All Quiet On The Western Front

Erich Remarque's book All Quiet On The Western Front is often looked as an anit-war novel. I however believe that Remarque meant more to promote pacifism than to protest war.Instead of looking at the war from a political stand point, of the good guys versus the bad guys, he takes an important step by establishing the main charcter as a German solider. He then challenges the romantic idealistic view of war, by displaying the base characteristics of it: the graphic brutality, the pshychological effects brought onto the soldiers, and the unconsciouss deterioration of humanity.

Remarque often goes into explicit detail to describe the war scene. I believe he wanted the reader to have a real uncensored view into how brutal war really is. He specificaly uses this graphic language when telling of a characters death. In Chapter 11 he describes the death of Bertinck and Leer. "After awhile a fragment smashes away his chin, and the same fragment has sufficient enough force to to tear open Leer's hip. Leer groans as he supports himself on his arm, he bleeds quickly, no one can help him. Like an emptying tube, after a couple minutes he collapses. What use is it to him now that he was such a good mathematician in school." Remarque not only harshly describes these deaths but also makes them relateable and personal. I Immediealty thought about all my friends that were good at math and pictured them out, dying on a battlefield. This particular passage really "brought it home" for me.

Baumer, the novels narrator, discusses how war changes the soldiers even once referring to how they have "become wild beasts." It shows in the novel how easy it is for soldiers to lose regard to human life because they have constant death around them. He discusses how sometimes a soldiers bayonet can get stuck in the other man and how they have to give them a "hefty kick" to get it out. I think he uses this example to show how killing