All Quiet On The Western Front I.B. Commentary
Submitted by hunie23 on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
- Category: Psychology
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All Quiet On The Western Front I.B. Commentary
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a classic novel that shows and
illustrates the atrocities and horrors of war. On pages 55-56, beginning with "To me the front..."
through "...instant human animal," Paul Baumer describes being on the front lines of battle. Paul
tells his story throughout the novel and shows his own emotions to the reader. He tells how each
soldier has no control of his surroundings and how helpless he is. Throughout this passage
Remarque uses imagery, literary devices and syntax to show the helplessness of each soldier and
to show their ways of coping.
Remarque creates several images in the mind of the reader throughout this passage. The
description of the front line as a "...mysterious whirlpool," creates the image of swirling and
confusion. He also uses "...bellowing death..." to describe the explosions around the soldiers.
This allows the reader to imagine the clouds of gasses, smoke and dirt that filled the air. Later in
this passage she describes the sound of the firing as the "...droning of shells..." which shows the
sheer magnitude of gunfire and its dominance in the minds and ears of each soldier. Perhaps the
most vivid image in this passage comes with the description of "...a heap of mangled flesh,"
referring to what could be if it were not for an instantaneous ducking by the soldiers to avoid the
"...storm of fragments."
Many literary devices are used in this passage as well as the use of imagery.
Personification, an ode to Earth, and alliteration are used. Referring to Earth as "she" in saying
that each soldier "...presses himself to her..." and that "... she is his only friend, his brother, his
mother..." both give Earth the qualities of a human that is sheltering and comforting to the
soldiers. The ode to Earth "...O Earth, thou grantest us the great...
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