The novel All Quiet on the Western Front depicts the battle of the Germans during World War I. It is narrated by Paul Baumer, a twenty year old German, and reveals the events that take place during he and his comrades lives as they fight the war. Unfortunately, the young men soon have to deal with combat wounds, killed friends, and despair. The men are frequently presented with so many indicences of death before they have even really begun to live their lives.
This novel tells the story of World War I from the German perspective. Although the Germans were thought of as the “enemies” to almost half of the world during the war, I did not see them as such as I was reading this novel. Instead, they just seemed like regular soliders that did not really have a choice about their involvement in the war. They felt no real glory for being soliders and their only desire was to remain alive.
One of the key themes that I though was apparent in the novel is that war is an inhumanity for both sides; there are really no “good and bad” guys when it comes to the soliders that are fighting. All soliders are just fighting and killing because they do not have a choice to do otherwise. This theme can be seen by Paul’s willingness to give food to Russian prisoners, and the gulit that he feels after taking the life of an ally solider.
I found the writing style of Remarque appealing. Although I cannot tell how much of the style of the novel was lost in translation, I can say that I found the English translation very straightforward and unadorned. Yet, the sentences still had a certain charm to them and were never banal (as I have often found Hemmingway’s to be).
The Term Paper on The Cold War And The New World Order
The Cold War and the New World Order (1) It would not be an exaggeration to say that Gold War served as metaphysical foundation, upon which international relations were based, from the time of Churchills famous Fulton speech in 1946, to 1991, when Soviet Union has painlessly ceased to exist. One month prior to committing suicide in his bunker, Hitler had prophesied: With the defeat of the Reich ...
Remarque’s style reminded me a little of Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage. But All Quiet on the Western Front is by far the better book. Its prose flows freely and it is quite a page turner.
If you are at all interested in war stories, I would reccommend reading All Quiet on the Western Front. I warn you that it is by not means an uplifting book and that it can be very graphic at times. But if you would like to experience a first hand account of World War I from the German side then you should read this book. It is the anti-war book for all wars.
