In his book, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque is characterizing a young generation who lost everything in the Great War. He describes how Paul the main character, and his comrades perish one by one to the brutality of the war. The author describes how they become more dehumanized, as they fight endlessly for nothing. Because in many of the fiercest battles of the war, there is hardly any territory won or lost, yet the casualties are huge. Finally, the book has an anti-war message prevalent throughout as strong theme. Once Paul enters combat and has a true understanding of what it is like he can no longer understand the older generation’s perception of it. Starting with the schoolmaster Kantorek, who seemed to be trying to push everyone into the war
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The passage that encapsulates the book best is “I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another.” I have heard it mentioned that only wars in the last one hundred years that were worth fighting were World War I and World War II. No matter if that is true or not the ideas of this book ring true. Which is the people involved in the actual combat of the war is that their lives are changed forever, regardless if they are killed, maimed, or only psychologically harmed.
The author has bias against war of any kind because of his experience. In 1933 when Nazi ideology began to take hold Remarque’s books were burned. He eventually left Germany to live in Switzerland, and later when the war started he left to live in seclusion in the United States until the war concluded. His sister was also put on trial for “undermining morale” and was beheaded. These actions were all based on on Remarque’s perceived biases against war and
The passage that encapsulates the book best is “I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another.” I have heard it mentioned that only wars in the last one hundred years that were worth fighting were World War I and World War II. No matter if that is true or not the ideas of this book ring true. Which is the people involved in the actual combat of the war is that their lives are changed forever, regardless if they are killed, maimed, or only psychologically harmed.
The author has bias against war of any kind because of his experience. In 1933 when Nazi ideology began to take hold Remarque’s books were burned. He eventually left Germany to live in Switzerland, and later when the war started he left to live in seclusion in the United States until the war concluded. His sister was also put on trial for “undermining morale” and was beheaded. These actions were all based on on Remarque’s perceived biases against war and