All Quiet on the Western Front

Authors Avatar
All Quiet on the Western Front

The 19th century view of war expressed that it was the most honorable and glorious event that a man could participate in. This romantic viewpoint was quick to change after World War I. In addition, Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front further illustrated the ghastly nature of war. His descriptive writing portrays the graphic details of reality, leaving the readers of the 20th century in shock. Since Remarque was the first author of his time to reveal these lifelike affairs, his novel helped change their perspective of war, forcing them to not want any part of it.

In his novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque utilizes the main character Paul to symbolize the people of the 20th century. Along with his peers, Paul is encouraged by adults to fight in the war, especially by his teacher, Kantorek. Paul knows nothing about war before he enlists and is quickly disgusted to realize his mistake. Remarque writes, "Naturally we couldn't blame Kantorek for this. Where would the world be if one brought every man to book? There were thousands of Kantoreks, all of whom were convinced that they were acting for the best - in a way that cost them nothing" (12). Here, Kantorek symbolizes all the elders who pushed naïve teenagers to enlist because they felt that war was glorious and romantic. The adolescents that followed their directions had trust in them because of their authority. However, the ones who professed enlisting were not the ones who did the actual fighting - they did not witness the cruelness nor live the brutal, soldier life. Remarque continues, "The first bombardment showed us our mistake...We loved our country as much as they; we went courageously into every action; but also we distinguished the false from the true, we had suddenly learned to see" (13). The truth that they learned was that war was not glorious at all, in fact, it was pointless. Correspondingly, the people of the 20th century received this same message after Remarque's book was published.
Join now!


The young soldiers in the novel discuss how the war has taken away their youth. Remarque notes, "We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces...We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in war" (88). The soldiers do not believe that war was right, but they believe in war only because that is the only thing that is real to them. The soldiers lost their youth and future. The war was a wake up call ...

This is a preview of the whole essay