All Quiet On The Western Front Research Paper
Tabitha Forms in Literature
September 27, 2004 Period 11
All Quiet on the Western Front
Essay
A lost generation, emotional destruction, the reality of war, these are all ideas displayed in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front that prove the validity of the statement in the preface. These ideas and more expressed by the author, Erich Maria Remarque, present the reader with the war novel of a lifetime. A war novel that is different from any other because of these ideas and the way Remarque presents them.
A generation of young men was fresh out of school with the world at their fingertips, but they realized it was their duty to enlist in the war and have lost the innocence of youth because of it. They became a lost generation because, as is stated in the preface, they were, "A generation of men who, even though they may have escaped the shells, were destroyed by the war. The young men had to deal with their friends dying at only the …show more content…
Other war novels have tried to lighten the mood of war or conceal some of the real facts that make war seem horrific. For example, Remarque holds nothing back when he describes the scene of injured horses during a bombardment, "Some gallop away in the distance, fall down, and then run on farther. The belly of one is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes entangled in them and falls, then he stands up again." (Remarque, 63) Some novels attempt to make the war seem like an adventure, but as we see in the preface, "Death is not an adventure for those who stand face to face with it." To me this is the most meaningful quote of the entire novel. Anyone can say that it is an honor and privilege for these men to fight for their country, but they make their comments a safe distance away from any shell fire or poison gas. Only those who have experienced the war, like Remarque, know how real the war is, and what it can do to people emotionally and
September 27, 2004 Period 11
All Quiet on the Western Front
Essay
A lost generation, emotional destruction, the reality of war, these are all ideas displayed in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front that prove the validity of the statement in the preface. These ideas and more expressed by the author, Erich Maria Remarque, present the reader with the war novel of a lifetime. A war novel that is different from any other because of these ideas and the way Remarque presents them.
A generation of young men was fresh out of school with the world at their fingertips, but they realized it was their duty to enlist in the war and have lost the innocence of youth because of it. They became a lost generation because, as is stated in the preface, they were, "A generation of men who, even though they may have escaped the shells, were destroyed by the war. The young men had to deal with their friends dying at only the …show more content…
Other war novels have tried to lighten the mood of war or conceal some of the real facts that make war seem horrific. For example, Remarque holds nothing back when he describes the scene of injured horses during a bombardment, "Some gallop away in the distance, fall down, and then run on farther. The belly of one is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes entangled in them and falls, then he stands up again." (Remarque, 63) Some novels attempt to make the war seem like an adventure, but as we see in the preface, "Death is not an adventure for those who stand face to face with it." To me this is the most meaningful quote of the entire novel. Anyone can say that it is an honor and privilege for these men to fight for their country, but they make their comments a safe distance away from any shell fire or poison gas. Only those who have experienced the war, like Remarque, know how real the war is, and what it can do to people emotionally and