All Quiet on the Western Front

dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

“It is sweet and proper to die for one's country.”

Before reading this book, I think I somehow fell into the trap that a lot of these young boys did a hundred years ago. To me, the trenches became a symbol of resilience. That someone could have such dedication towards their country they'd be willing to fight and die in such disgusting and horrifying conditions was commendable to me. But quickly, as I read this book it became clear- the soldiers aren't fighting in a war with another country's soldiers. They were lied to. The only real enemy is death. Like the poisonous gas that sank into the trenches and the shell-holes, it was ever-present and completely inescapable.

Remarque makes it clear- the front is a hellscape beyond all that is imaginable. These men, or more accurately, boys, aren't fighting with some strong nationalist fervor, but rather clawing out from the impending grips of death that surround them. In essence, they're already gone. Paul notes certain skills & tactics the soldiers can pick up to improve their odds, but in the end it's still all a horrific game of chance.

One thing that struck me was the way the soldiers talk about their friends dying so nonchalantly. Right in the beginning, Paul notes how a loss of men in one of the battles let them have extra rations, and that he is happy for that. Nobody can afford to care about dying anymore, it becomes a question of when, rather than if. Paul notes the death of Müller so matter-of-factly, almost as if he had no emotional connections to him at all. The first order of business is deciding the order that the boots he inherited from Kemmerich will be passed along to, not to crying for him or praying. The sentences surrounding his death are short and curt, as if there is nothing more to be said of the matter. The soldiers have all been so completely desensitized to death, they cannot afford to feel anything over the death of their friend because if they did, they would be in a perpetual state of grief, which I suppose they are regardless. When Paul is in that shell-hole and stabs the other soldier to death, he feels horrible for it and promises to write and send money to his family. He deflects some of the blame to the war in general but acknowledges his part in this his demise. Later, however he gets convinced by his friends to forget about everything because there's no way they can think about every single person they kill, it would weigh them all down too much.

I thought it was interesting how Paul was hesitant to find out the man's name because he said if he didn't, he would easily be able to forget about what happened but if he got his name, it would be a label that could torment him for the rest of his life. Becoming desensitized was the only way to deal with the suffering they inflicted and that surrounded them.

The dichotomy of the frontlines and the people back at home who talk about the war is also interesting. Some people in the pub (I think it was?) tell Paul how Germany should do this and that, completely ignorant to the reality of the trenches. Both sides believed the war would end quickly, which led to a draining war that killed millions. At the pub, you get the sense that Paul is just thinking, “I've been through literal hell for months fighting this senseless war. They have the audacity to tell me I know nothing about the war since I'm just the soldier in the trenches? They're the ones who are disillusioned.”

A big part of the book is this difference between the people at home and in the trenches. Paul and his schoolmates who joined the war have a strong sense of betrayal from figures such as Kantorek- their old schoolmaster.

dulce et decorum est pro patria mori This sentiment was a prevalent one among many at the start of the war. When Kantorek becomes part of the military and Paul's schoolfriend is bossing him around and yelling at him it is almost cathartic because he is the one who sold them a lie and glorified the disgusting reality of war.

They call people from this generation the ‘lost generation'. It is so incredibly sad, reading someone completely lose their will to live, and millions of lives stolen by the war- and even if their lives weren't stolen then their futures were. If you've ever romanticized war, had any shallow visions of heroism when you see those old war photos and think ‘well, at least they had a reason to fight, something that united them, at least they weren't as individualistic and polarized as we are today,' all of that gets completely blown out of you like the incessant bombardments that pierce the pages of this book.

Although not the primary message, I also think this shows how in these women can be easily objectified in these scenarios. Paul had thoughts about “winning over” the girl on that poster they find, though he admits it was silly. It goes to show the lack of will to live these men had, and how they clung on to any reason to keep fighting for their lives, any other motivation beyond survival.

Even though it exposes the horrors of war well, All Quiet does romanticize the relationships that Paul has with his fellow soldiers- like when he and Kat are eating the goose and he's talking about how much he loves Kat, or when he's clawing back to the trench and talking about how the bond between him and the soldiers - “I belong to them and they to me; we all share the same fear and the same life, we are nearer than lovers, in a simpler, a harder way.” (157) It reminds me of the Greek ‘philla' type of love, like a brotherly kind of love. Paul notes that these kinds of relationships could never occur during peacetime. I think it's interesting, how shared traumatic experiences give us a different kind of bond beyond friendship.

When Paul goes back home, he can't even read the books he once loved and feels like a “foreigner” in his own home. All his passion and hope has been knocked out of him. Everything that he once lived for has no appeal anymore. He tries to survive the war solely as a primal instinct and for the sake of his comrades, for the tiny moments of joy like eating that goose with Kat. Once Kat dies however, I think Paul comes to the realization that everyone he has loved is gone, there is nothing he has left to live for. The last pages of the book are the most harrowing.

“I am very quiet. Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear.” (214)

“[All Quiet on the Western Front] will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.”