Showing war through the eyes of an average soldier instead of a general or political leader of the time. Amidst all the violence the characters are always moving back and forth between the front and the safer camping sight behind the front where they can have some time to relax, enjoy nature, smoke cigars, and eat some chow with their comrades. Remarque in a way juxtaposes the graphic fighting of the war and simple pleasures the soldiers take part in during their rest days.
Juxtaposition is very common in postmodern writing. However, in All Quiet On The Western Front Remarque juxtaposes two somewhat related things war and peace, where a postmodern writer may compare two completely random or unrelated ideas. Sometimes even taking “fragments of information out of their original literary/historical context and juxtaposes them with little or no commentary on their meaning.”2 This type of writing can leave the reader with a lot of unanswered questions, or leave them pondering why an author selected to mention two unrelated