Trauma In All Quiet On The Western Front

The global bloodshed of World War I began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. The casualties of the war were at least 38 million, while others suffered significant losses, and were badly injured. World War I was significant in the advancement in weaponry, artillery, and strategies but still lacked the proper living conditions for the soldiers to remain healthy. The book All Quiet on the Western Front, narrated by Paul Bäumer, and written by Erich Maria Remarque tells the story of young German soldiers fighting on the German front during World War I. What began as a patriotic and heroic adventure, the soldiers begin to realize the harsh and grim reality of the war, as they experienced weeks of brutal training, inhumane officials,

Like the concept of survival of the fittest, it is essential for the soldiers to have an animal instinct to survive on the battlefield. Many moments are shown in which the soldiers become two faced, changing from good-mannered and soft soldier to animal - like characteristics. Paul informs us that they only way to survive in battle, is to block away all your emotions, if not, it would drive you insane. Another aspect as to the book’s anti-war sentiment, is how Remarque describes the consequences of war, the loss of the young life. Paul's generation was known as the "Iron Youth", which was a group of young boys who enlisted and fought in the war as a way of showing gratitude for their country, Germany, but his age group is lost because

The book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque portrayed war as a great hole of death and despair dug by a nation's higher power for the citizens to patriotically march into. All Quiet on the Western Front was written as a 'new-age' war story; The book focused on the horrors of war rather than the romantic veneer other previous writers had plastered on. The War obliterated the distinction between civilian and military targets. 'Armies were no longer targeting just their opponents, but the civilian towns that supply them too, killing innocent people. People still today, who are innocent civilians, are being killed for being on the wrong side.

Hardships faced in World War 1 War can be compared to an everlasting fever with tremendous side effects, no one, in particular, wants it, but, all at once there it is. Combat before World War 1 had the usage of inefficient had to hand weapons like knives and regular bayonets. Killing mass numbers of people was not as effective as during World War 1 as technology developed to kill more efficiently. Knives and bayonets turned into machine guns, slow marching troops were transported by tanks and submarines, poison gas and barbed wires replaced shields. The novel, ’All Quiet on the Western Front’, written by Erich Maria Remarque, who served in the German army during the war.

War has always existed in the world, but do we ever consider what the effects are on the young men we send to fight them? World War I was a brutal time for all countries involved. Over 17 million people were killed both soldiers and civilians. In All Quiet on the Western Front Written by Erich Maria Remarque, he expertly portrays the loss of young men’s innocence and youth. He accurately displays this through the gruesome conditions, the horrendous acts, and altered home life the soldiers had to endure.

To begin, Paul realizes a young recruit is starting to have a mental breakdown and Paul describes, “He looks up, pushes the helmet off and like a child creeps under my arms, his head close to my breast”(61). Remarque uses this to compare the young recruit to a small child looking for comfort in Paul’s arms. The soldier is horribly affected by the war's casualties along with the explosions which affect his mental state. The mental destruction of war causes many of the men to break down or go insane. Next, Kat and Paul try to calm down a recruit who is suffering from a nervous breakdown and Paul describes it as, “It is a case of claustrophobia, he feels as though he is suffocating here and wants to get out at any price.

A story that tells only of death, sorrow, and the bitter truth about World War One, Erich Remarque’s book, All Quiet On The Western Front, is simply a story of a generation of men who were lost to war. Told through the eyes of a 19 year old boy named Paul Bäumer, as he shows what World War One was, in all of its horrific glory. This ‘glory’ so to speak was a gruesome, traumatizing experience for many of the soldiers that fought in World War One, this experience engraved in their memory, that would continue to haunt them for the rest of their lives. In the epigraph in All Quiet On The Western Front, it tells that “ even though [the soldiers] may have escaped shells, [they] were destroyed by the war”. It is evident to say that even though some soldiers escaped death from the war, they all will be scared from the experiences they had.

“We loved our country as much as they; we went courageously into every action; but also we distinguished the false from true, we had suddenly learned to see. And we saw that there was nothing of their world left. We were all at once terribly alone; and alone we must see it through” (Remarque 6). Joining the war is perceived to be glory, and an honorable act, but is it like all it seems? All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel about World War I and its effects upon those who served in it through the perspective of a German soldier by the name of Paul Bäumer.

In the novel, the first most relevant posttraumatic behaviors are demonstrated through Paul's character, by means of him reflecting on his past interests he had before entering the war, in comparison to his attitude after. When Paul returned home he began to experience isolating thoughts: “I imagined leave would be different from this. Indeed, it was different a year ago. It is I, of course, that has changed in the interval. There lies a gulf between that time and today.

Remarque also uses imagery to display the horrid environment of war. For example, in the Catholic Hospital that Kropp and Paul go to in the novel, people are trying to kill themselves because they can no longer take the pain of war, "In the evening, while he is being fed, the sister is called away, and leaves the plate with the fork on his table. He gropes for the fork, seizes it and rives it with all his force against his heart, then he snatches up a shoe and strikes with it against the handle as hard as he can" (261). Paul portrays the petrifying environment Paul had to see as followed, "Two fellows die of tetanus. Their skin turns pale, their limbs stiffen, at last only their eyes live- stubbornly.

I was a soldier, and now I am nothing but an agony for myself, for my mother, for everything that is so comfortless and without end. I ought never to have come on leave" (Remarque 185). Here, Paul puts aside his emotions, a symbol of his humanity, in favor of animal-like instincts to survive during the war. During his leave, Paul struggles to connect with his family and friends due to his war experiences. He can not agree with the principal's vision of the war because Paul sees through the lies of nationalism and actually experiences the horrors of war.

An Evil Force through the eyes of an Innocent Man World War II was a devastating war with over 18 million casualties accounted for not even including famine and diseases. All Quiet on the Western Front follows a group of germanic recruits and their pathway throughout the way they saw the tragedy of the war. In the classic novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque uses symbolism to show camaraderie, a loss of innocence, and how life can be impacted in monumental ways when people choose to not back down when an evil force awakens. During hardships and tough times, comradeship through a brotherhood can be tested but true comrades will stick together. Recruits always had to be under supervision

Throughout the ages, wars have wreaked havoc and caused great destruction that lead to the loss of millions of lives. However, wars also have an immensely destructive effect on the individual soldier. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, one is able to see exactly to what extent soldiers suffered during World War 1 as well as the effect that war had on them. In this essay I will explain the effect that war has on young soldiers by referring to the loss of innocence of young soldiers, the disillusionment of the soldiers and the debasement of soldiers to animalistic men. Many soldiers entered World War 1 as innocent young boys, but as they experienced the full effect of the war they consequently lost their innocence.

Moreover, commonly, soldiers are exhilarated to finally go home after long periods of time at the front, and the men dread when they have to return to battle. However, in Paul’s case, he desires to return to the front, rather than staying in his home town and seeing his mother in pain, he yearns to feel numb again. Therefore, Paul is in “agony” because before going on leave, he was hopeless and had no will to live, thus making him a better soldier. Although, after visiting his mother and sister, he has rediscovered a reason to survive, making it harder to go back. Moreover, the word, “comfortless,” illustrates how Paul feels isolated even at home, he feels little comfort where he grew up.

The war novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque depicts one protagonist, Paul, as he undergoes a psychological transformation. Paul plays a role as a soldier fighting in World War I. His experiences during the war are not episodes the average person would simply experience. Alternatively, his experiences allow him to develop into a more sophisticated individual. Remarque illustrates these metamorphic experiences to expose his theme of the loss of not only people’s lives but also innocence and tranquility that occurs in war.