Stripped Innocence: Impact of War on Soldiers' Humanity

1939 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Dilemmas in war creative writing

In the novel All quiet on the western front by Erich Maria Remarque one of the major themes he illustrates is the effects of war on a soldier 's humanity. Paul the protagonist is a German soldier who is forced into war with his comrades that go through dehumanizing violence. War is a very horrid situation that causes soldiers like Paul to lose their innocence by stripping them from happiness and joy in life. The symbols Remarque uses to enhance this theme is Paul 's books and the potato pancakes to depict the great scar war has seared on him taking all his connections to life. Through these symbols they deepen the theme by visually depicting war’s impact on Paul. Paul’s books represent the shadow war that is casted upon Paul and his loss of innocence. This symbol helps the theme by depicting how the war locked his heart to old values by taking his innocence. The last symbol that helps the theme are the potato pancakes. The potato pancakes symbolize love and sacrifice by Paul’s mother that reveal Paul emotional state damaged by the war with his lack of happiness and gratitude. Paul’s books symbolize the shadow of war that has been casted upon him through the horrid violence. Paul’s …show more content…

War is depicted as a horrid situation that takes one 's innocence along with joy and happiness. War changes a person completely through the dehumanizing violence illustrated through Paul, a innocent young man who transformed by war into a man with everything stripped from him. The symbols that help this theme are his books and potato pancakes that both support the effect war has had on Paul by changing his views and taking all his connections to joy. The books represent the shadow war has casted while the potato pancakes mean love and blessing that gets unthanked by Paul since he lost the ability to feel in a constant state of

Show More
Related

  • All Quiet On The Western Front Chapter 7 Summary

    415 Words  | 1 Pages

    At the beginning of chapter seven, the Second Company is taken further back to a depot for reinforcements, and the men rest. Himmelstoss wants to get on good terms with the boys and shows them kindness. Paul starts to respect him after seeing how he carried Haie Westhus when he was hit in the back. Tjaden is won over too after he learns that Himmelstoss will provide extra rations from his job as sergeant cook.

    Read More

  • 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?

    Read More

  • All Quiet on the Western Front

    1386 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine being in an ongoing battle where friends and others are dying.  All that is heard are bullets being shot, it smells like gas is near, and hearts race as the times goes by.  This is similar to what war is like.  In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrator, Paul Baumer, and his friends encounter the ideals of suffering, death, pain, and despair.  There is a huge change in these men; at the beginning of the novel they are enthusiastic about going into the war.  After they see what war is really like, they do not feel the same way about it.  During the war the men experience many feelings especially the loss of loved ones.  These feelings are shown through their first experience at training camp, during the actual battles, and in the hospital.

    Read More

  • All Quiet On The Western Front: Themes

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    use nature as the judge to condemn war, along with shocking imagery, so that his

    Read More

  • The Comradeship of War in All Quiet on the Western Front

    452 Words  | 1 Pages

    War can destroy a young man mentally and physically. One might say that nothing good comes out of war, but in Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, there is one positive characteristic: comradeship. Paul and his friends give Himmelstoss a beating in which he deserves due to his training tactics. This starts the brotherhood of this tiny group. As explosions and gunfire sound off a young recruit in his first battle is gun-shy and seeks reassurance in Paul's chest and arms, and Paul gently tells him that he will get used to it. 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 to come out of war.

    Read More

  • All Quiet On The Western Front themes

    526 Words  | 2 Pages

                        All Qui      One of the main themes in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is Futility of War. The novel takes place during the Great War and takes place in France. Paul Baumer is the main character in the book, along with many of his friends. In the book the theme of futility of war appears in the beginning, middle and end of the novel and Baumer slowly becomes more aware of what war is really like.      In the beginning Baumer enters the war as a recruit and begins to see the reality of war. During training, he had to remake the officer’s bed 14 times.

    Read More

  • The Effect of War on Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    Paul believes that he was tricked into joining the army and fighting in the war. This makes him very bitter towards the people who lied to him. This is why he lost his respect and trust towards the society. Teachers and parents were the big catalysts for the ki...

    Read More

  • All Quiet On The Western Front as an Anti-War Novel

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    All quiet On the Western Front, a book written by Erich Maria Remarque tells of the harrowing experiences of the First World War as seen through the eyes of a young German soldier. I think that this novel is a classic anti-war novel that provides an extremely realistic portrayal of war. The novel focuses on a group of German soldier and follows their experiences.

