Introduction
There have been several wars that have been fought in the world in the last few centuries. The most prominent of these wars have to be the two World Wars which took place in the first half of the 20th Century. The First World War was fought between 1914 and 1918 while the Second World War took place between 1939 and 1945. War is never good for the society and brings about total chaos, destruction and loss of human life and property. It affects those humans who are the war front greatly and generally damages them psychologically. This is the main idea that the author of “All Quiet the Western Front”. The author shows the damaging effect of war especially on humans. The purpose of the book is to exhibit or illustrate the horrendous nature of the war vividly and disapprove public opinion that war is a romantic and an idealistic activity.
The horrendous and devastating nature and impact of war is told by the author Erich Maria Remarque through the main protagonist Baumer. He is young German boy who is convinced to enlist into the war by his teacher. His teacher tries to convince Baumer of the idealistic nature of the war and how taking an active part in it is essentially a depiction of one’s patriotism and devotion to one’s country. Baumer enlists in the army together with his friends whereby throughout the novel, they witness firsthand the raw and devastating nature of the war and come out at the end of the war as completely changed individuals who have been changed psychologically and emotionally. In enlisting for the war, Baumer and his friends are filled with a lot of enthusiasm because of the mentioned idealization and romanticism that is often associated with war by civilians who have not been at the battle front. However, Baumer and his friend learn the hard way and by the end of it, he is “weary, burnt out, burnout, rootless and without hope” (Remarque 139). Therefore, through Baumer the author shows that contrary to the common thought that war is an ideal and romantic event, it is however horrendous and devastating and has its psychological toll on its most active participants who are the soldiers who it makes completely psychologically damaged and almost inhuman.
The naivety of the young boys in enrolling for the war is perhaps forgivable. As mentioned, most of them had this deluded idea that war was ideal and romantic, and this is what motivated them to enroll in the first place. They had done so with a lot of enthusiasm albeit after the enormous conviction of their teacher. However, it is shown that their ages might have had something to do with it (that is, they were a little immature). Paul states “We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world, and we had to shoot it to pieces. We are not youth any longer” (Remarque 42). The boys are young and have just come from school. The majority do not know what war entails and in fact, most can only rely on the description that they hear at home or read in books. Many of them have, in fact, never been away from their homes and from the onset, it is clear that they are in for a horrid ride. In addition, the boys are seen to be premature in matters of the war as depicted by their sheer enthusiasm for the war. This changes immediately once they are the Western Front where their small and seemingly perfect world comes to a devastating halt. It is no longer about pencils, pens, and books or even about chasing pretty girls in school; it is now about guns and bullets and fighting for one’s life of a daily basis. The boys' innocence is lost overnight. They are forced to be on the lookout for the entire duration that they in the war. Nothing else matters other pure survival. As Paul states, almost everything that they have learnt including “the world of duty, culture, progress and work” are deemed irrelevant at the war front (Remarque 7). It is all about coping with the horrendous and devastating effect of the war as well as its torment (both emotional and psychological) that they now experience firsthand.
As mentioned, the author describes the heavy emotional toll that the war has on its participants like Paul. The author talks about “the terror of death” infesting the solder’s minds and essentially bringing about horrid images of destruction and death until the soldiers completely break down. Paul describes how every minute, every death and every shell cuts right into the soldier’s sanity and basically reduces it as time proceeds. Their sanity is wasted slowly by slowly by the tormenting events including the deaths that they witness at the war front on a daily basis. Under these conditions, it appears that anyone could easily go mad or be completely disillusioned to the point of abandoning their post. It however takes a fully dedicated soldier to effectively persevere and deal with this tormenting emotional abuse. This includes a soldier who is not swayed by sight of death and mutilated body.
With time, Baumer is able to slowly get acclimatized to the conditions of war and its environment. He slowly comes to accept death a normal thing or occurrence as he witnesses his fellow soldiers perish on a daily basis and also witnesses others almost go completely insane due to the emotional abuse that the war environment brings about. He gets used to the idea of coming across dead and mutilated bodies, making a friend and then losing them the next day through the bullet or the bomb of an enemy. Although he is disillusioned, the horrendous nature of the war becomes almost his identity. It’s like he knows nothing else except to wake up, fight for his life and if lucky survive for the day. With time, Baumer cannot even think of anything else. He cannot even recall what his home looks alike, and he is not even sure if he wants to go back. The battle front is essentially his new home and in spite of its graphic nature he becomes slowly used to it.
