Novel Despite The Appalling Destruction Of War example essay topic

All Quiet on the Western Front As World War I comes into mind, millions of young men are pictured fighting for their country. Particularly, the countries of Britain, America as well as the other allies are thought of as triumphs. On the other hand, Germany was the evil enemy of the war. However, the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque depicts the horror and hopelessness of Germany's Iron Youth as well as the realities of war. The novel portrays the tragic account of a young man named Paul Baume r and his friends who enlist in the German army. They begin the war as teenagers enthusiastically with a cause and the glory for war, but when they are confronted with trench warfare, the horrors of war and the annihilation of the human spirit come into effect.

Under the very first bombardment in the trenches, the romantic illusions about combat disintegrate. When Paul and his friends went to the District Commandment and volunteered, they were headed by their respectful schoolmaster Kantorek whose lectures taught them that the duty to one's country is the greatest thing. The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our minds with a greater insight and a more humane wisdom. But the first death we saw shattered this belief. The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke in pieces (12-13).

Paul and his friends must experience the truth about war through their own eyes regardless of the stories and lectures they hear from society and Kantorek. The realities of war are immediately demonstrated from this point on. For instance, Paul describes the frightening truth about war. We see men living with their skulls blown open; we see soldiers run with their two feet cut off we see men without mouths, jaws, without faces (134). Paul does not acknowledge the glories of war. In this novel, Paul refers to himself and his friends as part of a lost generation.

Paul feels that his generation does not have a previous life like the other men; they have wives, children, occupations, and interests (20). Thus, the lives of these men have just begun, and they only have the tragedies of war to show for it. The only thing Paul knows of is to fight against the young men of this same generation; survival is their only main concern. I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me Through the years our business has been killing; – it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of life is limited to death (264). Paul describes how emotionally and mentally shattered these men became because of the war.

Paul also believes that no one will understand what they have gone through and what they have seen with their eyes. From the moment they step into war, they must prepare for the world to which they will return, irrevocably changed. The longer they remain in the war, the more difficult it is to go back home. When Paul goes home to visit his family during his leave, everything around him has changed as well as himself. Since his last leave one year ago, Paul describes the differences and the estrangement he feels between the entire town and himself.

At that time I still knew nothing about the war, we had only been in quiet sectors. But now I see that I have been crushed without knowing it. I find I do not belong here any more, it is a foreign world (168). He attempts to become accustomed to his previous habits, such as reading and even quietly relaxing, but cannot find the potential to do so. The novel provides a horrifying look into World War I and powerfully depicts the obvious impact it has had on the lives of these men. The novel showed true human nature and how the mind reacts to the toxic gases in this particular war.

The results of trench warfare and combating are exemplified throughout the novel as complete destruction. Moreover, these scenes are frightening and terrifying. We wake up in the middle of the night. The earth booms.

Heavy fire is falling on us. We crouch into corners The dugout heaves, the night roars and flashes. We look at each other in the momentary flashes of light, and with pale faces and pressed lips shake our heads (106). This fighting leads to dying in hellish agony. Paul describes the moaning and crying of wounded men; he cannot bear to listen to them dying. As a result, survival is the major factor of war that is expressed in the minds of every man.

We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men that we fling our bombs, what do we know of men in this moment when Death is hunting us down we can destroy and kill, to save ourselves and to be revenged (113). In this passage, Paul's words are very powerful in proving that kill or be killed is a fact of war. The fact that death is hunting them establishes that these men are slowly dying painfully with agony and sorrow. Furthermore, madness takes over them.

For example, Paul could not overcome the fact that he killed the French man in the trench. Paul defines what the war consists of in the following passage, Shells, gas clouds, and flotillas of tanks shattering, corroding, death. Dysentery, influenza, typhus scalding, choking, death. Trenches, hospitals, the common grave there are no other possibilities (283). The passage includes everything from combating to death, from the start of war to the end. On the other hand, a sense of brotherhood and unity is shown in the novel despite the appalling destruction of war.

All these men share the same feelings, thoughts, conditions, and changes about the war. They are all hoping for peace, to return home, and survival. In conclusion, this novel emphasizes the harsh conditions of World War I and the influences it had on Paul. Paul proved the destruction of his soul was a result of the war. He was slowly dying and it was inevitable because of the way he emphasized death throughout the novel. This experience damaged the lives of these young men as well as the impact it has on their families.

Their lives will never be the same again; after what they have experienced, nothing can affect them.