Enrich Maria Remarque’s book ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ features Paul Bäumer, a 20-year old German soldier who represents a whole generation of men that history refers to as the ‘Lost Generation.’ Through his character, the author tells a story of men who were destroyed by what is referred to as ‘The Great War.’ For instance, in chapter 2, Paul attempts to describe the difference between his generation and that of the older soldiers and notes that the older soldiers had a life before the war that they felt comfortable and secure (Remarque, 2004). On the contrary, Paul’s Generation did not get a chance to experience that life (Van Kirk, 2011, p. 72). From the start of the story, the life of Paul is dominated by death, horror, suffering, fear, and hopelessness. This paper explores the sources of Paul’s suffering. Betrayal of trust and Paul’s constant exposure to death are cited as the most significant sources of his suffering.
Betrayal is one of the major themes in Remarque’s book that causes harm to the casualties or fatalities to the allies of the traitor. Its effects on the victims are adverse. They include deep disappointment and agonizing …show more content…
The war experiences, as narrated by Paul, reveals that these were dangerous moments, whereby anybody would have possibly gone mad, deserted duty or even died. Death is the most obvious effect of war, and all frontline soldiers like Paul were constantly exposed to it. For instance, Paul describes one of the scenes when he was exposed to death during an air raid in a cemetery. In Paul’s account, the air raid in the cemetery had been reduced to a mass of wreckage with corpses thrown everywhere. Paul proceeds to say that the corpses had been killed the second time, but is grateful for every corpse that was sprung as they saved a soldier from death (Remarque, 2004, p. 71). In the scene, Paul reveals how his exposure to death had caused him much
Betrayal is one of the major themes in Remarque’s book that causes harm to the casualties or fatalities to the allies of the traitor. Its effects on the victims are adverse. They include deep disappointment and agonizing …show more content…
The war experiences, as narrated by Paul, reveals that these were dangerous moments, whereby anybody would have possibly gone mad, deserted duty or even died. Death is the most obvious effect of war, and all frontline soldiers like Paul were constantly exposed to it. For instance, Paul describes one of the scenes when he was exposed to death during an air raid in a cemetery. In Paul’s account, the air raid in the cemetery had been reduced to a mass of wreckage with corpses thrown everywhere. Paul proceeds to say that the corpses had been killed the second time, but is grateful for every corpse that was sprung as they saved a soldier from death (Remarque, 2004, p. 71). In the scene, Paul reveals how his exposure to death had caused him much