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All Quiet On The Western Front: An Analysis

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All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, tells the story of Paul Baumer, a German soldier, and his comrades’ experiences in combat during World War I. Paul Baumer, along with a few other men, enlisted in the military after being persuaded by their school master, Kantorek. Although “no one [had] the vaguest idea what [they] were in for” (Remarque 11), the men still decided to join the war. Throughout the story, Paul instantly discovers that the war is not all that it is made out to be. Paul and his comrades struggle to survive on a daily basis. The men realize that the only way for them to stay alive is to develop friendships between one another and stick together. The horrifying images of death and the sacrifices they are required to make cause the soldiers to lose their identity. Through the eyes of the “Lost Generation,” Remarque is able to portray the sacrifices, comradeship, and the brutality of war a typical soldier of World War I endured. …show more content…
This novel is one of the foremost antiwar novels of the twentieth century (Luckert 1224). Erich Maria Remarque was heavily influenced by the war to write this novel (Luckert 1219). At the early age of eighteen, Remarque was drafted into the German Army (Lewis 2701). Remarque used his own experiences as a soldier on the front lines as a guide for writing this novel. Just like Paul, Remarque also developed many friendships while in combat. Unfortunately, the brutalities of war caused him to lose many of his

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