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All Quiet on the Western Front: An Anti-War Film

2004-11-28T23:27:22-05:00

All Quiet on the Western Front is a film about a group of friends who enlist in the army. Through their service, these boys understand what war is really like. The film shows how bad war is before the boys are even fighting. The class is shown going through a terrible training exercise where they have to lay down in mud and run. When it is time to leave, the boys get a view of injured people coming back from the front line. One of the first things that scare the soldiers is the sound of the horses and watching them die. The rats are another problem. They feed on the dead bodies and there is even a shot in the film where the soldiers kill a bunch of rats. Another thing is the young children. The children keep getting younger and younger and are barely trained and die from the gases. The largest anti-war scene is when Paul gets lost from his group and hides in a crater. Paul has to kill a Frenchman, but he does not kill him completely and the Frenchman is left to die. Paul is upset and tries to save him. He becomes emotional and says a speech, “Forgive me comrade, they want us to fight, but they never want us to know the enemy. If we threw away our weapons we could be brothers.” He realizes that soldiers are just killing machines being ordered around by their superiors. Another scene is when the soldiers visit the hospital. People are coming and going so fast, they never seem to have enough beds for people to be in. Many are brought to the ‘dying room’, where they are left to die. When Paul returns home, his father doesn’t want him leaving without him being in his uniform, but Paul doesn’t want to because he doesn’t want to be seen as a killing machine. Paul’s statistics about the war also show the movie is anti-war. Out of the 20 kids that graduated together, 13 were killed, 4 were missing, 1 in a mad house and 2 were alive: 1 injured, 1 ok. This brings Paul to smoking, a habit he rejected before the war. All Quiet on the Western Front is an anti-war

All Quiet On the Western Front (Reaction Essay)

2002-10-16T14:00:00-04:00

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

All Quiet on the Western Front – Is it an Anti-War Film?

2001-11-09T13:00:00-05:00

All Quiet on the Western Front is based on a book by a German soldier who fought in World War 1. It follows the fate of a group of boys who joined in 1915. The main hero of the film is Paul Balmer and we see the world through his eyes. In my essay I will use scenes to prove that this is an anti-war film. One of the main themes of the film is the fact that people who weren’t fighting didn’t really know what it was like to fight in the trenches. Especially the old people encourage the young soldiers to fight; they are all desperate to be fighting and are quite jealous of their juniors. At the start of the film we are introduced to the group of boys and we find them in a class. Their teacher is encouraging them to join up to the army and how that they would be doing the German fatherland proud. And when Paul comes home from the front because of his injury all that people talk about is the war. When he wants to go out, his father wants him to go in his uniform but he doesn’t want to go because he doesn’t want to be a killing machine any more he wants to be a normal person. When he does go out all people speak about is the war. When the class does sign up they have to go through a terrible training exercise. The conditions are terrible and they have to crawl through mud and run for miles. They are taught to fight as a team and to be taught discipline. All this training doesn’t really prepare the soldiers for the harsh reality of the front line. When it is time to leave, at the train station, the truth of war starts to become apparent to the young naive boys. They get a view of the injured people coming back from the front line. This shattered the idea they had that war was a game and that it was real life with real people. When they do arrive they understand what the war is about. One of the first things that gets the soldiers is the sound of the horses. When the shells got fired they were landing near the horse and severely injuring someone of them. This made the horses screech and make a horrible sound as they died. This really

