The Metamorphosis of Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front :: All Quiet on the Western Front Essays

The Metamorphosis of Paul Baumer in plainly hushed on the westward Front Erich Maria Remarques All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel set in human War I, centers around the changes wrought by the struggle on maven young German soldier. During his time in the war, Remarques protagonist, Paul Baumer, changes from a sooner innocent Romantic to a hardened and somewhat caustic veteran. more(prenominal) importantly, during the course of this metamorphosis, Baumer disaffiliates himself from those societal icons-parents, elders, school, religion-that had been the foundation of his pre-enlistment days. This rejection comes about as a firmness of purpose of Baumers realization that the pre-enlistment society simply does not understand the reality of the bang-up War. His new society, then, becomes the Company, his fellow trench soldiers, because that is a group which does understand the righteousness as Baumer has experienced it. Remarque demonstrates Baumers disaffiliation from the traditional by emphasizing the language of Baumers pre- and post-enlistment societies. Baumer any mint not, or chooses not to, communicate truthfully with those representatives of his pre-enlistment and innocent days. Further, he is repulsed by the banal and meaningless language that is used by members of that society. As he becomes alienated from his former, traditional, society, Baumer simultaneously is able to communicate effectively only with his military comrades. Since the novel is told from the first person point of view, the reader can see how the words Baumer speaks are at variance with his true feelings. In his preface to the novel, Remarque maintains that a generation of men ... were destroyed by the war (Remarque, All Quiet Preface). Indeed, in All Quiet on the Western Front, the meaning of language itself is, to a great extent, destroyed. Early in the novel, Baumer notes how his elders had been smooth with words prior to his enlistment. Specifically, teachers and parents had used words, passionately at times, to persuade him and former(a) young men to enlist in the war effort. After relating the narrative of a teacher who exhorted his students to enlist, Baumer states that teachers always carry their feelings ready in their singlet pockets, and trot them out by the hour (Remarque, All Quiet I. 15). Baumer admits that he, and others, were fooled by this rhetorical trickery. Parents,too, were not averse to using words to shame their sons into enlisting. At that time even ones parents were ready with the word coward (Remarque, All Quiet I.