All Quiet On The Western Front

“War does not determine who is right- only who is left,” is a quote by Bertrand Russell. This spectrum expresses the casualties of war. In other words, Russell means war is used as an outlet to define a “winner”, or in this case, someone who is right. The veiled truth is that there are no true winners of war when comparing the damage created and the lives lost. Looking at war through that perspective, John F. Kennedy, among others, also agreed. Kennedy believed if mankind didn’t put an end to war, than war would surely put an end to us. On the contrary, there are those who support war and all it has to offer, but my main focus is to stress the brutality and horrors behind what war really is. People are deceived when they think they know what …show more content…
This novel also conveys the feeling of detachment the soldiers faced once returning home. Although back from the front, they no longer felt connected or one with civilian life. The young men were full of enthusiasm until the façade of war could no longer be upheld. Remarque clearly states in the epigraph that the novel was not meant to be an adventure, which sets it apart from most war novels. It is not meant nor intended to give the reader a sense of romance and excitement. Generally, people view the war as exhilarating and sensational, but death is neither of those to the man who is facing it. Remarque tries to make it known that any novel or book that does convey war as an exciting venture does not do justice to the actual experience. Like I’ve said, it is easy to find comfort in something when not faced by it. For example, it is easy to read about death or to hear about it from someone else’s outlook, but a whole new range of emotions and feeling would be revealed if one had to confront death themselves. Remarque also included the fact that although the men may have escaped the shells, they were still destroyed by the war. Values were lost and the men were changed forever. On top of possibly being injured or traumatized, their selfhood was destroyed along with their humanity …show more content…
It is about Wiesel’s experience of getting uplifted from his home as a teenager, along with his family, during World War II in 1944. He and his family were Jewish and therefore when plans got around of Hitler wanting to exterminate the race, they were taken away from each other. A guy in town tried warning everyone, but like human nature, they chose to believe it would not happen to them and turned a blind eye. When the Nazis came for the Jews, Wiesel stuck with his father, while his mother and little sister, Tzipora, had gone together. They were all taken to Auschwitz, a concentration camp, and once the selection was made he never once saw his mother nor his little sister again. It is assumed that they died like the countless number of other innocents that lost their lives. This experience of Wiesel’s is better known as the Holocaust. Wiesel did not participate in war as a soldier, but he was effected by the aftermath, and not in a good fashion. His nightmares became just as real as Paul’s nightmares in All Quiet on the Western Front. I cannot begin to express Wiesel’s horrifying experience with complete understanding because I was not the one who lived it. Wiesel describes pain and despair through the vividness of his words. I could imagine the babies being thrown into the furnace like he described to all of the possessions taken away from everyone as well the little detail of his foot being full of pus. I