All Quiet On the Western Front

2001-06-28T14:00:00-04:00

The novel All Quiet On The Western Front contains many incidents where the readers can hold characters responsible for their actions, however his novel in particular relates to the clash of values. Though fictional this novel by Erich Maria Remarque, presents vast detail through the conflicts at the Western Front. Corporal Himmelstoss a character in the novel is portrayed as a stereotypical military man, whose actions, when all's said and done, speaks for itself as the reader really does not question his iniquitous behaviour. However, apart from just the reader holding such characters morally accountable for their actions the novel concerns the rejection of traditional values, Paul’s disillusionment, and life opposed to death. Through such clashing of values, Remarque creates a confronting novel where the plot is for the most part articulated around values in conflict. The stereotypical stance of Corporal Himmelstoss, a military officer, is presented as a physically undersized man who wears a waxed moustache, which ideally supports the many defiant occasions where he disheartens the young soldiers. Throughout the novel where he is sent into the trenches we accept his role of breaking the spirits of the young soldiers. However, we understand why Paul and Albert Kropp take revenge beating him up. It is through these instances where the reader can almost understand a character through his right and wrong actions. Remarque’s inclusion of such scenes in the novel acts out the bitter anger and disillusionment of the young soldiers. The constant close companion of death besides Paul and his friends provides such clashing of values. Throughout the novel Paul never really recalls their opponents, the allies, as enemies. We also hardly see the other side other than the time where they took on the French militia; infact it would be appropriate to conclude that their real enemy in the war was the enemy Death. Every soldier in the war wasn’t innocently fighting for his country in an attempt to win, soldiers were fighting in order to survive death – it is only the fact that chance and luck kept them going. Paul and his friends could not comprehend that World War One was simply fought due to some document signed by each side’s respective leaders. These events allow readers to follow through that novel above all was concerned with values of life against death, and peace against war. Perhaps Remarque’s intended theme at the start of the novel

All Quiet On the Western Front - Two People in Two Worlds

2001-04-15T14:00:00-04:00

People engage in wars for different reasons. Some for nationalism, many for what is right, and still others do not even know why they fight. In the books, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, two different people fight for different causes yet have a common bond. Both Okonkwo and Paul Baumer find their identity through defending the dignity and honor of those around them. Paul is caught in WWI fighting to prove his loyalty to his country. Amidst the war, he struggles to find meaning in the new image he has become. In the beginning, their teacher persuades everyone in the class to enlist in the military to fight the glorious war. Thinking this is an honorable idea, everyone joins, even those who secretly fear the battlefield. However, in certainty, they are forced into volunteering; “Territorial Kantorek, two years ago you preached us into enlisting; and among us there was one, Joseph Behm, who didn’t want to enlist. He was killed three months before he would have been called up in the ordinary way. If it had not been for you he would have lived just that much longer” (174). Their schoolmaster, Kantorek fills their heads up with views of nationalism, the belief that one's country is all that matters. Some students even have pressure from their parents to enlist. Not enlisting is like turning their back on their own country. To the teachers, schoolmasters, and older men, going to war is the best thing a man could do for his country. However, in reality, Paul and his friends do not want to kill or be killed. One of Paul’s friend says, “No one in particular wants it, and then all at once there it is. We didn’t want the war, the others say the same thing- and yet half the world is in it all the same” (206). The young group of soldiers concludes that they are trapped fighting in war for the desires of generals and rulers wanting fame. Although none of them want to fight, patriotism to one’s own country overrules the sense. In combat and fighting in action, Paul, “…see[s] how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently; innocently slay one another” (263). Baumer, a soldier, merely follows instructions. He has no say, no opinion whatsoever, and whatever ideas he has, is to

All Quiet On The Western Front

2000-11-20T13:00:00-05:00

All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Delbert Mann, is based on the novel written by Erich Maria Remarque. It tells the story of a German schoolboy, Paul Baumer, and a group of his classmates, who journey from fantasies of heroic glory to the real horror of actual soldiering. Their journey is a coming of age tale that centers on the consternation of war and emphasizes the moral, spiritual, emotional, and physical deterioration suffered by the young soldiers. Paul Baumer is a 19-year-old volunteer to the German army during World War I. He and his classmates charge fresh out of high school into military service, hounded by the nationalist ranting of a feverish schoolmaster, Kantorek. Though not all of them want to enlist, they do so in order to save face. Their first stop is boot camp, where life is still laughter and games. “Where are all the medals?” asks one. “Just wait a month and I’ll have them,” comes the boisterous response. This is their last vestige of boyhood. War slowly begins to strip away the ideals these boy-men once cherished. Their respect for authority is torn away by their disillusionment with their schoolteacher, Kantorek who pushed them to join. This is followed by their brief encounter with Corporal Himmelstoss at boot camp. The contemptible tactics that their superior officer Himmelstoss perpetrates in the name of discipline finally shatters their respect for authority. As the boys, fresh from boot camp, march toward the front for the first time, each one looks over his shoulder at the departing transport truck. They realize that they have now cast aside their lives as schoolboys and they feel the numbing reality of their uncertain futures. After their first two days of fighting, they return to their bunker, where they find neither safety nor comfort. A grizzled veteran, Kat, suggests these ‘fresh-faced boys’ should return to the classroom. The war steals their spiritual belief in the sanctity of human life with every man that they kill. This is best illustrated by Paul’s journey from anguish to rationalization of the killing of Gerard Duval; the printer turned enemy who leaps into the shell-hole already occupied by Paul. Paul struggles with the concept of killing a “brother”, not the enemy. He weeps despondently as war destroys his emotional being. War destroys Paul and his friends. Those who physically survive the bombing, the bullets and bayonets are annihilated

