All Quiet On The Western Front Epigraph Analysis

War is often viewed as one of the most dangerous and brutal events ever created. It utterly destroys the humanity and mental state of soldiers fighting in the war. In All Quiet on the Western Front, a world renowned war novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the epigraph states that this novel “will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” Staying true to this quote, Remarque tells of the horrors of World War I and fittingly describes the effects that war has on humans through the eyes of the protagonist, Paul Bäumer. In his epigraph Remarque says, “this book is to be neither an accusation, nor a confession, and least of all an adventure.” Except for a few notable exceptions, …show more content…
First, Remarque states in his epigraph that, “this book is neither to be an accusation.” Paul Baumer and his comrades make more than one accusation about who started the war. One of Paul’s comrades, Albert Kropp, says,“‘It's queer, when one thinks about it,’ goes on Kropp, ‘we are here to protect our fatherland. And the French are over there to protect their fatherland. Now who's in the right?’" (Remarque 203). In this quote, Kropp says that soldiers in the war are merely fighting for their country, but that does not make them enemies. He means that if French and German soldiers met before the war, many of the soldiers could have become comrades. Another of Paul’s comrades, Kat, accuses the French and German rulers for starting the war. Kat says, “Now just why would a French blacksmith or a French shoemaker want to attack us? No it is merely the rulers” (205). This quote …show more content…
Although fighting in World War I is definitely an important experience for Paul, it is certainly not an exciting one. In his epigraph, Remarque says that “death is not an adventure for those who face it.” In this quote, Remarque clearly explains why warfare is not an adventure for soldiers fighting in war. Paul describes his encounters in much detail and explains why his time in war was not an adventure. For example, in one of his experiences with trench warfare, he says, “The belly of [horse] is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes tangled in them and falls, then he stands up again” (63). In this scene, Paul watches as a wounded horse trips over its own entrails. It is written in extremely vivid detail and would not be something one would see in an “exciting” and “thrilling” adventure. The language in this scene is very strong and intense, causing the reader to feel Paul’s emotions through Remarque’s words. Also, Paul sees, “In the branches dead men are hanging. A naked soldier is squatting in the fork of a tree, he still has his helmet on, otherwise he is entirely unclad. There is only half of him sitting up there, the top half, the legs are missing” (208). Many of the action scenes in this novel are full of gory detail and makes it seem much more genuine than something one would read in a romanticized novel. Authors of romanticized war novels often portray