War becomes accepted as a course of death just like diseases like dysentery and influenza have for long been accepted as normal cause of death (Remarque 129). Throughout the novel, deaths become more frequent progressively. Ina addition, each death is varied and even appears more terrible than the other showing the devastating and horrid nature of the battlefront. To survive this gruesome environment, soldiers have to rid themselves of all thoughts and feelings. This is the only way to survive. A moment to feel and think could be the difference between life and death. This only adds to the emotional damage of the soldiers and their psychological deterioration.
Every human being needs time to feel, think and mourn loved ones or close friends. It is the only way that humans are able to maintain emotional state of mind and be able to strive on with lives normally. At the war front, it is entirely different. There is not time to think, feel or even mourn a colleague. Doing so is viewed as a distraction that could ultimately end up in one’s death, Baumer and his friends come to learn his the hard way. Baumer emotions, as well as those of his fellow soldiers, essentially become buried to the ground with the soldiers who have fallen victim or prey to this ground. The psychological nature of the soldiers, therefore, takes a complete U-turn whereby it becomes almost as if they do not care any more about anything apart from fighting and surviving. In spite of the fact that they are alive and breathing, they can almost be said to be talking zombies. Paul Baumer is one of these individuals. He slowly adopts a demeanor of dullness whereby he completely removes any element of feelings or attachment. It is accurate to deduce that this detachment from human emotions or feeling is what protects him from going completely mad and crazy, for instance, when he witnesses a butchered friend or a slaughtered comrade. This attitude and demeanor can be said to be motivated by a willingness to live. All the soldiers want to conserve their lives and generally survive the war. The author writes that “every expression of life must serve one purpose and one purpose only, preservation of existence, and he is absolutely focused on that” (Remarque 129). Therefore, it is easy to conclude that the preservation of his life is dependent on the death of his feelings and his emotions. He sacrifices this in order to stay alive. He takes no time to mourn friends and is unmoved by the sight of dead and mutilated body at the battle front.
The other horrid and graphic of the war environment is revealed by the uncertainty of death. Throughout the book, it is increasingly shown that none of the soldiers’ life is guaranteed the next day. Life at the battle front is the perfect definition of “living at the edge”. This indeed seems like a very dangerous kind of life.
Each soldier faces the uncertainty of dying almost on every single day. Death could come in the next bullet m the next shell, the next grenade and so on. Baumer is well aware of this and to him; he knows death is always prepared to take what he values the most and what he has sacrificed almost everything else to maintain, and this is his life. This fear of death comes to consume him and guide almost his every action. For example, it is written that even when he looks right into the eyes of the enemy, he does not really see a man but rather sees death. It is either he takes care of death or death will take of him. It does not matter the background or even the family life of this enemy. He is seen as just that, an enemy who is synonymous with death. The only way to deal with the situation is to kill him before he kills one. This is seen as the only tactic to survive.
There is no time to feel compassion for the enemy soldier. An enemy soldier will take even the slightest delay to kill an individual and, therefore, on has to act first if he is to preserve their own life and not allow the enemy to take theirs. This is attitude that Baumer and many of the other soldiers adopt.
Killing an enemy soldier signifies overcoming death at least by a small margin. Therefore, the sight of the enemy is seen as an opportunity to reduce one’s chances of death by a significant margin. This is once again a depiction of psychological effect that war has on its subject. It completely changes the thoughts of the soldiers, and they completely cease seeing things the way that normal people see things. The fear of life causes them to see death at every corner. Consequently, they must take every action possible to prevent death from getting to them first. It, therefore, appears that the fear of death guides every soldier’s action at the battle front. As explained earlier, it appears the preservation of one’s life is dependent on the death of one’s emotions. In addition, it is hereby shown that the preservation of one’s life is also dependent on another aspect or factor, and this is the death of the enemy. The enemy is seen as a completely different man and almost non-human by the soldiers.
At the same time, however, it is good to acknowledge that the soldier seems to be very well aware of the emotional and mental deterioration that the war has brought on them. Baumer is perhaps the perfect depiction of this. He is completely aware of just how much he has become alienated from the rest of the society. He associates with his fellow soldiers and reckons that they have essentially become “wild beasts” (Remarque 54). He also reckons that at this time, it is virtually impossible for them to relate to an individual, who has not taken part in a war, and he says that it would be impossible to understand such men.
Conclusion
Works Cited
Remarque, E. M. All quiet on the western front. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co.1929.
