Heroism In Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

Heroism, patriotism, honor, and valor are all words commonly associated with the battlefield. But, what do they truly mean to the boys on the frontline? For most, these words are empty and mean nothing. In his masterful work of literature All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque offers a critique of society and its tendency to romanticize the baselessness of war including the heroism supposedly found within it. The Theory of Progress is a holdover from Enlightenment thinkers who were hopeful about the future and what new amazing technology that would bring prosperity to the world. However, this seems to not have accounted for human nature that dictates people's lives and how they would use new knowledge for their own selfish gain. His novel, …show more content…
It states that the world will only improve in the future as science and knowledge will grow. Remarque offers a stark contrast to this theory. In his words, the “keenest brains of the world invent weapons” to make the war “more refined and enduring” (Remarque, 1987, pg. 263). Close to the end of the novel, the narrator is in a hospital and finds that the “culture of a thousand years could not” prevent the wounded from dying (Remarque, 1987, pg. 263). People take the new knowledge and science to imagine innovative technology, so they can kill each other at a faster rate. In many ways, society is attacking itself with the more advanced technology that they believe they desperately need. Remarque’s novel shows that he puts little stock in the Enlightenment Theory of Progress. In fact, the senselessness of war and technological killing shows that more science and technology has made the world …show more content…
In the Great War roughly ten million people died. In the novel, Remarque has Tjaden ask what the purpose of the war is (Remarque, 1987, pg. 205). This is particularly revealing considering that these men have been fighting for years in the trenches for something they do not understand. In the end of the novel, Paul Bäumer, age 20, dies on a day that the military describes as “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Remarque, 1987, pg. 296). This is the main irony of the novel because he died one month before the peace treaty to end the war was signed. The years of war he struggled through were meaningless and in turn the Army made his life meaningless by describing the day he dies as “all quiet,” (Remarque, 1987, pg. 296). This, more than anything else, highlights the epitome of the war’s senselessness and the tragedy found