An anti-war novel often portrays many of the bad aspects and consequences of war. Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel set in the First World War that is against war. Remarque describes the terrible reality of the war, focusing on the horrors and involved. The novel portrays an anti-war perspective as it brings up issues about the brutality of war, the narrator's change of attitude towards war, the futility of war and the deaths of the narrator's friends.

In the novel, Remarque presents the brutality of war. Early on in the novel, he describes the sound of the wounded horses and how brutal the war atmosphere is. "There is a whole world of pain in that sound, creation itself under torture, a wild and horrifying agony" (p44). The brutality of war in the novel, however, is mainly shown through human suffering. Baumer talks about brutal things that soldiers are just expected to do. He says, "When you put a bayonet in, it can stick, and you have to give the other man a hefty kick to get it out..." (p74). The German soldiers attack the enemy with extreme instinctive brutality. "With the butt of his rifle, Kat smashes to pulp one of the machine-gunners...We bayo

The narrator changes his attitude towards war as he becomes more aware of its undesirable effects. Even in the beginning, Baumer realises its terrible reality and the change it has made to his life. He says, "We have lost all our ability to see things in other ways, because they are artificial. For us, it is only the facts that count (p15). The physical change of the narrator and his fellow soldiers also indicate that he has gone through an attitude change towards war. "We [Paul Baumer and his fellow soldiers] became tough, suspicious, hard-hearted, vengeful and rough..." (p19). When the narrator talks about the difference between his life before the war and his life at the present time, it becomes clear that he has changed a great deal. He says, "We were eighteen years old, and we had just begun to love the world and to love being in it; but we had to shoot at it. The first shell to land went straight to our hearts...We don't believe in those things anymore; we believe in the war" (p63). Later he also says, "We have been consumed in the fires of reality, we perceive differences only in the way tradesmen do, and we see necessities like butchers. We are free of care no longer- we are terrifyingly indifferent" (p88). He continues to realise his change even more. He says, "I suppose I am the one who has changed in the meantime. A great gulf has opened up between then and now. I didn't know then what the war was really like-...Now I can see I have become more brittle without realising it" (p120). Baumer describes his change as like turning into an animal. He reflects, "We have turned into dangerous animals. We are not fighting, we are defending ourselves from annihilation" (p81). The narrator's attitude change also affects his feeling for his mates. He says, "We have lost all feelings for others, we bare

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Approximate Word count = 1233
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)