Erich Maria Remarque

History is written by the victors. This stands as an interesting thought admitted by most; one with unknown origins, commonly misattributed to major historical figures such as Winston Churchill. But this is inherently wrong, especially in the field of literature. The thought itself is an account accusing the idea of the spoils of war going to the victor. The concept also takes on a form assuming war is only a destructive phenomenon for one side, leaving nothing to the defeated. However, the…

Gandhi suggests that trying to achieve something through means of violence will always cause permanent damage that belittles the positive effects. In history and in All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel following the life of a soldier by Erich Maria Remarque, the leaders and soldiers during World War One did not consider Gandhi’s warnings; they fought for the temporary good they believed in while oblivious to the evil they were causing. Even though the Countries during WWI thought that…

War, as is its nature, takes much from those who partake in it, whether willingly or no matters not. It steals them from their lives and returns them stricken, not the same person as the one who left. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder often follows them like a wraith cloaked in black. The fulcrum of their lives has been shifted, their eyes opened to the cruel and brutal monstrosity that is the human race. When one has seen what they have seen, returning home to live out a normal life like nothing…

Bradbury conveys a communistic dictatorship in the futuristic United States under the mask of a utopia, a world where the Nazi party could have succeeded in their world conquest or even if the cold war had actually happened. Where the government has taken control over all written text and descended into madness with their use of censorship and demanded that no man, woman, or child shall be allowed to read. All books are to be burned by “fireman”, “Burn them to ashes and then burn the ashes”…

The Fall of Germany After World War 1 Imagine celebrating the end of the war and getting to see your family members come home. You finally think your life is going to go back to normal after rationing off your food and worrying about your family in the war. But no, you fall into extreme poverty while the government is collapsing right in front of you. After the end of WW1, there were many major problems in Germany that caused mass chaos throughout the country. The first problem that Germany…

and Open(ing) Seduction Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front begins the chapter with Paul Baumer and his classmates replenishing themselves with dietary needs. According to Foster’s How to Read Novels Like a Professor, “...first sentence...It establishes the main family of the novel…” (24). With that in mind, Remarque has already implied that the time frame should be around a place of war: “We are at rest five miles behind the front” (1). Remarque starts to embed the…

Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian independence movement leader, once said, “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” Gandhi explained the good that people think they are creating from violence only lasts for a temporarily, whereas the severe consequences caused by violence will always remain. This is an important quote to consider because it is true, as evidenced by World War I. During World War I, violence may have appeared to…

Book burning refers to the ritual destruction of books or other written materials by fire. Often carried out in public areas, book burning represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or political opposition to the materials being destroyed. During the nineteenth century in Germany, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Regime strategically implemented this method of oppression to demoralize any potential protests and to spark fierce nationalism into the hearts of the…

The Consequences of Corrupt Conflict All Quiet on the Western Front, a war novel written by Erich Maria Remarque, incorporates a plethora of similar and contrasting ideas to many other renowned war texts. With new machinery and combat techniques introduced for the first time during WWI, the battle Remarque writes about had far more casualties than anyone had ever anticipated. Machine guns, flamethrowers, and particularly poison gas took millions of lives on the battlefield. All of this, in turn,…

eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in war” (Remarque 87, 88). This quote signifies the difference between Paul’s morals prior the war and during the war. As a child, Paul wanted to make a change in the country and loved his surroundings, his only intention being to love life. After Paul…