Summary: All Quiet On The Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel written by Erich Maria Remarque about the nature of the First World War using a first person view of the character, Paul Bäumer, from the German army inside the war. Remarque uses language and stylistic features to convey the physical and psychological destructiveness of the war to convey the brutal nature of the warfare that created a lost generation whose innocence was stolen too young and their lives destroyed.
A main concept illustrated in the novel by Remarque, is the horror and destructiveness of the war, which is explained through imagery and simile. The simile; “They flock together like sheep instead of scattering, and even the wounded are shot down like hares by the airmen” compares the inexperienced …show more content…
The soldiers felt pressured by their families and teachers to sign up but because the reality of war was so brutal, they felt betrayed by those they trusted; “For us lads of eighteen …. We were all at once terribly alone; and alone we must see it through.” They never got the opportunity to find someone in their lives, and never got the chance to build a family for themselves. When Paul Bäumer travels home, he feels a deep sense of alienation produced by the war. While sitting with his mother, he states; “... but I am not myself here. There is a distance, a veil between us.” The distance and veil between Paul and his home and family represents how his experience in the war is stopping him from feeling the safety and comfort of where he once had those feelings. He knows that his leave will end, and if he lets down his emotional walls he will suffer when he goes back to the horrific warfare. Remarque has used the metaphoric idea of ‘distance’ to represent how Paul is feeling in his hometown, which is a representation of the alienation that has formed. By portraying the sense of betrayal and alienation felt by the soldiers, Remarque conveys the emotional and psychological damage inflicted by the