All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque Book Analysis

Soldiers train strenuously, putting tougher precise plans that benefit their country. After departing for horrid conditions and battles, soldiers are left with horrific memories that affect their lives forever. Not only are the brave men and women left with the trauma, but the families of the veterans suffer beside them. War changes a person inside and outside and many never recover. Many soldiers never return, but the ones that suffer from atrocious injuries can lead to disease, sepsis, and even death. “Diseases such as tuberculosis...asthma...heart conditions...trench foot...” (Atenstaedt).

In the book All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque writes about a group of friends enduring the toughest of obstacles and life at war. “To tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war” (Remarque). In World War One, soldiers were presented with trenches, rats, disease, and extreme hunger. The book All Quiet On The Western Front gives you an understanding of how men lost their lives, memories, and relationships through the eyes of Paul Bäumer. At eighteen, Paul and his peers enlist in the army because of their persecuting school teacher, Kantorek. Paul emphasizes this point when he says, “the first death [they] saw shattered [their] belief” (Remarque 12). Paul loses his childhood innocence and transitions to adulthood. 

Remarque's book, All Quiet On The Western Front, discusses the loss of friends, memories, and new or existing trauma. Paul experiences terrifying situations that cause guilt and remorse among others. He can’t beat the dreadful war zone, “Paul sees and hears a hundred sounds and images in his mind: his mother's voice, Russians, wire fences, dead bodies” (Remarque 206). War destroys a human being that nobody can ever imagine, yet many people go through it. One soldier went through an episode of claustrophobia, and the soldiers had to become forceful. Exhausted, starving, and shell-shocked, the young man is trying to stay awake. “His reason destroyed by falling shells, he rams his head against a wall” (Remarque 125). Torn off legs, missing eyes is not the only thing the soldiers worry about. Surprise gas attacks take them off their feet and ruin their chances for survival. “For example, a buildup of fluid in the lungs known as Pulmonary Edema was the leading cause of death in WWI” (Patton). Dying from gas was a long and painful way to go that couldn't be reversed; “Their condition is hopeless. They choke to death with hemorrhages and suffocation” (Remarque 131). 

The first of May was a life-changing day for my grandfather, Ralph Yellowthunder. He was a young and brave soldier in the Vietnam War in 1967. Ralph suffered through the worst of the war and returned home with missing body parts. During active combat, my grandfather got shot in the forearm and left with a hole in his arm. The war took a toll on his body, “after it hit me, it was all a blur” (Yellowthunder). He crawled to safety with half an arm and laid in silence. Ralph explains the horror when being in no-man's-land, and the atrocious combat fighting that took place. To make sure the enemy was dead, the Vietnamese would stab soldiers in the stomach and leave them for dead. “They left me for dead, they stabbed me in the stomach and sliced my organs” (Yellowthunder). He crawled back to base camp with no abdomen and half a right arm. Ralph spent one year in the hospital, hoping and praying for a speedy recovery. He doesn't talk about the war much, but when he does, we listen with full and undivided attention. The giant eight feet long snakes, rotting corpses, and rats resulted in PTSD in my grandfather. My Dad told me a story, and it was about a topic that needs to be talked about more. Ralph went paintballing with my dad and uncle, not thinking it would simulate war. Someone shot at him, and terrifying memories of war came about and his PTSD was revealed. I am thankful he can cope with his memories and talk about them with us in such a manner that will leave us thinking. 

Twenty-year-old Mike Troyer was drafted into the Vietnam war in 1967. Mike can recall certain scenarios, “I was dog- tired from marching through the jungle all day with 50-pound packs” (Troyer). Troyer felt like the war was worthless and nothing good was coming out of it. Long, tiresome days, little food, and dead soldiers were nothing Mike was prepared for. During combat, Troyer stayed out of the way and watched his friends be shot and killed. He later crawled across the battlefield, “trying to find somebody that was alive.” (Foyer). 

Many of the bodies were mangled and shot up, which Mike could not identify or recognize anyone. Thankfully, Mike survived and had the opportunity to go home. He was hesitant about going home, “I had no illusions that returning soldiers would be greeted as heroes; other than my parents. He wasn't sure anyone would be happy to see him.” (Troyer). Therefore, before Mike left Vietnam, he self-addressed a letter, welcoming himself back home. Troyer will suffer from appalling memories, PTSD, and not a single “welcome home” from his country. 

In my eyes, soldiers are brave, reliable, fearless, and skillful. It takes great courage to live with such trauma that will haunt a person for life. We as citizens should take a moment to welcome home the soldiers that never had a proper welcome. War changes people and most of the time, not for the good. War shows the dark sides of people, but it also brings out their strengths. I am respectful of people like Paul, my grandfather, and Mike that are stripped of their innocence and are changed forever.