A reflection on All Quiet on The Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque.
“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.”
-Erich Maria Remarque
All Quiet on The Western Front follows our fictional narrator, Paul Baumer, and his group of fellow soldiers through their experiences as German foot soldiers during World War I. They are initially a youthful and passionate group, but throughout the 12 chapters that this novel presents, we see the war slowly beat and refine their spirits to emotional and physical destruction. Remarque’s prose is simple, so the book reads rather quickly, but, as demonstrated by the quote above, it’s simplicity is not at the expense of its elegance and beauty.
What I found most interesting in this novel is its perspective. In the little over 200 pages that Remarque presents we receive little to no general war strategy and tactics. Of course, we have our own present knowledge of World War I, but from the book alone we get no information on the purpose or main actors in the war. Also, there is very little story arc with a cohesive progression, for in each chapter Paul drifts from vignette to vignette. The perspective of All Quiet on The Western Front is a microcosm around Paul’s battalion, dragging us along from scene to scene. We see Paul in shelling bombardments, in trench warfare, in medical hospitals, on medical leave, on the battlefields, and back in trench warfare. But it doesn’t follow the standard plot you see in most novels: exposition – rising action – climax – falling action – denouement. There’s very little initial character flaws, character progression, and no villain, at least in the traditional sense. And through all of this and because of all of this, the story is that much more real. I grow closer with Paul and his battalion not because he rose up and prevailed against the challenge, but because he got destroyed by it. The hectic vignettes and non-linear storyline make his story that much more believable because life is often hectic and non-linear. Relationships are left in tension, sub-plots are left unresolved, and the ending is anything but happily ever after, and yet I walked away from this book satisfied and invigorated.
All Quiet in The Western Front is considered one of the greatest war novels of all time, in part because of its unique perspective. It provides a vivid, realistic depiction of the war, possibly the most realistic depiction one could provide: that of a soldier. It’s take on war was refreshing and I highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested in novels like these.
I’ll finish off with two quotes that impacted me the most.
“Bombardment, barrage, curtain-fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand-grenades – words, words, but they hold the horror of the world.”
“We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.”