human. He resents Germany and doesn’t see the point in fighting, yet he knows he must. This also appears in Peace Like a River, written by Leif Enger. The main character, Reuben Land, must struggle between loyalty to his family, loyalty to his brother, Davy, who murder two unpleasant fellows, and loyalty to his country. He doesn’t know whether to be on Davy’s side or to turn him in. Overall, Peace Like a River and All Quiet on the Western Front both deal with the struggles between loyalty to one’s country and loyalty to one’s morals, and how both can lead to the betrayal of

one or the other.

Loyalty to one’s country can be a fickle thing, and that is portrayed in Enger and Remarque’s work. The premise of Peace Like a River is that Davy killed two boys, Israel Finch and Tommy Basca, that were threatening his family’s safety. Davy is controversially charged with murder, but he escapes from jail, putting him on the government’s radar. Reuben thinks, "When did it come to Davy Land that exile is a country of shifting borders, hard to quit yet hard to endure, no matter your wide shoulders, no matter your toughened heart" (Enger, 50). Reuben realizes that if he wants to remain loyal to his brother, he will essentially be in exile himself. When the family goes searching for Davy, they are being followed. A federal agent by the name of Andreeson goes out of his way to track both Davy and his family. Reuben is on the radar of his government. Later on, when he finds Davy near the place they are staying, Davy tells him to not tell the rest of the family where he is. Reuben will later have to lie to and sabotage government agents and his own family in order to remain loyal to Davy. Reuben’s loyalty to his country is not as strong as required in order to be safe from the federal agents. This is because he wants to stay loyal to his family and his morals. Struggles with loyalty also appears in Remarque’s work. The main character, Paul, is in the trenches. Life is dull waiting for death, and there is nothing to do except process one’s mortality and existence. Paul is thinking about the end of the war. He knows he wants it to end, yet he doesn’t know what he will do when the death and destruction ends. Paul thinks about him and his friends, "We are no longer untroubled--we are indifferent. We might exist there(civilian life); but should we really live there?" (Remarque, 123). He knows he will never be the same, nor will any of his friends. Traumatic experiences have stopped him from ever being a normal twenty year old. As Paul says, “We are none of us more than twenty years old. But young? Youth? That is long ago. We are old folk” (Remarque, 18). He feels no loyalty to the country that forced him through this, the country that made him age so rapidly. He is fighting only because there is nothing left to do except fight, and for fear of punishment. If he goes back, he can never face anything the same way again. Paul is a shadow of his former self. Paul and Reuben know that they have been dragged into hiding. While Reuben is certainly more optimistic that Paul is, they both blame their country for its cruel justice, and they both know they will never be the same again.