Literary themes in All Quiet On The Western Front

A detailed Summary of Literary themes in All Quiet On The Western Front

Some authors use themes to show the reader some perspective. Erich Maria Remarque's book "All Quiet on the Western Front" uses many themes but there are four main ones. Those four themes are the Lost Generation, futility of war, sound imagery, and the institutionalization or depersonalization of war. Some of these themes can be integrated together to make an alarming yet wonderful effect to draw the reader into the story of "All Quiet on the Western Front".

One of the most prominent themes book is also the most saddening. That theme is the institutionalization or depersonalization of war. Remarque begins the story with Germany's soldiers fighting an

institutionalized war. Soldiers were trained to destroy and kill the enemy. By institutionalizing the war, it was made easier to kill someone just like you for no reason. But by depersonalizing the soldiers with their enemy, it left devastating effects on the mind and heart. Soldiers emotions were deadened and they became irrational. Throughout the story, Paul Baumer, the narrator does not talk about killing someone but as the story progresses, this changes. An example of Paul acting irrational because of the effect war had on him was when he was in the trenches and all of a sud

most likely being the latter. If their were still some sounds of weapons of warfare, there's still some hope for people to live and escape the killing of their lives. Remarque shows in his story that sometimes sound was good or bad to hear in his story, and sound can heavily affect a person for life.

of Germany's soldiers felt about the war.

Surviving soldiers were scarred heavily by World War One many things, sound being one of the most influential. Many soldiers also experienced the other three themes mentioned in this essay. Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" vividly tells of part of his experience as a soldier in the war and the horrors of World War One. Remarque cleverly developed each of the themes at a steady pace so we can really get a feel of how the soldiers felt at some times.

den, a French soldier comes into the trench and Paul immediately stabs him without thinking about, for Paul is scared and emotionally scarred. After stabbing him, Paul leaves him alone to let him bleed to death. In that part of the story, Paul regains a little bit of his emotions because after he stabbed the man, he starts to feel very guilty about it. He tries to talk to the dead man and help the man's wounds. When Paul looks at the mans wallet, he finds some information about the soldier and realizes that the soldier was very much like himself, the only di

Some common words found in the essay are:
Paul Baumer, World War, Western Front, Germany Germany's, Generation Germany, Lost Generation, War Remarque, Generation Germany's, , lost generation, Maria Remarque's, quiet western front, world war, germany's soldiers, sound imagery, western front, quiet western, war soldiers, story paul, soldiers germany, institutionalization depersonalization, institutionalization depersonalization war,

Approximate Word count = 920
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English