Motifs In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

Merriam-Webster defines the term motif as a “usually recurring salient thematic element (as in the arts); especially : a dominant idea or central theme” (“Motif”). In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the author Erich Maria Remarque mentions two principle motifs which are comradeship and lost generation. The novel follows a young solider, Paul Bäumer, and his comrades throughout their journey at the front of World War I. The soldiers experience many horrors throughout their time in the war. Consequently, the young men evolve as people. Throughout the novel, Remarque uses the motif lost generation to convey the theme that war destroys the soldiers’ lives outside of war; the soldiers’ relationships can never be the same after war. The motif comradeship is also …show more content…
The motif lost generation conveys the theme that war destroys the soldiers’ lives outside of war, and their relationships can never be the same after war. Paul Bäumer is given fourteen days of leave from the front. He returns to his home town and to his family. Immediately, Paul feels out of place in his own home and around his family. He is a different person compared to the young man who left for the war. In fact, Paul feels that he is in a “foreign world” and states, “I prefer to be alone” (Remarque 168). Paul does not feel comfortable in his own home around the people who love him. He only wants to be alone and keep his troubles to himself. No person should ever feel that their own home is a “foreign world”. Paul is going through the worst times of his