All Quiet On The Western Front: A Literary Analysis

In every Disney movie, the villain is portrayed as a horrendous beast who was once a human. The thing is, every wicked witch or horrendous beast was once a human with a kind soul who suffered a traumatic event. In All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the German soldiers shift from fresh-out-of-high-school kids to shameless killing machines after witnessing the horrors of World War I. In The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, while fighting the Vietnam War without understanding its purpose the soldiers are changed after experiencing war’s brutality. Even though one cannot undergo the experience of being in a war zone or fighting for one’s homeland, many lessons can be learned from reading literature.
In a time of war, feelings are always put aside because the obligation of being a soldier comes first while family, friends, and even human feelings such as love are tossed aside. In The Things They Carried, Jimmy Cross, the main character, is in love with a
Hope is a fierce power which can only be taken away after a person has been deprived of basic needs for a prolonged amount of time. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the German army lacked the resources to efficiently provide proper living conditions for human beings. Closer to the end of the book, the narrator describes in vivid detail the inadequate conditions the soldiers are living, “But we are emaciated and starved. Our food is bad and mixed up with so much substitute stuff that it makes us ill” (Remarque 280). Hunger can drive one insane, especially if the person is in a combat zone. In a combat zone, people must have energy and a clear mind to survive, but if a person is starving, they will be weak, and their mind will be occupied with thoughts of food, lessening their chances of survival. A human being needs a proper nutrition to efficiently function and when this is taken away, one begins to question