All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Remarque is a bestselling classic that portrays a powerful anti-war message to all readers. The protagonist Paul Baumer is sent to the front line of WW1 and faces many challenges along the way. Remarque uses these challenges to warn the reader of the devastating effects of war. Paul and his comrades face the physical and psychological horrors, becoming a lost generation, and begin to question why they are there and who they are fighting. Along with the powerful storyline, Remarque uses a selection of clever techniques that has therefore created such a powerful anti-war novel.
Remarque has cleverly written about the physical horrors of the war and how they change each soldier’s life. Paul Baumer, …show more content…
Remarque prefaces his story with his purpose ‘I will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war’. Throughout the story, the reader realizes that the generation has come through an event that limits their chance to go back to their old life. In the beginning of the novel Paul describes the difference between his generation and that of his parents. They had a life before the war where they felt comfortable and secure, but Paul’s generation will never have that life. He explains “… it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us? Paul is granted a short time of leave and goes home. As he enters his childhood town, he realizes his life will never be the same. He sees his past as “a vast inapprehensible melancholy … they are past , they belong to another world that is gone from us … and even if these scenes of our youth were given back to us we would hardly know what to do … I believe we are lost” pg- 83. Remarque uses these experiences to tell the reader about the anti-war message by, explaining life after the war is not the same and the whole experience affects the entire life of the
Remarque has cleverly written about the physical horrors of the war and how they change each soldier’s life. Paul Baumer, …show more content…
Remarque prefaces his story with his purpose ‘I will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war’. Throughout the story, the reader realizes that the generation has come through an event that limits their chance to go back to their old life. In the beginning of the novel Paul describes the difference between his generation and that of his parents. They had a life before the war where they felt comfortable and secure, but Paul’s generation will never have that life. He explains “… it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us? Paul is granted a short time of leave and goes home. As he enters his childhood town, he realizes his life will never be the same. He sees his past as “a vast inapprehensible melancholy … they are past , they belong to another world that is gone from us … and even if these scenes of our youth were given back to us we would hardly know what to do … I believe we are lost” pg- 83. Remarque uses these experiences to tell the reader about the anti-war message by, explaining life after the war is not the same and the whole experience affects the entire life of the