    Read More

  • All Quiet on the Western Front

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...and his reoccurring flashbacks. The brutality of war robs Paul of his friends and his youth. War takes away Paul's humanity causing him to become lonesome and inhumane like a wild animal. He discovers the truth that all men are following the orders of their superiors and have nothing to do with laying the foundation of the war. Remarque reveals war to be a treacherous and blood-thirsty thing that soldiers must deal with. War's calamities are life-changing and hair-raising, causes one to lose hope and become fearful of death. War has an ever-lasting effect on its participants and raises many concerns with everyday society. Remarque displays the horrors of war to modulate his readers into anti-war pacifists. One day, Remarque may get through to leaders and may very well cease any more world wars from happening due to his nefarious novel All Quiet on the Western Front.

    Read More

  • All Quiet On The Western Front Essay

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wisdom does not always relate to how many years we have lived but rather how much we have seen in this world. In All Quiet on the Western Front and They, both Erich Maria Remarque and Siegfried Sassoon created characters who were forever changed at a young age because of what they had seen. The horrors of trench warfare force men to do unimaginable things and become numb to their surroundings symbolizing the alienation of a generation.

    Read More

  • All Quiet On The Western Front

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story of several schoolmates who symbolize a generation destroyed by the dehumanisation of the First World War, All Quiet on the Western Front tells of the men who died, and the tragically changed lives of those who survived. Remarque follows the story of Paul Bäumer, a young infantryman, from his last days of school to his death three years later. Whereas the journey motif is typically used to portray a positive character development, that of Paul is deliberately the opposite. In what has been dubbed the greatest antiwar novel of all time, Remarque depicts the way in which Paul is snatched away from humanity by the brutality of war. However while Paul and his comrades become separated from society, and begin to rely on their basic survival instincts, in their own surroundings they still show humane qualities such as compassion, camaraderie, support and remorse. Paul’s transformation from human to soldier begins in training camp, and is reinforced by the trauma at the front. His return home further alienates him from society, and Paul begins to feel safe at the front with his friends. Nonetheless throughout the novel suffering and mortality bare Paul’s true side, and he momentarily regains his former self. Bäumer, the German word for tree, is an early indication that Paul must remain firmly rooted in reality to survive the brutality of war.

    Read More

  • All Quiet on the Western Front and the Horrors of War

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout their lives, people must deal with the horrific and violent side of humanity. The side of humanity is shown through the act of war.  This is shown in Erich Remarque’s novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front”.  War is by far the most horrible thing that the human race has to go through.  The participants in the war suffer irreversible damage by the atrocities they witness and the things they go through.

    Read More

  • All Quiet on the Western Front

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    After entering the war in young adulthood, the soldiers lost their innocence. Paul’s generation is called the Lost Generation because they have lost their childhood while in the war. When Paul visits home on leave he realizes that he will never be the same person who enlisted in the army. His pre-war life contains a boy who is now dead to him. While home on leave Paul says “I used to live in this room before I was a soldier” (170).

    Read More

  • All Quiet on the Western Front - A Book Review

    1912 Words  | 4 Pages

    The author's main theme centers not only on the loss of innocence experienced by Paul and his comrades, but the loss of an entire generation to the war. Paul may be a German, but he may just as easily be French, English, or American. The soldiers of all nations watched their co...

    Read More

  • All Quiet On The Western Front Literary Analysis

    2408 Words  | 5 Pages

    Paul and his friends move back and forth between their camp and the front lines and for Paul almost nothing else exists but the game of war and the ground it is played on. life is extremely horrible for the men due to constant bombing lasting for days and rations of mouldy bread, these conditions show the literal effects on the soldiers. There are also rats living with them in the trenches that crawl over them in the night and the soldiers are forced to kill them like they are the enemy. Living in the trenches at the front surrounded by constant shelling and bombing means that the men live with a lot of anxiety and fear, causing some recruits to become mentally unstable. In the book some of the newer soldiers attempt suicide, showing that the war has damaged them to the point of them not caring for their lives

    Read More

More about Stripped Innocence: Impact of War on Soldiers' Humanity

Open Document