Sam

=All Quiet On The Western Front=

What does Remarque's story talk about?
All Quiet on the Western Front tells the story of one German soldier during the First World War, but tells the story of the experience of the millions of soldiers that fought and died from 1914 to 1918. It tells the story away from the battlefield, as well the tale amongst the civilians and the soldiers who had come back from war, from a broader point of view. The book uses simple language but it is powerful language that is used appropriately and effectively to convey pain and upset on a great scale throughout the book. Although Remarque doesn't directly criticise the war, it is clear that his oeuvre is an anti-war novel. media type="youtube" key="tXKq73fSQT0" height="344" width="425"Here is the film trailer for the 1930 version of All Quiet On The Western Front.

What themes are explored in All Quiet on the Western Front?
There are many themes that are explored in Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and this is what makes it the ideal war novel, and more importantly anti-war novel. The main theme that constantly comes up is the horror of war. And this is explored in many ways. In the book, wounds, injuries and moral hurt are all described with depth. This makes it a strong anti-war novel. Another big theme is loyalty and bonds between soldiers who in the war, suffer moral detriment as they see their friends die and disappear.



How reliable as a source is All Quiet On The Western Front?
If one was to study Remarque's novel as a historical text, relying upon it for real facts and opinions on the First World War, they would want to know how reliable it is. Remarque was a German soldier in the war and many of the events and descriptions in the book and films are based upon his own first hand, and hence reliable experience. These include his witnessing of the cruel conditions that the soldiers fought through and he joined the Western Front at the same time as his narrator, in 1917. His main character in the book, Paul, is also an amateur writer and poet before joining the war. It is almost certain that Remarque uses Paul Baumer as a first hand autobiographical element. Also, Remarque's books were burned by the Nazis, under pretext that he was a French Jew. However it may be possible that the Nazis feared that Remarque's precise and fearful account of the war may have put many Germans off another war. This also contributes to All Quiet On The Western Front's reliability factor. However, Remarque only fought for a month before he was injured in the leg by shrapnel and was forced to quit the western front and joined a hospital in Germany. Thus, Remarque's witness of the war was very shortlived. Lastly, Remarque was a meer soldier in the war and not a politician or military leader. Therefore, this may mean that Remarque's view of the war would have been narrowed down to the trenches and the front. He would not have appreciated the situation on a much larger scale. In fact, in the story, when Paul Baumer returns to his hometown he is talking with his father and some friends and they discuss the fact that soldiers are not able to see the war on a much bigger scale, therefore they do not know when the war is nearly over or whether they're making progress as an army. So anything that Remarque mentions in the story about the political, economical and industrial happenings would be unreliable.

Three Useful Weblinks

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_quiet_on_the_western_front and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/erich_maria_remarque. These are two Wikipedia pages that I found paritcularly useful because of the easy to understand and basic facts that the site give. However, if one would want to find more detail about the story and the author, then I would not recommend it because the pages are both quite brief.
 * Link 2, with summary of why useful
 * http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/276-0630035-1269407?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=all+quiet+on+the+western+front. This site is self-explanatory. If anyone wants to purchase the book or film (either version) then I strongly recommend that they do so because not only are they historically accurate, but also highly entertaining.