Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

Beginning in September of 1917, when the Battle of the Marne was fought, approximately nine million people died due to the terrible atrocities inflicted upon them in the World War I battlefields. Erich Maria Remarque was among the soldiers to survive and he left the war feeling betrayed and traumatized. Many soldiers felt this way, from every side. Remarque responded to the misery he saw by writing a novel about his experiences, using the character Paul Baumer as a narrator who guides the reader through the sights and emotions of a soldier life during the war. One of his goals was to make the home front, which had been kept deceived and oblivious, realize the truth. He hoped that the impact would cause antiwar sentiments to swell around Germany and the world. To do this, he humanized the battlefield through his characters. Although he described the experience graphically and bloodily, he also provided companionship, introspection, and humour. Strangely, the humour …show more content…
At the very least, being able to use some dark humour relieved some tension and bonded the men closer together. In the very beginning, after the soldiers suffered the indignations of the training camp, they still found a way to rely on each other, take revenge, and give themselves something to laugh over later. Once on the battlefield, as the sense of comradeship grows, humour becomes rarer, but is still regularly used. This chance to laugh and joke allowed the soldiers a brief glimmer of normalcy despite their fear, anger, and misery. Just like the depersonalization caused by trauma and Paul’s later feelings of near apathy, humour seems to be a defense mechanism and a tool for mental protection. Often, particularly in Paul’s case, there little defense against shellshock, but at least humour and comradeship provided a weak

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Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front