All Quiet On the Western Front

2 Pages 458 Words

Essay on All Quiet on the Western Front

“War is hell” is a blunt but true way to describe all wars. This statement portrays
Paul Baumer’s true feelings pertaining to the gruesome experiences he encountered
through the duration of the war, when he was alive. For Paul Baumer a German soldier
in World War II, war was more than hell. It changed, and ultimately ended his life at a
young age. In All Quiet on the Western Front Paul Expresses this idea by stating, “I am
young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and
fatuous superficially cast over an abyss of sorrow...” Paul went through hell for years.
Not only did Paul have to deal with the vivid images of shooting and stabbing
human beings that he didn’t know, he had to cope with everyday issues. For example, his
fights with Himmelstoss, his struggle to get food when he’s out fighting, and the fact that
his mother is at home ill. He deals with his fellow soldiers dying, and the fact that it
could be him dying at any moment.
In a sensitive state Paul realizes that the men he kills are human beings just like
him. When he comes in contact with the prisoners he says, “It is strange to see these
enemies of ours so close up. They have faces that make one think-” (author, 190.)
Knowing that you have no personal issues with the people you have to kill day in
and day out must be hell. The guilt and permanent memory would seem to be almost
unbearable.
War brings out the vileness in humans. People who seemed to be normal humans
are transformed into animals. This is illustrated by Paul when he states, “We have
become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation.”(author,
113)
Contrary to the usual war novels, or movies in All Quiet on the Western Front
we’re introduced to the soldiers on a more personal level. We get some insight to what
they’re living, and get to know them, an...