Summary Of Imagery In All Quiet On The Western Front

Summary Of Imagery In All Quiet On The Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque explores the idea that war can destroy a generation of men physically, mentally and emotionally in his anti–war novel titled All Quiet on the Western Front. The author uses first–person narrative through a young German soldier named Paul Baumer to illustrate the terrorizing and difficult lives of those who served in World War Ⅰ. Baumer is one of the several students who voluntarily join the army along with his classmates, for they were driven to by their teacher, Kantorek who stresses how it is their duty to protect and fight for their country Germany. Remarque highlights the fact that Baumer is an inexperienced, innocent, young man who faces the constant struggle of fighting to stay alive at such an early age. In Erich Maria Remarque's classic anti–war novel, the author uses diction, explicit imagery and first–person narration to illustrate the realistic portrayal of the horrors of war and argues against its necessity.

Remarque's use of diction creates an honest and very real viewpoint on war, which bolds the anti–war aspect of the novel. Remarque too fought in the war, so he was very candid with the subject, which is portrayed quite clearly in the novel. In the novel it states, "we were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war" (88).

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