All Quiet on the Western Front

2000-10-22T14:00:00-04:00

Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel set in World War I, centers around the changes brought by the war onto one young German soldier. During his time in the war, Remarque’s protagonist, Paul Baumer, changes from a rather innocent romantic young man to a hardened and somewhat caustic veteran. The story also focuses on the lives of Baumer’s comrades. They all begin by patriotically marching off to join the army. However, their visions of the glories of war are soon swept away with horror as true friends die in the battlefield. The soldiers go in fresh from school, knowing nothing except the environment of hopeful youth. At nineteen and twenty, they come to a premature and distorted maturity with the war...their only home. Throughout the length of the novel, Paul learns of the hardship war brings. He learns the destructiveness of war. During the course of his experience with war, Baumer disaffiliates himself from those societal icons--parents, elders, school, and religion--that had been the foundation of his pre-enlistment days, in order to mature. His new society, then, becomes the company, his fellow trench soldiers. They are a group who understands the truth as Baumer has experienced it. A period of leave when he visits his hometown is disastrous for Baumer because he realizes that he can not communicate with the people on the home front. His military experiences and the home front settlers’ limited, or nonexistent, understanding of the war do not allow for a discussion. When he arrives home and greetings are exchanged, he realizes immediately that he has nothing to say to his mother. “ We say very little and I am thankful that she asks nothing” (Ch. 7 P.141). The fact that he does not wish to speak with his parents shows Baumer’s movement away from the traditional institution of the family. His mother finally speaks to him and asks, “ was it very bad out there, Paul?” (Ch.7 P. 143) However, Baumer cannot respond to his mother’s question: he understands that the experiences he has had are so overwhelming that “ civilian language”, or any language at all, would be ineffective in describing them. Trying to replicate the experience and horrors of the war via words is impossible, Baumer realizes this and so he lies, and is able to restore his family’s faith in him. Any attempt at telling the truth would, in fact,

All Quiet on the Western Front

1999-09-11T14:00:00-04:00

Nationalism can be defined as having a sense of belonging and loyalty to ones country or nation state. Of all the European nations, France was the first to sport the idea of nationalism. Many countries became influenced by the French's ideas of nationalism. As a result nationalism had spread throughout out Europe by the nineteenth and twentieth century. One result that nationalism had on Europe was, the wanting of unification. The people of nation states wanted their country to belong to. This wanting lea d to the unifying of Italy and Germany. Soon nationalism had increased the people's confidence, and a feeling of imperialism ran through the unified countries. Unified countries such as France, Germany, Russia wanted to extend their empires. But this Imperialism in Europe led to many conflicts between countries. All this Conflict eventually resulted in the beginning of World War I The causes of World War I were the intense nationalism that dominated Europe throughout the 19th and into the 20th century, and the establishment of large armies in Europe after 1871. Imperialism created a rivalry between nations and empires. The build up of armies and navies created fear between nations. France feared Germany, Germany feared Russia, Austria-Hungary and Russia rivalled around Balkans, Britain feared German's expanding navy, Slovakia wanted to free Slavian land from Astria-Hungary's oppression. Italy was jealous of French and English colonies in Africa. Ottoman Empire struggled to survive in a hostile climate. Germany signed a secret alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy, thus creating a Triple Alliance. France and Russia signed an Entente agreement which was later signed by Britain, thus creating Triple Entante. Then Europe was divided into hostile camps. During this time nationalism had caused a glorified view of the war. These views showed how inexperienced the people of Europe were in warfare. In Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front, we can see that even though this glorious view contradicted the Germans soldiers' expectations, they still stayed loyal. In the Beginning of the novel we read that Paul Baumer and his classmates had volunteered to enlist in the war. But they were forced in to volunteering. Their school master Kantorek had filled their heads up with views of nationalism which glorified the war. Some students were even under the pressure of their parents to enlist. Not enlisting would be like turning your back on your country. To the teachers

