The hatred that is not quiet.
In Remarque's "All quiet on the Western Front", the main character
Paul Baumer who is 18 years old, is sent to the front to fight for his
homeland, Germany. He and his friends go through a spectrum of typical war
expiriences: the deaht of a comrad, the terror of shelling, the abuse by
their
officers, etc. Remarque as well as Paul hates everything about the war: its
meaninglessness, the lives of young people that it destroys or the innocent
people that it kills. Throughout the whole book, the author conveys this
hatred in many different ways.
The most common way Remarque shows his hatred is by using the
plot of the novell itself. He offen does this by describing the death of
Paul's
close friends or by describing the sickness of his mother. A good example
of
this technique is the death of Paul's friend Kemmerich. It can be felt how
terrible the death of innocent people is while reading Kemmerich's response
to Paul convincing him that he will survive the operation -- "I don't think
so"
(p.30). The reader starts to realize how stupid the war is if it allows
people
like Kemmerich to die. All of these strong emotions are expressed by
Remarque in the plot.
Another way of displaying hatred is by actually describing the
shellings, the destroyed villages and the hundreds of dead bodies left on
the
battlefield. "The dull thud of gas-shells mingles with the crashes of the
high
explosives. A bell sounds between the explosions, gongs and metal clappen
warning everyone - Gas - Gas - Gaas",(p.65). The horrors of the war which
some people say can't be described, are visualized in this sentence to
precise
details, and so creating a setting that speaks for itself. Even without any
plot
and characters it would still be as terryfying and would still show
Remarque's hate.
Remarque's style is also very important in describing his hatred.
His
style is actually a mix of many different styles. He uses a lot of
figurative
languahe and many sodier jargon words, which help the reader to understand
the soldiers life better. Remarque is a very discriptive and poetic writer.
"The
flesh melts, the forehead bulges more prominently, the cheekbones protrude
(p.31). Remarque uses a lot of this kind of descriptions which produces a
lot
more impact on the reader and gives the events in the plot a lot more
importance.
Remarque also uses his own life expiriences in the novell. The book
produces much more impact on the reader after he knows that a considerable
amount of it is true and autobiographic. Remarque uses an episode from his
own life to describe Kemmerich's death. "Muller explains that he has a
flesh
wound in his thigh" (p.14) This sentence has much more impact on the
reader, because after knowing that this episode is autobiographical the
reader
undestands that these things do happen in real life, they are not a myth
and
are not exagerated by the author.
Remarque was one of the first people to speak out against war. He
was
the first who spoke openly, who showed that war is nothing to be proud of,
who showed that war kills... but not the people who started it. It kills
innocent young people who don't even know the purpose of war. Remarque's
anti-war novell became one of the best ones if not the best one. It showed
to
those who didn't fight how horrible and uncivilized the war is.
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