All Quiet On The Western Front Remarque Analysis

All Quiet on the Western Front as an Antiwar Novel Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel that dispels beliefs about the glory of the soldier. Remarque vividly describes the dehumanization of trench warfare and war in general. He exposes the incredible toll that combat takes on soldiers—all for the purpose of fighting other people’s battles, against other soldiers who have nothing personally against each other. The novel went past the obvious physical damage that soldiers faced and gave insight into the mind of one particular infantry soldier. While he may have been considered heroes by outsiders, people in Paul Baumer’s life—similar to people in Remarque’s life—failed to realize the catastrophic internal damage that befalls combatants long after their tours of duty end. Even for the “lucky” men who saw intense combat and made it out alive without any bodily damage, the mental anguish changes these young men into emotionless animals who may never be capable of re-acclimating into normal society. A recurring theme in All Quiet on the Western Front is the dehumanization that occurs in soldiers on the battlefield during warfare. In Chapter 6, Paul …show more content…
The idea of the soldier being a hero who fights bravely against an adversary who is seen to be evil is not purposely not evident in the novel. Instead, Remarque focuses on the struggles, both internal and external, that soldiers face on a day to day basis during the war, and will continue to face in different ways after the war ends. Remarque points to the concept that in some ways, the soldiers who die on the battlefield suffer less than those who make it off and have to live with their wretched memories for the rest of their