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What ironies are found in the book all quiet on the western front
What ironies are found in the book all quiet on the western front
War and post traumatic stress disorder
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A provider of pain greater than anyone should know, a family tighter than blood could tie, and a source of life and death- comradeship binds the characters in All Quiet on the Western Front together more so than any other theme present in the tragic novel. In the beginning of the novel, Erich Maria Remarque illustrates his soldiers as powerful and independent characters; however, as the story unfolds it is visible how much these soldiers rely upon one another to survive. As the war unfolds, Paul’s companions are picked off by the Grim Reaper, slowly leaving him in the darkness and silence of complete abandonment. The author portrays to the readers how Paul’s original character description plays into the novel, morphing and developing into what Paul’s character becomes by the end. Paul’s comrades support him and motivate him when harder times are upon them, forming a nearly unbreakable bond; yet they also bring him a deep pain as they begin to leave him …show more content…
completely alone. Paul first experiences the second hand pain of death as he watches his childhood friend, Kemmerich, suffer as he tries to battle off the black hand of the Grim Reaper. It is then that Paul first sees that the loss of his comrades “is the most disturbing and hardest parting” (Remarque 31) he will experience. As his character continues to develop and the war flourishes around him, he seems to become accustomed to the surrounding agonies of death. Throughout the war “[they] see men living with their skulls blown open; [they] see soldiers run with their two feet cut off, stagger[ing] on their splintered stumps into the next shell-hole”(134), doing anything to avoid death. The soldiers see things that no man should ever see, yet they are able to push it to the back of their minds, only focusing on getting themselves and their comrades out alive. But when they fail to do this, the desolation that follows is so heavy, it has the ability to crush any previous will to continue living. All Paul really knows is how to keep himself and his companions from dying, and he will be okay. Although one death seems to mean nothing to the rest of the front, it can mean the need to live or end it all for Paul: “All is as usual. Only the Militiaman Stanislaus Katczinsky has died. Then I know nothing more” (291). Kat is his source of hope, his light at the end of the tunnel, and his reason to stay alive. Without him, nothing more seems to matter, as all he cares about has left him. He becomes numb to not only pain, but beauty, and all of life as well, for he has absolutely nothing remaining worth living for, so he asks to “let the months and years come, they can take nothing from [him], they can take nothing more. [He] is so alone, and so without hope that [he] can confront them without fear” (295). There is nothing left for him, not even life itself. Although the pain that Paul’s companions bring him is even greater than life itself, they also show him a kind of bond that is unbreakable even by the sithe of the unliving.
They know what it is like on the front, and therefore have a deeper empathy for each other than anyone else may have. This gives them the ability to practically feel each other's emotions: “Kropp has calmed himself; we understand, he saw red; out there every man gets like that sometime”(18). They have seen gruesome and inhumane things, but they have seen them together, and together they are able to push through them. These men would fake death for each other, or take it on full force in order to keep their comrades alive, for Paul says “we stick together, you see”(249). The longer they stick together, the more attached to each other they become, giving the orderly grounds to ask: “You are not related are you?” and Paul replys: “No, we are not related. No, we are not related” (291), because they have grown to seem as though they are
kin. Paul Bäumer’s single motivation to keep living is purely the thought that he has his comrades. When given leave, he hesitates to take it because he does not know if he “shall meet these fellows again[.] Already Haie and Kemmerich have gone” (152) and he will never know who might go next. Although his family cares about him and loves him, he can never truly entrust in them what he is really feeling, for they could never understand the same way as his companions could. The soldiers know that after seeing the horror of the front line, and all of the demise, they can hold nothing sacred any longer; however, the families back home can never truly understand this. Even when asked to swear “by everything that is sacred to [him]” all Paul can think is “Good God, what is there sacred to me [anymore]” (181), so the people will simply believe what they wish to be the truth. The comrades however, have seen the blunt truth with nothing to sugar coat it, and have learned to carry each other through it. However, without each other, they are nothing but living corpses: empty and without purpose. The characters develop throughout the story as they continue to support each other through the darkest days, bringing a little bit of light to them. They endure the pain brought on by the height of the war and the loss of their closest comrades together, until there is but one lone soul, left in complete and utter solitude, awaiting his end. They live off of one another and strive from each others will to dodge death. Without comradeship, there will be nothing but silence in their lives made out of chaos, fire, and demise. Paul finds pain, he finds death, and he finds that the deepest connections in life can come from just that: the will to live, shoulder to shoulder, with the ones who have been through it all by his side.
