All Quiet on the Western Front | 3-R ISU

Retell
One of the main conflicts that occurred throughout the story was Man vs Man. An obvious reason to this is when the Germans were forced to fight against the Allied forces in an attempt to expose their nationalism and prestige amongst one another. However, another and perhaps more significant conflict arises between Man vs Man — Paul, the main character, and the Germans. More specifically, Corporal Himmelstoss, who may have a high ranking among his troops, appears as a coward on the field. One such example of Himmelstoss’s cowardice is when he experiences a bombardment. During this bombardment, Himmelstoss hides in a dugout, while Paul tempts him to move on to avoid the heavy gunfire and overcome his fears. While this conflict may be direct, there are some indirect conflicts when talking about Man vs Man. Paul and Tjaden hardly see eye-to-eye when talking about equality; Paul believes that the soldiers from the Allied forces have very similar lives to themselves, people who have friends and family. On the contrary, Tjaden only sees his opponents as something that needs to be perished and killed. Tjaden sees war as a fun game and hardly ever considers the lives of others. The huge contrast between both Paul and Tjaden leads to a silent conflict between the two. Another significant conflict that arises within the plot is Man vs. Society. Paul and his comrades fight against the Allied forces due to what their society tells them. However, the society that Paul and his comrades were raised in led them to believe that fighting for their country is mandatory, and is a huge sacrifice they must commit themselves to. Paul and his comrades believe that they are fighting for the “greater good”, however fail to realize that the society their enemies lived in has been taught the same. During the battle however, Paul and his comrades come to realize war isn’t worth dying nor killing for, and start to question whether there is evil within the soldiers or the leaders behind it. A last and final conflict throughout the novel was against his inner self. At the beginning of the novel, Paul is seen in a school, and along with his classmates, are incredibly eager to go to war. Later on in the book where Paul has been through the bombings, the sufferings, and deaths, he regrets his eager decision to go to war. His experiences at war haunts him permanently, and he constantly remembers all the catastrophic events of war. This could be seen when Paul goes on leave. He mentions how the books don’t speak to him as they used to, and that he has no use of going home. Paul goes so far as to regretting going home, and starts to think that his life has no meaning other than being a part of war. He feels as if he has lost his innocence and humanity, and eventually thinks that war is the one place where he can feel ‘normal’ and himself again.
Paul, the main character, seems to make a distinction from the rest of his comrades as he seems to be the one with the biggest personality and the most traits. He seems to doubt whether war should exist or not. Paul seems to be the only one among his comrades that thinks the soldiers on the Allied forces are equal to himself and the German soldiers, and he considers that their opponents have wives, kids, friends, jobs, farms, etc. On the contrary, other characters, such as Tjaden, simply think that they are fighting to represent their country and reveal their patriotism. They hardly consider the lives of the soldiers fighting against them and for the reason specifically, they are unquestionably ignorant.  Going more in-depth, one of the first characters of significance that appear at the near beginning of the story is Franz Kemmerich. Kemmerich experiences a wound in the leg, and thus needs his leg amputated. Paul visits him frequently and tells him to hold out for as long as he can. However, Kemmerich is suffering greatly and is close to dying. Paul knows this, however continues to tell him that he will live, and that his body isn’t in a deathly condition. Eventually, Kemmerich does die painfully as his amputated leg continues to give him severe pain. The death of Kemmerich plays a significant role in the story. Paul and his comrades start to see that Kemmerich’s death exposes the real, true hardships of war and what is to come. Paul eventually informs Kemmerich’s mother, but lies in the process of doing so. Paul assures that the death of Kemmerich was a quick and swift death, a bullet to the brain, in which Kemmerich didn’t experience any suffering. However, Kemmerich’s mother doesn’t believe him and starts to worry that Kemmerich experienced a painful death, and makes Paul swear on everything that is dear to him in order to ensure that he’s telling the truth. This shows that Paul would rather lie than repeat the tragedy of Kemmerich’s death, as Paul knows that not only would Kemmerich’s mother be shocked, but he himself would also become horrified as well.
