Although I generally praise most things on this blog (who knows, maybe one day I'll be negative about a film or book) this one definitely stands out as one of my favourite books. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a German anti-war novel published in 1929. Because of it's anti-war message, the book was amongst those burnt in Nazi Germany.
All Quiet on the Western Front is one of my favourite war books because instead of it portraying the main character as a typical "hero" (strong, muscular, fearless, never goes wrong, etc) and the opposing army as the evil enemy, it simply tells the story of Paul; an ordinary boy sent off to fight in a war he never really wanted in the first place.
Paul is convinced by his teacher to go to war, as are his classmates. In his mind, the teacher feels that by sending these boys off he is doing a good deed for his country. In reality, he is sending them off to be hurt or killed.
At several points in the book it is made apparent that Paul doesn't feel that what he's doing is right, especially when we come to the scene in which he kills a French soldier and spends the time in the trench with him promising that he will write to his family and tell them exactly what happened to him. He also comments several times that there isn't much difference between him and the supposed 'enemy' and he's not honestly sure why they are fighting any more.
Throughout the book we are told of his life during the war, and we slowly watch him change from the optimistic young boy we saw at the beginning of the book to a man who feels that his home town is now "foreign" and now sees his previous interests (and life) as a "distant memory." The war has, essentially, taken away his youth. One by one his friends are killed around him, and eventually, so is Paul himself. The ending lines of the book took my breath away, and so far it is one of the only books I can honestly say has made me cry. I fully expected it because many of the young men sent off to fight didn't get a happy ending but it still broke my heart because not only have you become quite attached to Paul, you also realise that this happened to millions of young men. A whole generation were stripped of their youth and possibly lives due to the first world war (and countless other wars before and after), people just like you and me, and that is what devastates me the most.
The book makes you realise that at the end of the day, regardless of what 'side' you are on, we are all human and we are not so different to one another.
Paul is convinced by his teacher to go to war, as are his classmates. In his mind, the teacher feels that by sending these boys off he is doing a good deed for his country. In reality, he is sending them off to be hurt or killed.
At several points in the book it is made apparent that Paul doesn't feel that what he's doing is right, especially when we come to the scene in which he kills a French soldier and spends the time in the trench with him promising that he will write to his family and tell them exactly what happened to him. He also comments several times that there isn't much difference between him and the supposed 'enemy' and he's not honestly sure why they are fighting any more.
Throughout the book we are told of his life during the war, and we slowly watch him change from the optimistic young boy we saw at the beginning of the book to a man who feels that his home town is now "foreign" and now sees his previous interests (and life) as a "distant memory." The war has, essentially, taken away his youth. One by one his friends are killed around him, and eventually, so is Paul himself. The ending lines of the book took my breath away, and so far it is one of the only books I can honestly say has made me cry. I fully expected it because many of the young men sent off to fight didn't get a happy ending but it still broke my heart because not only have you become quite attached to Paul, you also realise that this happened to millions of young men. A whole generation were stripped of their youth and possibly lives due to the first world war (and countless other wars before and after), people just like you and me, and that is what devastates me the most.
The book makes you realise that at the end of the day, regardless of what 'side' you are on, we are all human and we are not so different to one another.
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