What is real and what is ideal? What is true and what is just? Who are friends and who are foes? In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, all these questions are asked, even if not all are answered. Many themes are discussed, many emotions are touched upon; and all lead back to life and death, and who has the right to make that decision for another human being. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer is a disillusioned young man discovering the differences between realism and idealism, truth and justice, and the part that human bonds play, in the midst of World War I. Remarque often uses symbolism, tone, and imagery to illustrate the physical and psychological turmoil experienced during this time. Through it all, the immoral and cannibalistic nature of war, as well as the very real impacts of psychological damage vs. the superficiality of the soldiers' physical beings, is portrayed in full color, 3-d, and surround sound.

In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque emphasizes the surrounding "circle of death" by juxtaposing happier times with times filled with the horrors of death and the battlefront; as "...almost a fortnight passes thus in eating, drinking

Remarque often emphasizes the changing of values and mentality set for Paul and the others from idealism to realism. The transfer to an ultra-realistic tone is noticeable early on, when he states: "a bright button is weightier than four volumes of Schopen Hauer;" that "what matters is not the mind, but the boot brush, not intelligence but the system, not freedom but drill." These referrals reveal Paul's ideas gradually changing from idealistic to realistic. The irony is the fact that, though nothing that Paul had learned in real life was applicable to life, neither was anything that he had experienced during the war. The reality of the war - and the insignificance of the single person - is anti-idealism, the recognition that it doesn't matter what the soldiers want, that the war will still grind on disturbs the idealistic picture of nationalism and disrupts the illusion of "making a difference." Also, the moral change in extreme situations such as war, the corruption of !

ge to rid himself of all feelings, and thoughts. His emotions must eventually lie buried in the earth alongside the soldiers that fell in battle. This dullness will protect him from going mad at the sight of a butchered comrade or a friend in pain. For if the cost of life is the death of his emotions, his survival depends on it (Hint: Paul can never completely rid himself of all emotion, foreshadowing). For every shell that falls, every shot that is fired, a soldier must face the possibility of death. Death is around every corner, death is on the mind of every comrade, and in the eyes of every "enemy," death can and will not co-exist with you, death wants to steal your life, and death must be destroyed before he destroys you. For your salvation means his sacrifice- and that can never happen. "The menace of death has transformed us into unthinking animals, in order to give us the weapon of instinct." (236) and "We have become wild beasts, we do not fight, we defend ours!

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The concepts of life vs. death, psychological vs. physical repercussions of war, friends vs. foes, and realism vs. idealism are each partially touched upon in Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. The examples I have cited give a general idea of the materialism and comradeship caused by war, as well as the pain and immorality it results in. The instinct to kill like animals is truly the outcome of a generation of hatred. The ability to live life, to love life, to feel life, to experience life, and to create life - and yet still have the ability to take life without remorse - is beyond the humanity and psychological comprehension of most people. World War I tore apart the lives of a generation of young men, who had almost no control over the forces that destroyed them. Hatred was the cause of this great tragedy. I pray history will never repeat itself.

The destruction and moral decay taking place throughout

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Approximate Word count = 2000
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)