Tjaden is another character that possesses many unique traits as well. He’s also a friend of Paul and has a prodigious desire for food. Tjaden holds a grudge against Himmelstoss, an army Corporal, and has a rebellious behaviour. The ways Tjaden portrays himself makes him seem like a person with a very low intellect, seeing how he hardly cares about anything and doesn’t think logically. On the contrary, Albert Kropp, a closer friend to Paul, was one of the smartest in Paul’s class, as well as being a close friend to Paul. When both Paul and Kropp get injured, they both attend to a hospital in which they are treated. However, after receiving an amputated leg, Kropp threatens to suicide and becomes much more depressed. Communication between Kropp and Paul ceases as the depression grows, however Paul continues to attempt comforting Paul. Along with Paul, Kropp also seems to wonder why war should exist, “its queer, when one thinks about it, we are here to protect our fatherland. And the French are over there to protect their fatherland. Now who's in the right?" (35). Kropp’s perspective on war is incredibly significant as it initially starts to get Paul thinking about equality. It’s primarily because of Kropp Paul sees the innocence in soldiers on the allied forces; Paul’s perspective on his enemy significantly changes as he views them equal to himself and his comrades. Another close friend of Paul was Mueller. Mueller often imagined things of the future and was hoping to come out of the war and continue to help his family. Mueller also is the one who receives Kemmerich’s boots shortly after his death. However, when Mueller gets shot in the stomach, he starts to suffer incredible pain, and in that moment, passes on Kemmerich’s boots to Paul. Paul is horrified at Mueller’s death as Mueller seemed to be the only one thinking of what would happen after the war, his future. Mueller’s death had slowly started to eradicate Paul’s hope of a future.
Kat played a significant role in the plot as well, as he had retained one of the strongest friendships with Paul. Kat and Paul were incredibly close throughout the war and had each other’s backs in every instance, even when faced with death. Kat is one of the oldest soldiers and is seen as a leader amongst his comrades. Additionally, Kat is known for being resourceful and inventive. Kat can be seen as Paul’s mentor, as he constantly takes care of him, as well as teaching him preliminary skills  As Paul’s friends started dying one by one, Kat remained to be his last friend. His death was significant as without Kat, Paul has little to no meaning to his life. Kat’s last day with Paul was at the front, where it was finally a quiet day. Suddenly, a bombardment occurs and as Kat’s leg is injured, Paul carries him to the hospital for hours on end. Kat and Paul take a break 10 minutes prior to arriving at the hospital, and have a brief conversation. When Paul arrives at the hospital, he lays him down on a bed. A doctor confirms he is dead, and shows how Kat was killed by a shrapnel at the back of the head. Paul is shocked, and says “Not possible. Only ten minutes ago I was talking to him. He has fainted,” (290). Paul is in denial that his best and only friend has now left him, and is damaged by his death. Paul eventually feels so isolated that he says, “I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear.” Paul no longer feels solidarity, and war has caused him to lose everything he had kept dear. He implies that his life has no meaning now, and allows death to come for him.
	The title All Quiet on the Western Front completely contradicts itself in the story. The war is set out into a land where there is constant bloodshed, gore, and violence everywhere Paul is placed onto ‘the front’, a place of complete brutality where death is prominent. If anything, the story doesn’t ever encounter anything “quiet”, until the end of the story where Paul eventually dies, on a day where the front was finally quiet. For the most part however, the front consisted of constant battling, gunfire, screaming, bombs, and other horrific disasters. The violence, blood and gore allows Remarque to successfully create a dominant, dark atmosphere and emphasizes the brutality of war through this. The overall mood seems to depress the reader and thus allows them to get a comprehensive experience of what war was like. Moreover, Remarque uses a first person perspective to tell the story, which effectively allows the reader to see Paul’s personal thoughts and opinions on war. As a result, Remarque is able to effectively describe the horrors of war through the life of a soldier.
