All Quiet On the Western Front (Reaction Essay)
Uploaded by tauseef on Oct 16, 2002
Everyday Life of a Typical Soldier in World War I as Portrayed in “All Quiet on the Western Front”
“All Quiet on the Western Front” is an anti war movie, written by Erich Maria Remarque, a German soldier who fought in World War I. In 1914 when the Great War started in Europe, people rejoiced with pride and honor for their respective countries, but they didn’t know how harsh a war is for a typical soldier. The war was to be fought for pride, but it turned out to be devastating and harsh for an ordinary soldier. *thesis* World War I was influential to a typical soldier as it brought, tougher situations in the trenches, different feelings for other soldiers, and harsh environmental experiences. *thesis*
At the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to a group of young boys, who will set an example of how they are influenced by the war. Every young boy is taught to fight against the enemy and make their country proud. These lessons are given almost everyday by their teachers and elders, who have never experienced a war in their lives. The young boys have various aims in their life and think that war is useless and waste of time. Although these boys have different ambitions, they are forced to join the army to serve their country and make their elders feel proud.
Then these boys are shifted to the training camp. Training is described to be very harsh and difficult for these inexperienced young boys and teachers give harsh punishments for little mistakes. This training is not the actual preparation for the war, because the people who are giving the training have never experienced a war at front. The tutors are seen as strict, cruel and strong, although some of them are really scared of war. The training has to be given very quickly because there are more people waiting to be trained. Every soldier has to go through this harsh training and make himself tougher for the war. After the training is finished these boys are moved to the front to help other soldiers in fighting the war.
When it is time to leave, these boys realize that war is not a game; it is real life with real people. They see millions of people coming back from the front. Some are injured and some are dead, which gives them the idea of how destructive...