Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

War is the exploitation of men’s weaknesses, whether it be by the wrongdoing of the enemy or oneself. The major theme within All Quiet on the Western Front is conflict, which all men must battle through to survive the war. The psychological, natural, physical, and emotional conflicts expressed in war either creates the man or kills the boy. Battling these conflicts takes most of all man’s strength to survive, then save enough to endure war itself .

The psychological viewpoint of war can either make or break a man's will or spirit. Seeing chaos and destruction wash through the minds of men. “Stacked up against its longer side is a high double wall of yellow, unpolished, brand-new coffins…That’s for us.”(Remarque 99) The focus on how the people already know that they are going to die just rattles the mind of the men. “We seen men living with their skulls blown open, we see soldiers run with their two feet cut off, they stagger on their splinter stumps.”(Remarque 134) Seeing these acts of war send most men crazy. The recruits of war grow mad and insensible. Officers have to beat their own troops to save them from leaving the trenches, from …show more content…
The intensity of the commanders and the raw nature of war tops the charts for physical. Between the beating of troops to keep them in line and the crawling through trenches the physical intensity of war can be unbearable. Shrapnel from grenades and artillery immobilize most men, including the main character Paul. In the story many men in hospitals are sent to Dying Rooms. “There are two beds in it. It is generally called the Dying Room.” (Remarque 257) There and in the real war men were worked upon without anesthesia and usually pass out or die from the surgery. The lacerations and amputations made the physical side of war very catastrophic. Leaving behind mixed emotions with the purpose of it and the death of

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Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front