Relate
	The way Remarque describes the life of a soldier and his experiences of war are incredibly realistic and successfully portrays the horrors of war. From my own selections, All Quiet on the Western Front and Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielburg are substantially related. Both stories involve the horrors of war and successfully portray the apprehension as well as the consternation involved within the stories. While Saving Private Ryan may have been a movie, Remarque’s use of imagery is incredibly effective and gives a similar experience to what the war was like in contrast to Saving Private Ryan. Saving Private Ryan started off with an Omaha Beach scene, which consisted of one the deadliest battles of WW2. As the movie plays on, we see how many people get brutally killed in many tragic ways, and can change one’s perspective on war drastically. Remarque and Spielburg both show how soldiers were dramatically affected by war both physical and psychologically. Moreover, Spielburg had decided to show Miller’s hand throughout the film. At the beginning, his hand is motionless, however as progressing through the film, it is seen how Miller’s experiences at war are drastically changing him mentally, and how he experiences psychological trauma. The hand shakes more vigorously towards the end as Miller becomes more and more mortified. The same could be said for Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front; Paul becomes so traumatized by war, and as Remarque shows us his inner thoughts, we can see how heavily Paul is being affected. Paul changes drastically and begins to see how war eradicates one’s past, and completely changes a person.

	In the contemporary society, war continues to linger on, however in a much more diminished form of violence. It exists in the form of prejudice, stereotypes, terrorism, and other causes of humanity that still can have as much of an impact as WW1 or WW2. Soldiers that proceed to missions often experience the horrors of war, and another example of this could be seen in a recent movie called American Sniper. The story consists of an individual who enlisted in war. However, as time progressed, the main character became increasingly affected to the point where his past experiences of war had affected him in his daily life. He hears electrical impact wrenches as gunshots, and he hears people splashing in the water as bombs. American Sniper shows how war can still linger on in one’s memory and haunt them in their everyday lives. Paul had a similar issue in which he felt like he didn’t belong; He was so psychologically traumatized from war that he felt as if he had no past, and was a ghost among his family and friends. War had changed these characters, and shows how they no longer feel like a human.
Reflect
Throughout the novel, Paul experiences the brutality of war and is permanently affected by it. War is now a part of his everyday life and as a result, the atrocities and inhumanity of war turns into a daily routine for him. Remarque makes it clear how war can easily transform a person. Initially, Paul seemed to be eager to join war with his classmates when they were still at a private school. Their teacher encouraged them and Paul was filled with excitement. Throughout the novel, we see how Paul’s eagerness to participate in war changes drastically. He wants to leave so badly however wants to stay at the same time. In other words, Paul hates war and doesn’t want to participate in it, but he knows that simply leaving and going back to his family won’t change anything either. He’ll still be constantly reminded of the brutality of war and won’t be able to ever go back. Paul compares himself as well as his comrades to that of an insensible animal; an instinct to kill unnecessarily. Even though Paul has convinced himself that he is inhumane, he still retains a bit of innocence. In Chapter Nine, Paul kills a French soldier – he acts on instinct and stabs the soldier several times, until he realizes that the soldier was human as well. Paul goes through the soldier’s belongings and finds several photos of the French soldier’s family, and starts to comprehend that the soldier wasn’t another enemy to kill, but an actual human being who once lived a life like Paul had. He starts to realize that war strips everyone of their innocence, and turns them into brutal, ravaging beasts. After killing the French soldier, Paul asks “Why?” and is ultimately the biggest step of his characterization. By realizing that war is wrong, Paul shows that he is able to perceive war as an unnecessary option to resolve major conflicts. By doing this, Paul retains a bit of his innocence as he is able to realize that his enemies weren’t evil, but just a tool that is forced by leaders who try and get either their point across or to show superiority. He realizes soldiers are simply caught in the middle of the situation, and it is they that must clean up the mess the “leaders” performed.
