Anyone who has taken even a basic course on world history will recall learning of the horrors of trench warfare during World War I. Life in the trenches was characterized by lack of sleep, food, and the necessary supplies that one usually takes for granted: clean socks, underwear, and protective gear for the harsh weather. As illustrated in Remarque's novel, trench warfare itself was a horrific combination of blood and gore, sickness and starvation, madness, homesickness, and death. However, this did not apply only to the German soldiers living in the trenches, but also to the British regiments who were just on the other side, across the vast plain that was No Man's Land.
Remarque paints a very real picture of war for his audience, highlighting the enthusiasm with which the boys entered the war, and the devastation that eventually breaks them. Remarque, who was clearly anti-war, touches upon the dangers of brainwashing among the masses, and states emphatically that a man may survive a war, but he will forever lack a part of himself for having endured it. Essentially, Remarque is saying that although a man may escape the bullets and bayonets of his assumed enemy, he will ultimately return home a very different person.
[...] All Quiet on the Western Front Anyone who has taken even a basic course on world history will recall learning of the horrors of trench warfare during World War I. Life in the trenches was characterized by lack of sleep, food, and the necessary supplies that one usually takes for granted: clean socks, underwear, and protective gear for the harsh weather. As illustrated in Remarque's novel, trench warfare itself was a horrific combination of blood and gore, sickness and starvation, madness, homesickness, and death. [...]
[...] Remarque's point is a timeless one, as even now they are considering reinstating the draft in the good ol' U.S.A. While only six of the required thirty signatories have put their name to paper in the bill involving the draft, it is still an imminent possibility, from which not even women or college students will be exempt. Remarque's novel should act as a warning, that the glorified image of the war hero is an idealistic disillusionment, that war is a life-altering force. Bibliography All Quiet on the Western Front. Erich Maria Remarque. [...]
[...] We are to deduce from this that although these soldiers were fighting for different countries, for different causes, and under different circumstances, they were the same age as and no one wanted to endure what eventually all endured. We recall the chapter in which our leading man Paul Bauber returns home on leave. When he arrives there, he feels strangely out of place, as though he does not belong. What is more, his own mother feels as though he is not the same person he was before. It is this kind of impact that war is known to have on those who must witness it so closely. [...]
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