Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

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In the book , ‘’All Quiet on the Western Front’’ , a tale is told about a group of German teenagers who enlist in the German military. The author , Erich Maria Remarque , describes the horrors of war through one single character, Paul Baumer , a German soldier in the Great War of 1914-1918. In the story that Remarque presents , there are many themes that could be used as the themes of the overall story. But the main themes of the book are comradeship , loss of innocence and hardships of war. The story is a harsh reminder of the horrors of war. Throughout the story that’s narrated by the character , Paul , there is a theme that always resurfacing , comradeship. The use of the word ‘comrade’ is used a lot throughout the book. Remarque’s use…show more content…
so that they can be reviewed all at one glance , for soldiers must always be under supervision. Since then we have learned better than to be shy about such trifling immodesties. They are in fact , just as natural as eating and drinking”. This quote is a great example of comradeship because it shows that Paul and his friends have been through a lot together. Another quote is “I belong to them and they to me; we all the share the same fear and the same life; we are nearer than lovers , in a simpler , a harder way” (pg 212). This quote is another great example of comradeship since this really shows the tight bonds of friendship of Paul and his friends and even how far they’re willing to go for each other. Even though comradeship alone is a good theme , another theme is the hardships of war. These hardships took everything from the young generation to the point they were called the ‘lost generation’. Paul and his friends experience things that no teenager , or anyone in fact , should have to face. They go from facing death in the face , killing hideous rats in trenches , the death of close friends , and even dealing with the guilt of killing an enemy soldier. Paul Baumer even gets to a low point where he says in chapter 5 , page 88 , “I am young , I am
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