Novel by Erich Maria Remarque “All Quiet on the Western Front”
The novel by Erich Maria Remarque “All Quiet on the Western Front” provides the reader with different views and representations of the war. Remarque, through the eyes of the narrator Paul Baumer and his imagery, exposes the reader to the gruesome horrors of the front. Remarque speaks about how the only worthwhile aspect of the war is comradeship and friendship, but this seems to lose hope as well. The war erased a whole generation and Remarque clearly identifies this in the novel.
Through the eyes of the narrator Paul Baumer and the graphic use of language, Remarque, exposes the reader to the gruesome reality of the war. When Paul and his fellow soldiers have just been under attack by the French and the men have been exposed to the true horror of the war, Paul observes his own comrade being carried off after the attack. “Haie Westhus is carried off with his back torn open; you can see the lung throbbing through the wound.....” (p.g 93). Readers are confronted with disturbing images which turn many people away from war. The war does not only destroy the soldiers but also the animals that are involved in the war. This is evident when the horses have been wounded in an attack. “The belly of one horse has been ripped open and its guts are trailing out... wounded horses who have bolted in terror, their wide- open mouths filled with all that pain.... it is the most despicable thing of all to drag animals into war” (p.g 44-45). Furthermore, the men mostly speak about fighting the French and see them not as the enemy but as the victim. The war is the enemy and the armies are the sufferers. “We’re out here defending our homeland. And yet the French are there defending their homeland as well” (p.g 140). This scene was purely about the injustice war and it is also about propaganda. The novel outlines the fact that the soldiers are against their parents and their teachers. “These people here are different, a kind I can’t really understand, that I envy and despise” (p.g
Through the eyes of the narrator Paul Baumer and the graphic use of language, Remarque, exposes the reader to the gruesome reality of the war. When Paul and his fellow soldiers have just been under attack by the French and the men have been exposed to the true horror of the war, Paul observes his own comrade being carried off after the attack. “Haie Westhus is carried off with his back torn open; you can see the lung throbbing through the wound.....” (p.g 93). Readers are confronted with disturbing images which turn many people away from war. The war does not only destroy the soldiers but also the animals that are involved in the war. This is evident when the horses have been wounded in an attack. “The belly of one horse has been ripped open and its guts are trailing out... wounded horses who have bolted in terror, their wide- open mouths filled with all that pain.... it is the most despicable thing of all to drag animals into war” (p.g 44-45). Furthermore, the men mostly speak about fighting the French and see them not as the enemy but as the victim. The war is the enemy and the armies are the sufferers. “We’re out here defending our homeland. And yet the French are there defending their homeland as well” (p.g 140). This scene was purely about the injustice war and it is also about propaganda. The novel outlines the fact that the soldiers are against their parents and their teachers. “These people here are different, a kind I can’t really understand, that I envy and despise” (p.g