A Response to All Quiet on the Western Front

Part One

Erich Remarque writes his novel, All is Quiet on the Western Front, with an authentic and intimate point of view. When the First World War broke out, the rising senses of nationalism amongst the Great Powers infused their even more powerful senses of militarism. All of a sudden, across the continent of Europe, war, battle and being a military hero were glorified beyond any realistic conception. The soon, rapid expansion of their militaries would result in many young men, including Remarque himself, joining their military with great enthusiasm. For these future soldiers their misconceptions of what was really to occur, was no fantasy like it was made out to be. Remarque uses his novel to express his deep and personal declaration that “death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it” (Remarque, 1928, p. 0).

 One of the hardships, or “non-adventures”, that narrator and main character Paul Baumer has to face is the death of his lifelong friend, Franz Kemmerich. Baumer and Kemmerich had enlisted with the same enthusiasm and eagerness as previously explained, but not long after they were deployed, there lay Kemmerich certain for death in a dressing-room. At that point, Baumer describes his friends: “Under the skin life no longer pulses, it has already pressed out of the boundaries of the body. Death is working its way through from within. It already has command in the eyes” (Remarque, 1928, p. 14).

Until that point Baumer had no memories of Kimmerich other than the fun filled innocence of the short 19 years they had both been alive. Kimmerich, who was once a young man full of life and promise, now:

….only weeps, his head turned aside. He does not speak of his mother or his brothers and sisters. He says nothing; all of that lies behind him; he is entirely alone now with his little life of nineteen years, and cries because it leaves him. (Remarque, 1928, p. 31)

            Baumer later goes on to describe his experience with the death of Kimmerich as “the most disturbing and hardest parting that I have ever seen” (Remarque, 1928, p. 31).

Having to accept that one of your best child-hood friends is lying and waiting to die, I imagine, is no adventure. The eager soldiers joined the war awaiting their hero’s welcome, and  instantly underwent a mental and emotional transformation by witnessing the slow death of a beloved friend. However, it was not just their friend; death was all around them. They knew nothing of its sight, smell, or feel. Still, they quickly learned, as they are hardened by watching fellow friends/comrades suffer unthinkable tragedies. Some become so sad while hearing grown men pierce the air with their cries and calls for their mothers as they lay helplessly a mangled heap of what was once a body. Baumer talks about their new selves becoming “hard, suspicious, pitiless, vicious, and tough” (Remarque, 1928, p.26). Remarque is able to make it quite clear that, where as some see war as this glorious adventure, those who endure it would never wish it on their worst enemies.

Part Two

The fact that war is said to still require “boots on the ground,” is not a shocking claim. War itself is a very personal affair. There is an uncanny satisfaction that leaders receive when they watch destruction and victory with the bare hands of man. There is nothing so personal as being face to face with the enemy on the field. The technology of modern war may be new school, with “smart bombs” and new land/air crafts, but the beliefs of a military are just as old school as ever. Militarism and nationalism exist just as strongly as they did in the years of WWI (1914-1918). War is just as glorified now as it was then. An enormous sense of pride is felt in fighting for your country (rightfully so); not having an unreliable machine do it. It is up to the people to defend the land, and the good name of their country’s flag. There will always be showing off of new weapons and stronger forces. People are always looking to see who has the bigger guns. No one has the money to mass produce fighting machines. Unfortunately, it is still believed it is “cheaper” to throw the people in to be sacrificed in battle. I mean, after all people are just meaningless and endless, right?

           

References:

Remarque, Erich. (1928). All Quiet on the Western Front.