Loss of Youth: AQWF 2

AQWF writing response 2

                World war one deteriorated the young souls of thousands of innocent men. Whether it was the gruesome trenches to the atrocities they saw each day; nothing would be the same again. Specifically referring to the soldiers who ranged from eighteen to twenty, author Erich Maria Remarque emphasizes the loss of youth through repetition in All Quiet on the Western Front.

                The boys of war were transformed into hopeless, tough, and ruthless creatures because of the life they now were forced to live. Mud, unbearable diseases and death circled their every move. Months before the war they had lived comfortably at home with their parents without a care in the world. War left the boys to grow up. They had two choices; to man up and face the war or to die. The main character of the novel rants about the “Iron Youth” that they have become. Remarque writes, “Yes, that’s the way they think, these hundred thousand Kantoreks! Iron Youth! Iron Youth! We are none of us more than twenty years old. But young? Youth? That is long ago. We are old folk.”(18) The author’s repetition of the simple word youth reveals to be quiet powerful. It seems as though a bell is ringing out the forgotten thought of youth to the main character. The young men have only begun their young adult lives. The author states, “Beyond this our life did not extend. And of this nothing remains.”(20) This is not only the truth for the main character, but for many of the men in the novel. Their simple youth picked apart day after day by the hardening world of warfare.

The Beauty in war: AQWF 1

Despite the atrocities of war in All Quiet on the Western Front, author Erich Maria Remarque evokes breathtaking beauty through imagery. Specifically on page 9 he writes, "The grasses sway their tall spears; the white butterflies flutter around and float on the soft, warm, wind of the late summer." There is an inevitable difference between the warfare and the late summer. Remarque crafted his words to paint a picture in the readers mind and to make them feel as though they were no longer reading a war story. The dancing butterflies reveal purity and life amidst the hardships the men face each and every day. A serene moment such as he described causes the thoughts of warfare to fade. Again on page 9 the author states, “These are wonderfully care-free hours. Over us is the blue sky. On the horizon float the bright yellow, sunlit observations-balloons, and the many little white clouds of the anti-aircraft shells.” Lingering in the distance are the reminders of war, although beauty is more that evident. Remarque displays pure bliss and beauty through his crafting of words.