This book wasn’t like any other book I have previously read. To me, it was a book of great realism. Remarque wanted to convey the realism of the war. Many people like to sugar coat things and make historical events seem not as bad as they actually were; this is why our generation is oblivious to what really went on in the history of our world.
Right away, it was described that boys had really no choice of going into the army. If they did not enlist, they were looked down upon and society turned their backs on them. In the beginning, it was written that the majority of the boys in the military were not much older than 20 years. Remarque went on to explain that the older men in the army had already had the chance to experience life. The majority had families and jobs outside of the military. This was not the case for the young boys. I believe he included this to show that most of the younger boys in the military never got to actually see was life was really like. They finished school, enlisted in the army, and eventually their lives were claimed while in the army. This was a cold hard fact that really grabbed my attention.
Another main point that Remarque made very clear was the war wiped away any personality or emotion the boys had; it completely took away their youth. A quote from page 87 really drove this point across. “We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.” The war basically ruined any chances of them having a normal youth.
While this book was gruesome at parts and sad in others, I enjoyed reading it. I really liked how Remarque didn’t hold anything back. I’m a believer in not hiding the truth. People should be educated on the real events and not hid from what really happened. I felt this book did just that.
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