All Along The Western Front Essay, Research Paper

Death, as a whole, is generally seen as a bad thing. The fearful transition from life to death has given mankind an apprehensive feeling since the beginning of time. Therefore, people usually think of death as a depressing, traumatic, and sorrowful time of grievance. Of course, there are always exceptions. Dying in honor, for instance, suddenly transforms the dead into something more important. A martyr, willing to give his life for something greater than himself, is assured to be remembered as a hero. And in the early part of the twentieth century, to be a hero was every young mans dream. Conveniently, the old men of the same time period had waged war on each other, declaring that true heroism was achieved only by becoming a soldier, and dying for your country. Naturally, this propaganda worked against the feeble minds of the boys, who were thrown into battle with idealistic dreams of honor, nobility, and heroism. Perhaps nothing expressed the feelings of wartime soldiers as well as the 1930 film, All Quiet on the Western Front, where the German troops of WWI discover the realities of war, and the falsehoods of their glorified ambitions. The war gave these boys their first glimpse of death, as they watched their best friends die by the dozen at the hands of men they d never met. But the war took more than their bodies. It caused a different kind of death, a death of self, which forced them to continue to see the world through bleak, unforgiving eyes, even after the battles ceased. The film demonstrates how man is forever changed by war and the surrounding propaganda, by focusing on the deaths of the men, both physical and spiritual.

In the opening scenes of the film, we see a classroom full of young boys receiving an emotionally persuasive lecture from their teacher. He is asking them to kill themselves. Of course, he conceals his intentions by becoming a master of rhetoric, and at the end of his sermon, the boys agree to the mass suicide, and are even cheering their decisions. This is our first impression of innocence interrupted by power and corruption. These young men, who have dreams and aspirations of their own, are told that in order to be truly happy, they must leave their homes and everything they ve ever known, only to risk their lives for the Good of the Fatherland. When in reality, the boys aren t even sure of the reasons they are fighting. Their minds are focused solely on a desire to be remembered as important men, willing to put their lives in jeopardy for others. This, of course, would result in the highest honor– to be seen as a hero. The perception of heroism was presented to the boys as the ultimate good deed. Their teacher spoke of selflessness, imploring the boys to, Throw all personal ambitions aside, though he was able to go home to his safe house that night, confident that he was protected by the best soldiers in the German Army. But, in all fairness, he was only preaching what he thought to be the truth, caught up in just as much disillusionment as the boys. Tomorrow he would persuade another group of young men to die, content that he had done his part for the good of the country.

By the time the boys realized that they had made a mistake, it was already too late. They were knee deep in blood shed, and over their heads in war, confused by their new environment of pain and suffering. Never before had they imagined that the glorious life of a soldier would look like this. Where was the praise and admiration for their heroic actions? After all, the boys had only enlisted to become heroes in the eyes of the people at home, the ones that mattered the most. Instead, they wrestled crumbs of bread away from rats as they cowered in mud holes under ground. They lived in fear of their own deaths, and in shameful acceptance of others. They watched, helplessly, as their comrades were slain one by one, each gruesome death less disturbing than the first, until finally, they felt only numbness. So this was war.

A scene in which one of the boys is injured is especially interesting, as the concept of war creating inhuman characteristics is seen in the face of death. The group of boys decides to go to the hospital to cheer their friend up, and upon arrival, discover that his leg has been amputated. Seeing this, one of the boys rationalizes that since his boots are uncomfortable, it would only be logical for him to be the new owner of the boots. After all, with no leg, the injured boy had no need for them anymore. He was able to completely disassociate himself with his dying friend, and think only of his own comfort level. His friend s loss was just another tragedy of the war, making it trivial, and unimportant. He had not only become numb to the loss of a mere stranger, but a close friend. And so it had happened. The boys had become men. Or, at least, some type of distorted, shattered shells of men. And how could they not have become these monsters in spite of all that they d been through? It seemed the inevitable, and so they accepted it. In fact, some even embraced it, transforming themselves into bloodthirsty, war-crazed animals. They had become a new breed of men, numb to the horrific world around them, and they didn t even understand why. Finally, they realized the truth when they bothered to ask themselves the question: Why are we fighting?

As the men were eating a full meal for the first time since they had been on the front, one was bold enough to ask his fellow soldiers what all the fighting was for. The other men answered, giving examples of countries offending one another. But this seemed silly, because everyone knew that fields and mountains couldn t be offended. Another man came to the realization that he had never even seen an Englishman until the war, and that they were probably a lot like himself. This was important, because it was the first time the men identified with their enemy. They showed an empathetic side to themselves, making it harder and harder to actually kill the men they d never met. Clearly, this wasn t their war. It seemed more like a large-scale version of the Hatfield and McCoy families, as feuding countries were entangled in a battle for reasons no one was aware.

But if they didn t want the war, and the French and English soldiers they were killing didn t want the war, then who did? This is the paradox of twentieth century warfare. No one is aware of the reasons, politics, or individuals behind our modern conflicts, people just accept the newest bloodbath as another part of life. Combat must have been much more tolerable when soldiers fought for ideals, like religion during the Crusades, or freedom in the American Revolution. But what motivates modern patriots to live like animals, live in fear for their own lives, and commit murder? Sadly, the answer can still be found in the three traits that have driven mankind since the beginning of time: land, money, and power. Since the industrial revolution was in full swing before the start of WWI, the wealthy business owners of Europe (obviously close friends of the politicians) decided to find out just how much they could produce. So, with the selfish profits of themselves in mind, they created a war, effectively murdering half the population of Europe. This wasn t the first or the last time something like this had happened, but unfortunately for the men fighting, it was the only time that mattered.

The turning point in the film, and perhaps the most important sequence, is when Paul, the main character, is injured, and travels back to his hometown. Throughout the course of the war, this was all he ever really wanted. To be away from all the depression of death and the sound of dropping bombs would be like heaven to him. But when he finally arrived, he came to a different conclusion. People would look to him as a hero, which was his entire reason for enlisting in the beginning. But he could barely look at himself, realizing that his heroic behavior had caused others so much pain. He chastised his old teacher for continuing to spit out the propaganda that had persuaded him to go to battle, trying desperately to explain the realities of war to a new class of troops. But they didn t listen, and called him a coward for forfeiting the information. Paul couldn t even relate to his mother, who begged him to stay home, where he would be safe. His old world had changed. Or maybe he had, but whatever the difference, he knew that his old world wasn t the place for him. This wasn t his life anymore. He had grown so accustomed to war that death had become his life. But in a way, he was already dead as well. He had become one of the animals of war, and his emotions recognized nothing. He wasn t able to relate to his old world anymore, as he struggled to find some feeling any feeling that could make him feel human again. In the final scene, Paul reaches out for butterfly while on the front, as a symbol for his old life, and a prospect of happiness in his depressing surroundings. In this one moment, he forgets about the gunshots and grenades going off all around him in order to allow himself to be vulnerable, and touch the one thing that might bring him back to life. But, even though he was killed by the enemy s bullet, he had been killed while living, instead of his friends, who were killed while dying. And so Paul had finally achieved happiness.

The film displayed the characteristics of war in its truest form, as it destroyed lives. Examples of this were seen with the transition of the boys attitudes toward life, death and war. As the war drew on, the boys slipped further and further into their deaths, allowing the war to take over all thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The powerful tactic of war propaganda was employed throughout the film, but never so vigorously as the teacher, who peeled off the first layer of the boy s protective skin, and exposed them to a new horrific world. The film finally brought these issues to the world s attention by using these not-so-subtle forms of expression to display a war protest by showing nothing but the un-glorified truth. I guess what they say is true; War is Hell.