All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque Essay

If one looks at propaganda posters from World War I and II, one often sees an ugly portrayal of the enemy leader, stereotypical portrayals of enemy citizens, or heroic depictions of men from one’s home country followed by motivational text. Despite the obvious fallacies that are being used, scare tactics are great methods of promoting nationalism within a country. Propaganda posters and media were widespread during both World Wars, within both opposing powers. To unite the people of a country, it is necessary to invoke a sense of nationalism into them. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the schoolmaster Kantorek drilled into his students’ heads poems and pretty ideas about nationalism and eventually convinced them to enlist in Germany’s†¦show more content†¦Censorship to promote nationalism and reduce internal conflict is important in any war, because no country can fight another country if it’s busy fighting itself. Internal conflict suddenly shi fts the focus from a foreign enemy to that of one’s neighbor. Though military backing was optimal, so was the backing of the people. As seen on World War propaganda posters, the war effort did not solely take place on the front. Women were encouraged to work in manufacturing, and all citizens were encouraged to save food and buy war bonds. Their tainted view of other countries resulted solely from propaganda, and if Allied citizens knew that citizens of the Central or Axis powers were humans exactly like themselves, they would not bother supporting the war effort. This would have stopped the Allied forces from countering the Central Powers in WWI, and the Axis Powers in WW2. Similar to the military, citizens must not be introduced to antiwar material in the midst of wartime in order to ensure their support. Citizens who are given too much information, as with with the Vietnam War. During the â€Å"Unpopular War,† American citizens were able to tune into the war from their television sets, and soon protested US involvement, and demanded the war end. Since then, the government has taken special care to make s ure that their mistake is not repeated. Making sure that the people of a country are not properly informed is a vital task of theShow MoreRelatedAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1714 Words   |  7 PagesAll Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque is a narrative describing World War I from a German soldier s perspective. The story is narrated by Paul Baà ¼mer and predominantly revolves around the experiences of him and his comrades Kemmerich, Katczinsky, Kropp, Mà ¼ller, and Leer. The novel begins with Paul Baà ¼mer and his friends in a cheerful mood as extra rations are being allocated to them due to the missing soldiers. During this event, Baà ¼mer introduces and describes the variousRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1469 Words   |  6 Pagesjoy and happiness in life. Through the experiences that the soldiers encounter, their humanity is compromised. Thus, as war strips soldiers of their innocence, they st art to become disconnected from themselves and others. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque illustrates the negative effects war has on a soldier’s humanity, through his use of Paul’s books and the potato pancakes by revealing the soldiers loss of emotion that causes them to become detached from society. Through theseRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front, By Erich Maria Remarque732 Words   |  3 Pageshistory, war between man has been nearly inevitable. The impact of war has always been devastating on all aspects. However, loss in war is mostly seen within the loss of land, wealth and the numbers of lives lost. There are few accounts of the true losses felt from war, the loss felt by the survivors and the true cost of human life. In the excerpt from All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, illustrates the impact on human life and question what the cost of human life was impacted. WhileRead MoreAll Quiet on the Western Front by Eri ch Maria Remarque800 Words   |  3 Pages All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque was the war novel that changed what ‘war novel’ meant. No longer would war be a fantasy for the growing generation, but a real-life death trap. World War I came with many innovations to warfare: machine guns, poison gases, trench-style warfare. While these technologies were supposed to improve warfare, it made war longer with more casualties. In All Quiet on the Western Front war is not looked up to, it is looked down upon from the perspectiveRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque2100 Words   |  9 Pagesthoughts, feelings and experiences. All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, which takes World War I as background, is the great war novel which talks about the German soldiers extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the hopeless of these soldiers about the â€Å"future† – the time the war woul d have ended. All Quiet on the Western Front is narrated by Paul Bà ¤umer, a twenty-years-old German soldier who fights in the French front in World War I. Paul and his classmatesRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1292 Words   |  6 PagesGermany flourished on the nationalism in the early 1900’s of its people. Ready to encounter an attack at any moment and any time. People forget the decision of war until they are in the flame of its fire. In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque explains his experience of the war in World War 1 through a character Paul Bumer. Bumer was a kind and sensitive man. Back in school he used to write poets. Pual’s Bumer teacher brainwashed him and other students who where his classmatesRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front, By Erich Maria Remarque1655 Words   |  7 Pagessupporting Gandhi’s belief is World War I, which was fought between the Central Powers and Allies and infamous for its d evastating repercussions and savage warfare that occurred from 1914 to 1918. In his historical fiction novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque describes the traumatic and deadly war conditions of WWI from the perspective of a German soldier named Paul Baumer, who provides readers with firsthand insight on war’s atrocious nature. Nonetheless, war’s violence did notRead MoreAll Quiet And The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1249 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superï ¬ cial, I believe we are lost† (Remarque 123). World War I is a tragic event that occurred in 1914 to 1918. Paul Baumer and the rest of the soldiers in the novel of â€Å"All Quiet in the Western Front† by Erich Maria Remarque are lost; they are broken from the fist World War, they don’t know anything aside from War, and they have lost their innocence during the years of matur ation. When the young men heardRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1482 Words   |  6 PagesThe novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a tale about a group of young gentlemen in Germany who decide to join the army, and fight in World War I for their country. The boys become interested in fighting for their country after their schoolmaster informs them about the importance of this war. With much excitement, the young men have high expectations of what they want the war to be like. Throughout the course of the novel, the attitudes and opinions of the boys change asRead MoreAll Is Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1051 Words   |  5 PagesNathan Brown Quarter 2 Book Report American History My second quarter book was called â€Å"All is Quiet on the Western Front† by Erich Maria