All Quiet on the Western Front Essay

Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

This novel takes place during World War I, and focuses on the changes inflicted by the war on one young German soldier. This character, Paul Baumer, transforms from something of an innocent youthful figure to more of a hardened and traumatized veteran. As the story progresses, Baumer becomes more isolated and loses ties with his parents, elders, school, and his religion. The things that drove his personality before the war were abandoned later on as Baumer becomes cold and hard. Many of the factors in society that was important before the enlistment no longer seemed as fundamental as they once were.

The environment that Paul experiences undoubtedly drives this transformation when his Company and his fellow soldiers become emerged in the trenches on the front lines. After experiencing the harsh realities of the war immersed in the trenches on the front lines, cannot accept the paradigm of the world as he did before.Also, he then perceives much of the language that is used throughout society as meaningless and without merit; he can only communicate with people that have shared similar experience as he did in the military. Because the story is told from his first-person perspective, the reader is provided the explanations of these transformations from the first-person perspective. In his preface to the novel, Remarque argues that "generations of men ... were destroyed by the war."

Before Paul enlisted in the war, both he and virtually everyone in his life were sympathetic to his decision. For example, his teachers and parents were described as using words that were intended to persuade the youth to value the nation's cause as propaganda and nationalism were fostered.….....