All Quiet on the Western Front

1999-04-08T14:00:00-04:00

Paul Bäumer, the narrator and protagonist in All Quiet on the Western Front, is a character who develops extensively within the course of the novel. As a young man, he is persuaded to join the German Army during World War I. This three year ordeal is marked by Paul's short, but tragic trek into adulthood as he learns to cope with the trials and tribulations of war. In the wake of a struggle which claims millions, Paul loses his precious innocence as he is further isolated from society and engulfed by bloodshed. Paul's evolution throughout the novel is a result of his having to adapt in order to survive. Paul's experiences in combat shatter his former misconceptions of war; consequently, he gains the ability to reflect on events with his own accord. His naive ideas are severely challenged when he first witnesses the ugly truth of war. "The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke in pieces"(13). Paul's first engagement in combat reveals that everything he was taught as a young recruit are lies; consequently, he can now form his own conclusions. Through the ongoing course of the war, Paul comes to grips with the reality of the situation. "They are strong and our desire is strong-but they are unattainable, and we know it"(121). Paul realizes that the soldiers former lives are all but distant memories. His maturing personality gives him the insight to see past the facade of war and expose it for what it truly is. Paul loses his innocence and childhood during the war; as a result, he becomes a man. When Paul and his companions encounter some French women, they exchange food for sexual intercourse. "We unwrap our parcels and hand them over to the women. Their eyes shine, it is obvious they are hungry"(148). Through this transaction, Paul uses the women as an outlet for his sexual urges. Shortly after this rendezvous, Paul receives a leave of absence; however, he finds it difficult to leave the war behind. "Speak to me - take me up - take me, Life of my Youth - you who are care-free, beautiful - receive me again - "(172). Paul can no longer conjure up the feelings of happiness which accompanied his youth, in essence his childhood is lost. The war has stripped Paul of his innocence and

All Quiet on the Western Front

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

The remains of Paul Baumer's company had moved behind the German front lines for a short rest at the beginning of the novel. After Behm became Paul's first dead schoolmate, Paul viewed the older generation bitterly, particularly Kantorek, the teacher who convinced Paul and his classmates to join the military, feeling alone and betrayed in the world that they had left for him. Paul's generation felt empty and isolated from the rest of the world due to the fact that they had never truly established any part of themselves in civilian life. At boot camp, Himmelstoss abused Paul and his friends, yet the harassment only brought them closer together and developed a strong spirit amongst them. Katczinsky, or Kat, was soon shown to be a master scavenger, being able to provide the group with food or virtually anything else; on this basis Paul and him grew quite close. Paul's unit was assigned to lay barbed wire on the front line, and a sudden shelling resulted in the severe wounding of a recruit that Paul had comforted earlier. Paul and Kat again strongly questioned the War. After Paul's company were returned to the huts behind the lines, Himmelstoss appeared and was insulted by some of the members of Paul's unit, who were then only mildly punished. During a bloody battle, 120 of the men in Paul's unit were killed. Paul was given leave and returned home only to find himself very distant from his family as a result of the war. He left in agony knowing that his youth was lost forever. Before returning to his unit, Paul spent a little while at a military camp where he viewed a Russian prisoner of war camp with severe starvation problems and again questioned the values that he had grown up with contrasted to the values while fighting the war. After Paul returned to his unit, they were sent to the front. During an attack, Paul killed a French soldier. After discovering that this soldier had a family, Paul was deeply shattered and vowed to prevent other such wars. Paul's unit was assigned to guard a supply depot of an abandoned village, but he and Kropp were soon wounded when trying to escape from the village. Paul headed back to the front, only to engage in final battles where all of his friends were killed. The death of Kat was particularly hard for