Remarque shows how human nature is stripped from the soldiers because of war. It strips them of their innocence, their pride, and most importantly, their humanity. They are forced to kill other humans who have done nothing, as they have been commanded to. War forces someone to change their inner selves and causes a soldier to be entirely different than what they were in the past. Paul does actually speak the truth when he mentions that soldiers are similar to insensible animals; they kill upon instinct, hardly consider the lives of who they’re killing and sometimes, don’t even know why they kill. When seeing the soldiers whose noses were cut off and eyes stabbed with saw bayonets, (103) Paul and his comrades are filled with a new-found rage. They stab enemies that are too slow to get away with their bayonets and use spades to tear faces into two:

We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men that we fling our bombs, what we know of men in this moment when Death is hunting us down–now, for the first time in three days we can see his face, now for the first time in three days we can oppose him; we feel a mad anger. No longer do we lie helpless, waiting on the scaffold, we can destroy and kill, to save ourselves, to save ourselves and to be revenged. . . . Crouching like cats we run on, overwhelmed by this wave that bears us along, that fills us with ferocity, turns us into thugs, into murderers, into God knows what devils; this wave that multiplies our strength with fear and madness and greed of life, seeking and fighting for nothing but our deliverance (74)
Their barbaric behaviour shows an immense contrast to the soldiers now compared to the new recruits, who tremble out of fear and cry. These new recruits are the ones that still have innocence, as they react to such atrocities with despair and fear. The barbaric behaviour of Paul and his comrades show that they have lost their innocence and have become inhumane savages, attacking all who dare come close. However, after encountering the French soldier, it becomes evident that Paul has obtained some of his innocence, as he has realized that he has done wrong.
Remarque uses imagery extraordinarily well. The violent and gore imagery provides a realistic sense of how war was in WW1. A great example of Remarque’s successful use of imagery is said by Paul in the following:
“I search around. And so it is. Here hang bits of uniform, and somewhere else is plastered a bloody mess that was once a human limb. Over there lies a body with nothing but a piece of the underpants on one leg and the collar of the tunic around its neck. Otherwise it is naked and the clothes are hanging up in the tree. Both arms are missing as though they had been pulled out. I discovered one of them twenty yards off in a shrub.” (208)
The gruesome imagery of limbs and gore Remarque uses makes the reader feel morbid. The image of limbs being in trees and missing arms off of a body provides the reader with a sense of disgust. Remarque’s effective use of this violent imagery performs an accurate representation of what war appears to be on the battlefield. Not all of Remarque’s imagery is sickening though. When Paul describes his moment in a trench, he mentions that his “forehead was wet, the sockets of my eyes are damp, my hands tremble, and I am panting softly,” (211). Remarque describes every precise detail of Paul’s facial features as he stays in a hole, hoping to not get blown to bits by a bomb. The description of Paul’s state provides such a realistic feel and allows the reader to feel as if they were observing Paul themselves. Moreover, Remarque, for this scene specifically, builds up suspense as the reader holds their breath, waiting for what would happen next. War in itself is especially full of suspense, and Remarque makes it clear that a soldier must be attentive to their surroundings in order to avoid being killed. One example of this was at the beginning, with Paul’s bombardment. Kat managed to save Paul’s life by shoving him into a trench as soon as a bomb fell near them. It was primarily because of Kat’s instincts and his experience that Paul was alive, and Remarque shows how a soldier is constantly at the risk of death.
Erich Maria Remarque, being a veteran of war, was a German soldier who went through a lot himself during war. Remarque’s purpose for writing this novel may have been to show the life of a soldier and express how World War 1 was like. The constant deaths in war and tragedies that are happening are so frequent that we learn it becomes the daily life of that soldier. A person of our contemporary society would be horrified at the events of war upon first glance, however as war progresses, it hardens the soldiers and adapts them to the everyday routine of waking up, killing, eating, sleeping, and repeat. The lives of these soldiers are so tragically impacted that they lose their innocence and have an eradicated past due to war. The consequence with war is that once started, there can never be a solution. While there may be a mutual agreement, the sincere hate for each other will forever exist, and while the war may be over, the memories linger on and haunt the soldiers to this day.