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Erich Maria Remarque wrote "All Quiet On The western Front". The
book focuses on the hardships of soldiers fighting on the Western Front
in France in World War One in order to show the futileness of war. The
book is written in first person and it is written from a German's point
of view because the author, Remarque, was a German. It is a story of
comradeship, of young soldiers fresh from school enrolling in the
German army.
I thought the book was excellent as a portrayal of how hard it was
to be a soldier in World War One, how Baumer, the narrator of this
book, and his friends had to grow up so quickly. It was very sad when
his friends died one by one and he finally died as well at the end of
the book. In this study I am going to look at the relationships between
the characters, the main character him-self, and the themes present in
this novel.
The main character in this book is the narrator, Paul Baumer. Paul
Baumer comes from a small town in Germany. After school his classmates
and he signed up for the War. They did not have much choice; they would
have been conscripted anyway. Baumer has become resigned to the war.
Although at the start he probably thought the war glamorous he soon
realises that the only thing keeping him sane was thinking about the
end of the war. Paul shows great courage in the face of death; in a
very short time he has grown up a lot and does things he would not have
done before the war. He is always ready to help new recruits, to give
them tips on how to survive on the front. For instance,
"Close by us there is a recruit, a blonde lad, and he is terrified.
He has pressed his face into his hands. His helmet has rolled off. I
reach for it and try to put it on his head. He looks up, pushes the
helmet away and huddles in under my arm like a child, his head against
my chest. His narrow shoulders are shaking, shoulders just like
Kemmerich had. I let him stay there. But to get some use out of his
helmet I shove it over his backside, not as some kind of a joke, but
deliberately, because it's the most exposed area. Even though the flesh
is solid, a wound there can be bloody painful, and besides, you have to
lie on your stomach for months in a military hospital, and afterwards
you are pretty certain to have a limp."
It is obvious that Baumer has grown up a lot since he joined.
Although he is not more than two years older than the new recruit, he
acts like a veteran. Also there is significance in what he says about
the new recruits shoulders. Baumer had a friend who died called
Kemmerich and he can see a likeness to Kemmerich in the recruit. This
is used by the author to show that although it may seem as if they do
not really care who dies, they just carry on, in reality he cared very
much for Kemmerich and his way of showing it was to be kind to the new
recruit who looked like his dead friend. Baumer definitely enhances the
reader's enjoyment of the book. His loyalty and kindness throughout the
hardships he has experienced really warms the reader's heart and makes
the book more enjoyable.
There are strong relationships between the main characters in "All
Quiet On The Western Front". Having grown up together the boys have
grown very close so when they go off to the war they keep their
friendships and do not mingle with other soldiers much. There is a
special relationship between Kat and the narrator, Paul Baumer. They do
almost everything together. At one point they decide they are going to
go and steal a goose or two off the locals. They do not tell anyone
else. Kat helps Paul over the fence and then keeps watch. Paul gets the
geese but just then the watchdog comes out and starts barking and tries
to attack Paul so he has to shoot the dog. He then gets away with Kat.
They go to a deserted shed near the barracks and roast the geese. You
would expect them to eat it all while they are out there because they
are always hungry but instead the author has made it so that some is
kept for Kat and Paul's group of friends. This also helps you
understand and realise the friendship the war has produced. Before the
war they were already good friends but the author wants to make the
point that war is a great way to make friends, because you grow to
depend on the absolutely, for help, comfort and to keep you sane.
The main theme in this novel is war. It focuses on a group of boys,
all from the same class at school in a small German village, who enrol
in the German army. The entire book depicts how awful fighting in a war
is, how they lose their friends one by one. Many books portray war as a
glamorous affair an event that makes, and kills, heroes, but "all Quiet
on the Western Front" does not do this at all. It shows war for what it
really is, a bloody massacre in which millions of innocent people are
killed.
"Bertinck has been hit in the chest. A short while later a piece of
shrapnel smashes away the lower part of his face. That same piece of
shrapnel has enough force lest to rip open Leer's side. Leer groans and
props himself on his arms, but he bleeds to death very quickly and no
one can help him. After a few minutes he sinks down like a rubber tyre
when the air escapes. What use is it to him now that he was so good at
mathematics at school?"
