Theme of Uniforms in All Quiet on the Western Front and Soldier’s Home Literary Essay Example

Do you ever wonder what war truly does to a person? What all that death and destruction can do to a person's mind? Throughout several stories told of war, this question is explored. Two of these stories is the Novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque is a story that follows the journey of a German soldier named Paul and Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemmingway which shows us the story of a soldier returning from war. Throughout the stories of All Quiet on the Western Front and Soldier’s Home Remarque and Hemmingway uses uniforms and clothing as a motif to express the loss of self that war causes to a person. 

During the middle of Paul’s story, we witness him returning to his former home and visiting his mother, sister, and father. While Paul is at home trying back on his old civilian clothes he thinks, “I feel awkward. The suit is rather tight and short, I have grown in the army… But how light the suit is, it feels as though I had nothing on but a shirt and underpants. I look at myself in the glass. It is a strange sight… My mother is pleased to see me wearing civilian clothes; it makes me less strange to her” (Remarque, 55). Paul, when looking at his reflection in the mirror can barely recognize himself because of how he’s changed as he thinks, “It is a strange sight”, he as a person has changed so much when compared to his former self before the war. Additionally, not only Paul but his mother too notice how much he has changed, with here only being more comfortable with Paul when he’s wearing those clothes because “It makes him less strange to her”. Both these quotes emphasize the fact that Paul has changed throughout the war when compared to his formal self. Additionally the fact that pauls believes, “The suit is rather tight and short, I have grown in the army” shows us additionally that not only has he grown physically but when combined with the past two quotes makes it clear he has grown and changed mentally too.

In the alternate story, Soldier’s Home as Krebs returns from the war to his home. While describing Kreb’s time in the war and what happened a picture is described where it is stated, “Krebs and Corporal look too big for their uniforms” (Hemmingway, 1). As described by the narrator in the scene the uniform that Krebs and the corporal had on didn’t fit them and the two, “Looked too big for their uniforms”. This shows us that to them the war was so normal it fit them too well, much like how their uniforms were too small for them, whereas if the opposite were true they wouldn’t be able to fit in their uniforms.