All Quiet on the Western Front

In Erich Remarque's novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, World War I is experienced for the readers, by Paul Baumer, a young German soldier who has been placed in the front lines of the French Front during the Great War. We learn more of Baumer's life, his friends, passions, failures, and aspirations, than of a heroic tale, or historical interpretation of what the war must have been like for an average man living in the trenches. What Remarque wishes to illustrate, is the individualism that follows everybody into the war. The author, through presenting aspects of Baumer's story, and of his comrades, shows the degradation of humanity that comes with being exposed to what the men are exposed to. The death and chaos that Remarque uses as his setting, greatly portrays that this war is an experience that changes fundamental aspects of Baumer's life. Through providing glimpses into Baumer's past life, the brutality of life in the trenches, and rendezvouses with the outside world, Remarque shows that Paul will never be able to regain an innocence that he once had. All he knows, is war, because war has stripped him to his core instincts, made him born again into a world of violence. Remarque jumps around from event to event, in a way that is quite unsuspected. He implements certain areas of Baumer's life at certain times, to show how war slowly kills him. Remarque wishes to get cross a broader message as well. Just as Paul is killed, both mentally and physically by the war, Remarque shows that this is the same for all of the soldiers, both Germans and French. Remarque sites this when Paul flees to a mortar hole, and another Frenchman jumps in as well, not with the intent to harm or kill anybody, but simply to escape the hell that everybody is facing. The overall impact of this book warns of the degradation of war. Paul is but a story, one of many millions facing the same life. It's hardening to read, but offers a reminder as to why an alternative to this war would have been necessary, to save those men, not only from physical death, but a death caused by utter despair.