The author is being so graphic in order to show how pointless it all
is, that Leer should not have had to die for Germany, he should be a
mathematician in some city, not a bloody piece of meat lest for the
rats in no mans land. This is a technique used quite a lot throughout
the book in order to emphasise the pointlessness of war and to make the
author realise how hard it was for these common soldiers.
A great aspect of this book is that the author conveys very
realistically the hardships these young men have to go through. That at
any moment you could lose one of your best friends or be killed
yourself for stupid, and not so stupid reasons. When the soldiers are
going back to the reserve trenches after fighting on the front they
have to remember to keep their heads down or otherwise low-lying
telephone wires might cut off their heads. To have survived fighting on
the front line and then to be killed going back behind lines would be
very ironic. The author mentions this as another reason why war is so
pointless and also to show the absurdity of war. It is great to see
that the soldiers have not been completely demoralised by war. When
they are behind the front line resting one day they start to play
Frisbee with a large margarine tub lid. It is a way to forget about the
war and to be carefree and happy even if just for a minute. That in the
face of war they are able to do this just shows the readers how strong
these soldiers are.
War has a big impact on the second theme, which is friendship and
love. War has thrown together a group of young men who have learnt to
look after one another. At one point in the novel Paul Baumer carries
Kat over miles and miles of rough ground in order to get him to
hospital. You might expect to hear Kat telling Paul to leave him and go
on alone, like they do in most 'heroic' war movies or books, but Kat
does not say anything because he has learnt to trust his friend, he
knows Paul will try to save him whatever happens. As it happens when
Paul finally finds a dressing station Kat has died from a stray
shrapnel wound to the head. He is absolutely distraught as Kat was his
best friend. He does not know what to do and because he lost his best
friend he starts to give up and I think this is why soon after he
himself dies and the book ends. Throughout the whole book the group are
almost always together, whether they are fighting, going to a brothel
or just stealing food. "All Quiet on the Western Front" makes you
realise that although none of the people are special in the large
picture, to each other they are very special, and it also reminds us
that they are human lives that are being wantonly wasted for absolutely
nothing.
There is a very unusual end to "All Quiet on the Western Front"
because in most books of any kind at least one of the heroes or
heroines lives to tell the tale whereas in this everyone dies. I think
this is a good effect as it is what war is really about, not killing
your opponents or getting medals, but dying. In many books, at least
one of the 'gang' will survive to tell the tale and put flowers on the
others' graves but in this no-one does. This is a lot more realistic
because often there will be nobody left from within a group.
The author has intentionally made you realise that the soldiers on
both sides are very similar, none of them have a grudge on the people
they are killing, they have grudges on the leaders of the country they
are fighting. Remarque never made the narrator of the novel call the
British and French, who Baumer fighting against, 'the enemy', he always
called them 'the other side'. Remarque has shown very well that there
is no point in war, that it's just wasteful. The author's own
experiences are very relevant to this novel as the novel, although a
work of fiction is based on his own experiences of war. Remarque
enrolled at an early age, just like the narrator of the novel, and
although Remarque did not die during the war, he was injured, just like
Baumer, and he did go off to hospitals around Germany. Unlike Baumer
though, his active service finished when he was injured; he spent the
rest of the war as a clerk behind a desk. The novel is written in first
person and this is very significant. First person gives the reader the
ability to see into the thoughts of the narrator, you can tell what he
is feeling, what he wants to do, what he does not want to do. It helps
the reader realise how much Paul needed his friends, that without them
he would have gone insane straight away. It gives you an insight into
the characters. You realise how kind they were because you could see
the reaction their actions had on the narrator. It shows a common
person's view on the war. Most books and films show what it's like for
the heroes, the people who kill a thousand Nazis before breakfast and
then go back home for a medal. No medals are awarded to these soldiers,
and millions others like them, who have died for their nation. All
these benefits greatly enhance the readers' enjoyment. It would have
been just another war novel, not the masterpiece it turned out to be.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is principally about war and it's
absurdity but it is also very much about friendship and surviving
against the odds, at least for a while. It is an expertly written novel
about the hardships of trench warfare on the Western Front in World War
One. Remarque uses his own experiences to make the book a unique
insight into World War One, as other writers writing about World War
One who haven't witnessed it first-hand are always going to make it
more glamorous than it actually is. It is for this reason that "All
Quiet on the Western Front" is infinitely better than all the other war
books you have read.
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