All Quiet On The Western Front Thesis

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“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure. Death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a beginning generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war”(Remarque). Taking place in World War two, a young man loses everything he held dear to him by becoming a soldier. In All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Erich demonstrates how the war can force soldiers to grow up by destroying their identity, youth, and innocence. In order to be a good soldier, a person must become like everyone else. Remarque writes about how Paul and his comrades went to enlist eager to fight for their country, …show more content…
“We see men living with their skulls blown open... we see men without mouths, without jaws, without faces… on every yard there lies a dead man”(Remarque page 134-135). The war has inflicted so much trauma that some soldiers try putting themselves out of their misery, so they don’t have to live in a never ending nightmare. When they fight, they become inhuman not caring about the causalities and the aftermath. “We have become wild beasts”(Remarque page 113). Paul and all the other soldiers have murdered others because they’re fighting for their country, but the enemy is fighting for the same cause, it is a never ending cycle of death and sorrow. In All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque the author displays how a man’s identity, youth, and innocence is abolished in the war. From shellings and bombardments, to playing skat and going home, Paul and his comrades have had their lives vanish before their eyes. War is more than just an event that reoccurs over time, it is a bloodbath of innocent people who don’t deserve what ultimately will come, death. To this day, World War Two had one of the highest death counts in history. This is just one of thousands of stories explaining how war has affected the lives of

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