All Quiet On the Western Front By 1929, the example of Remarque's altered text of All Quiet on the Western Front, as Hemingway pointed out, gave further proof of greater intolerance in America than in England. Aldington's experience with Death of a Hero, however, would prove the exception. This war novel is actually an anti-war novel, tracing the lives and losses of a young group of soldiers caught in the brutality of World War I. Gripping, realistic, and searing with a vision inconsistent with post-war German character, this book caused Remarque to receive death threats and to leave Germany to live and work in Hollywood. (All Quiet on the Western Front) The differences between the English and American versions of Remarque's novel are instructive. Remarque originally had trouble publishing Im Westen nichts Neues in Berlin. It was rejected by the prominent and conservative Fischer Verlag before being accepted by the liberal house of Ullstein Verlag. It was the grim reality of Paul Baumer's victimization in the war, the disillusioned antiwar sentiments and pacifism of the characters that proved problematic for German leftists and nationalists alike, not the matter-of-fact language of the soldiers. But A. W. Wheen's translation for Putnam's English edition, retaining such words as shit, fart, piss-a-bed, turd, and masturbate had to be converted for Little, Brown's American edition. Skit became swine, piss-a-bed became wet-a-bed, cow-skit became cow dung, and the comical simile like a fart on a curtain pole became like a wild boar. Masturbate and turd dropped out of the American edition completely. (Firda, Richard Arthur 1993) Paul Baumer enlisted with his classmates in the German army of World War I. Youthful, enthusiastic, they ...
In Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, characters such as Paul and his friends become indifferent to shocking elements of war through constant exposure to them. For example, the characters are unconcerned about the dangers of the front because they are accustomed to being on the front. In another instance, Paul’s friends show no emotions when they witness snipers killing enemy soldiers. Also, Kat finds the unusual effects of mortar shells amusing. These examples prove that through war, characters of the book have become indifferent to things that they would normally find shocking.
“We did not break down, but adapted ourselves” These soldiers know that modern warfare is extremely complicated and demands knowledge and experience. They learn how the differentiate shell sounds, when to take cover, when it’s safe to take off your gas mask, how to tell shrapnel from high explosives. It is shown through the naive and inexperienced recruits that not knowing and applying this knowledge is fatal. Some soldiers call on their innermost animal instincts to allow them to kill mercilessly on the field, using the assistance of a metaphor Remarque writes “We are dead men with no feelings, who are able by some trick to keep on running and keep on killing.” Granted war is a barbaric affair, ironically sometimes the worst of conditions can bring out the best in people. This is through the form of comrade and mate ship. On the field fellow soldiers would provide mutual support for each other and create extremely tight bonds. This is shown in All Quiet on the Western Front through Paul and his tight nit platoon. Paul’s unique experience with mate ship is how especially close he is with his friend Kat. This is expressed in the recounting of when they stole and cooked a goose together. Remarque writes “We don't talk much, but I believe we have a more complete communion with one another than even lovers have.” This shows how mate ship was
“I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another (263).” Powerful changes result from horrifying experiences. Paul Baumer, the protagonists of Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front utters these words signifying the loss of his humanity and the reduction to a numbed creature, devoid of emotion. Paul’s character originates in the novel as a young adult, out for an adventure, and eager to serve his country. He never realizes the terrible pressures that war imposes on soldiers, and at the conclusion of the book the empty shell resembling Paul stands testament to this. Not only does Paul lose himself throughout the course of the war, but he loses each of his 20 classmates who volunteered with him, further emphasizing the terrible consequences of warfare. The heavy psychological demands of life in the trenches and the harsh reality of war strip Paul of his humanity and leave him with a body devoid of all sentiment and feeling.
The Courage and Strength in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Everyone knows what war is. It's a nation taking all of its men, resources, weapons and most of its money and bearing all malignantly towards another nation. War is about death, destruction, disease, loss, pain, suffering and hate. I often think to myself why grown and intelligent individuals cannot resolve matters any better than to take up arms and crawl around, wrestle and fight like animals. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque puts all of these aspects of war into a vivid story which tells the horrors of World War 1 through a soldier's eyes. The idea that he conveys most throughout this book is the idea of destruction, the destruction of bodies, minds and innocence.
The relationship between Paul and Kat is only found during war, in which nothing can break them apart. The comradeship between soldiers at war is what keeps them alive, that being the only good quality of coming out of war. During training, Paul and his schoolmates come across Colonel Himmelstoss, who teaches them the survival skills needed in the front. During training Himmelstoss tortures the recruits but is indirectly teaching them to become hard, pitiless, vicious, and tough soldiers. Although the training seems senseless and cruel to Paul and his classmates, it prepares them for life at the front.
Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel All Quiet on the Western Front is based on World War I; it portrays themes involving suffering, comradeship, chance and dehumanization. The novel is narrated by Paul, a young soldier in the German military, who fights on the western front during The Great War. Like many German soldiers, Paul and his fellow friends join the war after listening to the patriotic language of the older generation and particularly Kantorek, a high school history teacher. After being exposed to unbelievable scenes on the front, Paul and his fellow friends realize that war is not as glorifying and heroic as the older generation has made it sound. Paul and his co-soldiers continuously see horrors of war leading them to become hardened, robot-like objects with one goal: the will to survive.
Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel that takes you through the life of a soldier in World War I. Remarque is accurately able to portray the episodes soldiers go through. All Quiet on the Western Front shows the change in attitudes of the men before and during the war. This novel is able to show the great change war has evolved to be. From lining your men up and charging in the eighteenth century, to digging and “living” in the trenches with rapid-fire machine guns, bombs, and flame-throwers being exposed in your trench a short five meters away. Remarque makes one actually feel the fun and then the tragedy of warfare. At the beginning of the novel Remarque gives you nationalist feelings through pride of Paul and the rest of the boys. However at the end of the war Remarque shows how pointless war really is. This is felt when everyone starts to die as the war progresses.
Erich Maria Remarque's classic war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, deals with the many ways in which World War I affected people's lives, both the lives of soldiers on the front lines and the lives of people on the homefront. One of the most profound effects the war had was the way it made the soldiers see human life. Constant killing and death became a part of a soldier's daily life, and soldiers fighting on all sides of the war became accustomed to it. The atrocities and frequent deaths that the soldiers dealt with desensitized them to the reality of the vast quantities of people dying daily. The title character of the novel, Paul Bäumer, and his friends experience the devaluation of human life firsthand, and from these experiences they become stronger and learn to live as if every day were their last.
People who have actually been through war know how horrible it is. Society on the other hand, while it believes it knows the horrors of war, can never understand or sympathize with a soldier’s situation. The only people who can understand war is those who have been through it so they can often feel alone if they are out of the military. Paul cannot even give a straight answer to his own father about his dad’s inquiries about war. Paul’s dad does not understand that people who have been in the war can in no way truly express the horrible things that that have seen and experienced. Nor can Paul fit in with the society who does not understand him. Paul and so many others were brought into the war so young that they know of nothing else other than war. Paul held these views on society as he said, “We will be superfluous even to ourselves, we will grow older, a few will adapt themselves, some others will merely submit, and most will be bewildered;-the years will pass by and in the end we shall fall in to ruin.
Many of Remarque’s ideas expressed in All Quiet on the Western Front were not completely new. Remarque emphasized things that portrayed the magnitude of issues soldiers face, and how the physical body and senses affects their emotional well-being. The ideas in All Quiet in the Western Front of not knowing the difference between sleep and death, seeing gruesome sights of people, and frustration towards people who cannot sympathize with soldiers, are also shown in Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Dug-Out”, Giuseppe Ungaretti’s “Vigil”, and Sassoon's’ “Suicide in the Trenches”.
The two classic war novels ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ by Erich Maria Remarque and ‘Catch 22’ by Joseph Heller both provide a graphic insight into the life of soldiers serving their country in the historic world wars. One distinct theme of interest found in both books, is the way in which war has physically and mentally re-shaped the characters. Remarque creates the character Paul Baümer, a young soldier who exposes anxiety and PTSD (commonly known as Shellshock) through his accounts of WW1’s German army. ‘Catch 22’ however, is written in the third person and omnisciently explores insanity and bureaucracy in an American Bombardier Squadron through its utter lack of logic. The two novels use their structure, characters, symbolism and setting to make a spectacle of the way war re-shapes the soldiers.
He realizes that he has to lose feeling to survive, “That I have looked far as the only possibility of existence after this annihilation of a human emotion” (194). Paul loses all feeling which may be one of the main factors keeping him alive in battle, so that he does not allow himself to process the violence and horror to which he is exposed. Even in the short time where he thinks about all that he has lost he is immediately overwhelmed with feelings and there is no time for this on the battlefront. Paul has no empathy to the enemy and kills without even thinking, “We have lost all feeling for one another. We can hardly control ourselves when our glance lights on the form at some other man” (117). The tragedies during combat desensitize the men of normal human emotions such as remorse, empathy, guilt, and fear; the un-naturalness of killing another human dulls all of these feelings. People were not made to destroy each other, and as a natural defense to this they shut down all of their feelings. Paul 's normal thought of insecurity are gone as he says, “Since then, we have learned better than to be shy about such trifling immodesties. In time things far worse than that come easy to us” (8). The emotions of the average young man are lost at war as their entire lives are put into perspective. Paul 's young adulthood is lost and he does not feel shame in frivolous things any longer. His emotions are not the only thing he loses as he also disconnects from his past, present and
All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque, is a classic anti-war novel about the personal struggles and experiences encountered by a group of young German soldiers as they fight to survive the horrors of World War One. Remarque demonstrates, through the eyes of Paul Baumer, a young German soldier, how the war destroyed an entire generation of men by making them incapable of reintegrating into society because they could no longer relate to older generations, only to fellow soldiers.