StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Review of All Quiet on the Western Front - Book Report/Review Example

Cite this document
Summary
Harris Kamran History and Political Science Book Review 29 August 2011 All Quiet on The Western Front Every once in a while, a book is published that causes much upheaval in the society and touches the nerves of the masses, often addressing controversial yet important topics and challenges the set norms of the period…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.3% of users find it useful
Book Review of All Quiet on the Western Front
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Review of All Quiet on the Western Front"

Download file to see previous pages

It lays bare the tragedies and difficulties that the young soldiers have to face while on the front, and the problems they face when they get back to their civilian lives2. This paper purports to describe some of the issues narrated in the pertinent book about World War I, and the effects those dilemmas had on the lives of the young soldiers after the war was over. The basic underlying issue dealt with in the book is the mismatch that the soldiers face when they return home once the war is over3.

This is graphically, yet, stoically described by Remarque in a manner that touches the heart yet is not overly sentimental. The effect, thus, is to create a picture of reality and investigate into the lives and feelings of the soldiers to unmask the raw nature of war and its aftermath. The narrative focuses on the life of a teenage soldier, named Paul Baumer, supported by other characters that comprise his school mates, and is mostly constructed in flash backs as he fights battle after battle with his fellow soldiers on the Western Front in World War I4.

the writer does not stress much on the importance or details of the individual battles, rather emphasizes on the psychological and physical effects that those battles have on the soldiers5. As the soldiers talk and share among themselves in the period between battle campaigns, Remarque says through the characters, ‘We are not youth any longer. We don't want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.

The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts’(42)6. The hopelessness and despair are apparent from this statement. This, essentially, is the context against which the war played with the lives of the soldiers. The writer successfully denounces all notions of glamour or heroism associated with the war, portraying it as an evil that resulted in the destruction of an entire generation of young men, who, after the war, were left with a feeling of uselessness and alienation from the society7.

Such a generation, then, rightfully felt ‘lost’(56)8. Such subtle concepts are often neglected in other works on war. The war has not just a cumulative effect on the society and a physical effect on the geographical area, but also has a potent psychological effect on the thinking patterns and the mindset of the soldiers who take part in the war. Baumer, a young man infused with creativity and dreams about his future, was suddenly thrust into an environment that had no place for his poetry and his future plans9.

The pen in his hand was replaced by a gun, his friends replaced by soldiers, and his home replaced by war pits and trenches10. He was suddenly a different man, older than his age11, and a misfit outside of the war, which took a toll on his psyche and made him lose all hope and desires, as is evident from the statement, ‘We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in war’(42)12. The very title of the book is suggestive of the futility which the war brings with itself.

The soldiers, having fought with their lives in the war, are not credited or even remembered13. The battles soon lose their importance as the commanding generals decide to move the army from one front to the other, or as in this case, when the war is over. As Baumer lay dying, it was

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Book Review of All Quiet on the Western Front Report/”, n.d.)
Retrieved de https://studentshare.org/history/1431113-book-review-of-all-quiet-on-the-western-front
(Book Review of All Quiet on the Western Front Report/)
https://studentshare.org/history/1431113-book-review-of-all-quiet-on-the-western-front.
“Book Review of All Quiet on the Western Front Report/”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1431113-book-review-of-all-quiet-on-the-western-front.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Book Review of All Quiet on the Western Front

Main Ideas in the Novel Things Fall Apart

A novel“Things Fall Apart” was a written reply by Chinua Achebe to the western world and their beliefs about the Africans being uncivilized.... Basically, the way it has been written, the plot or the theme of the novel begins and continue cleanly and nicely towards the closure with all the subplots supporting the main theme and idea of the novel....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

Book Report on Come with me from Lebanon by Ann Zwicker Kerr

Kerr was killed in front of his office while at the American University of Beirut by Hezbollah gunmen who had been ordered by Iran.... Name Instructor Course Date Book Report on "Come with me from Lebanon" by Ann Zwicker Kerr October 1954 was the time when Ann Zwicker set for Lebanon all the way from the Southern part of California during her first year in the American University of Beirut.... ? Life was like living in hell for this young American woman who was left all alone to care for the kids in Egypt and Lebanon....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

George Orwells Homage to Catalonia

He emphasizes how this was clear in his personal memory because of its intimate connection with "That period of the war - the red flags in Barcelona, the gaunt trains full of shabby soldiers creeping to the front, the grey war-stricken towns farther up the line, the muddy, ice-cold trenches in the mountains" vi.... I could not help thinking that it would be even luckier not to be shot at all" i.... The paper "George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia" describes that book serves as a reminder that twentieth-century European history is a matter of peasant involvement in politics; passion and belief in a cause is the motivation behind Orwell joining up, and the motivation of many others....
9 Pages (2250 words) Literature review

The Battle of Algiers, an Example of Third Cinema

The two political ideologies were also in relentless battle in Asia, Africa and Latin America as the western World refused to cling on to their colonies.... The paper "The Battle of Algiers, an Example of Third Cinema" underlines that all through the film, the characters represent Algiers....
6 Pages (1500 words) Movie Review

Americans in Waiting, by Hiroshi Motomura

This book review describes the immigration issue, that has been at the forefront of political debate for many years now through the book written by Hiroshi Motomura, named Americans in Waiting.... hellip; Hiroshi Motomura in his book, Americans in Waiting, attempts to answer questions and to demonstrate how in America's view and treatment of immigration, has actually created the issues now faced.... Hiroshi Motomura in his book, Americans in Waiting, that was discussed in details, attempts to answer these questions and to demonstrate how this decline, in America's view and treatment of immigration, has actually created the issues now faced....
4 Pages (1000 words) Book Report/Review

1250 word (Modern Chinese History) Book Review of: Pa Chin's; Family

37-44) Pa Chin showed great interest in literature and his ideology was molded by eminent writers of the western world.... Out of all three of them Chueh-hui is the only one, who is quite overt in his display of loathing for the old system and the following quote from the novel demonstrates it accurately.... It's full of phrases like “The minister who is unwilling to die at his sovereign's command is not loyal: of all virtues, filial piety is the best”....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

All Quiet on the Western Front

?? The English translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen gives it the title “all quiet on the western front.... Drawing inspiration from his own experiences in World War I, all quiet on the western front Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I wrote the novel “Im Westen nichts Neues,” which literally translates to “In the West Nothing New.... ?? The English translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen gives it the title “all quiet on the western front....
1 Pages (250 words) Book Report/Review

Analysis of the Movie Man with the Movie Camera Directed by Dziga Vertov

Documentary cinema basically depicts the western consciousness to view the world more clearly while getting an objective view (Feldman, 1998).... This paper analyzes the movie “Man with the movie camera” directed by Dziga Vertov in 1928.... The paper puts the movie into the theoretical framework of documentary filmmaking and analyzes the procedure, techniques, and intentions behind the making of the movie in a political and professional context....
8 Pages (2000 words) Movie Review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us