Remarque. This book as about a man named, Paul Baumer who is fighting for Germany in World War 1. He and a bunch of his friends from high school join an army voluntarily. They heard their teacher (Kantorek) in class giving patriotic speeches. After joining the army, Paul and his friends soon come to a conclusion that joining the army was not what they thought it All Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque Essay My theme is humanity’s need for war. I chose this theme mainly because I thought I could stick to this theme throughout the terms as I enjoy action books especially ones that are based on a true story. I also chose this theme because it is fascinating that war has been around since the beginning of human civilisation to WWI, ‘the war to end all wars’, to WWII (deadliest war of all time) and to present time with conflict in the Middle East. It is thought that 14,500 wars have taken place between 3500 BC and the late 20th century, costing 3.5 billion lives, leaving only 300 years of peace. From reading this data, I became interested in why people start wars and turn to violence. I thought this theme will help me answer this question. Text One: All Quiet on the Western Front Author: Erich Maria Remarque This book fits with the theme because the protagonist, Paul Bà ¤umer, experiences the ‘real’ war in the trenches and feels disillusioned with war. He bitterly comes to terms that what exactly an enemy is. Paul and his friends become aware that the armies on the other side of the front are not their real enemies but are men who control the nations and ‘abandoned’ the young men to the war simply for their own good (to increase their glory, power, status and money). They come to the conclusion that the humanity s need of war solely lies on humanity’s greed. One incident that shows this is when one of Paul’s comrades, Mà ¼ller is killed by a flamethrower. He then realises that theyShow MoreRelatedAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1714 Words   |  7 PagesAll Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque is a narrative describing World War I from a German soldier s perspective. The story is narrated by Paul Baà ¼mer and predominantly revolves around the experiences of him and his comrades Kemmerich, Katczinsky, Kropp, Mà ¼ller, and Leer. The novel begins with Paul Baà ¼mer and his friends in a cheerful mood as extra rations are being allocated to them due to the missing soldiers. During this event, Baà ¼mer introduces and describes the variousRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1469 Words   |  6 Pagesjoy and happiness in life. Through the experiences that the soldiers encounter, their humanity is compromised. Thus, as war strips soldiers of their innocence, they start to become disconnected from themselves and others. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque illustrates the negative effects war has on a soldier’s humanity, through his use of Paul’s books and the potato pancakes by revealing the soldiers loss of emotion that causes them to become detached from society. Through theseRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front, By Erich Maria Remarque732 Words   |  3 Pageshistory, war between man has been nearly inevitable. The impact of war has always been devastating on all aspects. However, loss in war is mostly seen within the loss of land, wealth and the numbers of lives lost. There are few accounts of the true losses felt from war, the loss felt by the survivors and the true cost of human life. In the excerpt from All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, illustrates the impact on human life and question what the cost of human life was impacted. WhileRead MoreAll Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque800 Words   |  3 Pages All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque was the war novel that changed what ‘war novel’ meant. No longer would war be a fantasy for the growing generation, but a real-life death trap. World War I came with many innovations to warfare: machine guns, poison gases, trench-style warfare. While these technologies were supposed to improve warfare, it made war longer with more casualties. In All Quiet on the Western Front war is not looked up to, it is looked down upon from the perspectiveRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque2100 Words   |  9 Pagesthoughts, feelings and experiences. All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, which takes World War I as background, is the great war novel which talks about the German soldiers extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the hopeless of these soldiers about the â€Å"future† – the time the war w ould have ended. All Quiet on the Western Front is narrated by Paul Bà ¤umer, a twenty-years-old German soldier who fights in the French front in World War I. Paul and his classmatesRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1292 Words   |  6 PagesGermany flourished on the nationalism in the early 1900’s of its people. Ready to encounter an attack at any moment and any time. People forget the decision of war until they are in the flame of its fire. In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque explains his experience of the war in World War 1 through a character Paul Bumer. Bumer was a kind and sensitive man. Back in school he used to write poets. Pual’s Bumer teacher brainwashed him and other students who where his classmatesRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front, By Erich Maria Remarque1655 Words   |  7 Pagessupporting Gandhi’s belief is World War I, which was fought between the Central Powers and Allies and infamous for its d evastating repercussions and savage warfare that occurred from 1914 to 1918. In his historical fiction novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque describes the traumatic and deadly war conditions of WWI from the perspective of a German soldier named Paul Baumer, who provides readers with firsthand insight on war’s atrocious nature. Nonetheless, war’s violence did notRead MoreAll Quiet And The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1249 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superï ¬ cial, I believe we are lost† (Remarque 123). World War I is a tragic event that occurred in 1914 to 1918. Paul Baumer and the rest of the soldiers in the novel of â€Å"All Quiet in the Western Front† by Erich Maria Remarque are lost; they are broken from the fist World War, they don’t know anything aside from War, and they have lost their innocence during the years of matur ation. When the young men heardRead MoreAll Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1482 Words   |  6 PagesThe novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a tale about a group of young gentlemen in Germany who decide to join the army, and fight in World War I for their country. The boys become interested in fighting for their country after their schoolmaster informs them about the importance of this war. With much excitement, the young men have high expectations of what they want the war to be like. Throughout the course of the novel, the attitudes and opinions of the boys change asRead MoreAll Is Quiet On The Western Front By Erich Maria Remarque1051 Words   |  5 PagesNathan Brown Quarter 2 Book Report American History My second quarter book was called â€Å"All is Quiet on the Western Front† by Erich Maria Remarque. This book as about a man named, Paul Baumer who is fighting for Germany in World War 1. He and a bunch of his friends from high school join an army voluntarily. They heard their teacher (Kantorek) in class giving patriotic speeches. After joining the army, Paul and his friends soon come to a conclusion that joining the army was not what they thought it