http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/11570461/All-Quiet-on-the-Western-Front-film-review.html
Paul and his battalion were all living a facile life style, before deciding to enlist in the Armed forces of Imperial Germany. Haie Westhus had been a peat digger, Himmelstoss was formerly a postman, and at the same time Detering was a peasant who worries about his wife and farm. These so called "young men" have not yet experienced the dark side of war and how arbitrary it is to fight; just because the state (Kaiser of Imperial Germany) told you to. According to chapter 1 of "All Quiet on the Western Front", Paul the young protagonist feels a sense of confidence and self-esteem. As the narrator remarks that "Today is wonderfully good." in chapter 1, we as the readers of the story can already predict that life will sooner or later go completely down hill. This line is indeed a foreshadowing of their inevitable demise of both their emotions and mentality, because war cannot give life but rather it destroys life.
In the autumn of 1918, Paul Baumer, the sensitive 20 year-old German soldier, contemplates his future as seen in chapter 12. "Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing anymore. I am so alone and so without hope that I can confront them without fear" (Chapter 12 Pg.295). Paul's final thoughts of melancholy occur just before his young and untimely death, which relate back to the idea that chapter 1 is a foreshadowing of Paul's optimistic views on enlisting in the army. The quote mentioned by Paul Baumer on page 295 however represents a whole generation of young men who are known to history as the "lost generation." due to the fact that around 8 million men were killed in battle, 21 million men were injured, and over six and a half million noncombatants lives were lost in what we know as "The Great War".
Remarque, the author of "All Quiet on the Western Front" strengthens the idea of the lost generation: "I will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war." (Preface of All Quiet on the Western Front). As early as Chapter 2 in the book, Paul Baumer epitomizes the difference between his generation and the generation of his parents, or even the older soldiers. "For us young men of twenty everything is extraordinarily vague... for all of us whom Kantorek calls the "Iron Youth"" (Chapter 2 P.g19) The soldiers had a legitimate life before the war, a life in which they felt comfortable and secure. But unfortunately for Paul, his generation never experienced the wonderful opportunities in life. He explains in chapter 10 that "Our knowledge of life is limited to death" (Chapter 10). While Paul Baumer may be somewhat ready for the war, all that he knows is the death, horror, fear, suffering, anxiety and hopelessness will be on his way.
Alongside the lost generation, Gertrude Stein, an American novelist popularized the famous post-war term of the lost generation along with Ernest Hemingway who used it as one of two contrasting epigraphs for his novel ("The Sun Also Rises"). All Quiet on the Western Front is associated with Gertrude Stein's idea of the lost generation, in the sense that Erich Maria Remarque, the author of the story utilizes the impression of loss in war. In other words when Paul affirms that "we are lost", he confirms the general idea of Gertrude Stein; however his message is not focused on the physiological aspect of the war, but rather the term itself which defines World War 1 as a whole.
The melancholy behind the lost generation within the battalion gets worse when it comes to their lack of inhuman behavior with other men. From Paul violently beating up a French soldier, which ruined Paul's degree of innocence in chapter 6, to men being disemboweled from gun fire and explosions. There truly is a significant sense of loss throughout chapter 6 due to the fact that Paul and his battalion vigorously murder French soldiers on the front line and then later on realize how horrific their actions were. Chapter 7 on the other scope of the situation illustrates how Paul is afraid to expose his actions from the front line, he often utilizes the common coping strategies of denial and daydreaming: "I imagined leave would be different from this. Indeed, it was different a
year ago... There
lies a gulf between that time and to-day." (7.173). On the same token, Paul instinctively pulls out a dagger and in savage animistic fury, and stabs a French soldier as machine gun fire rattles around him in chapter 9. In an attempt to regain his lost senses and forgive the French soldier, Paul includes a sacrificing quote for the French soldier and mentions: "I look at the portraits once more; they are clearly not rich people. I
might send them money anonymously if I earn anything later on. I seize
upon that, it is at least something to hold onto. This dead man is bound
up with my life, therefore I must do everything, promise everything in
order to save myself." (9.151).
Loss has played a big role in the anti war novel of "All Quiet on the Western Front", since The Great War has ruined the lives and psychological state of many young individuals. No one could tell who the "good guys" really were, the Germans were defending themselves and Austria Hungary and invading France to protect their mother land while France had the exact same purpose of defending and invading. This makes life especially hard for the soldiers as they don't know what they are doing with their lives; are they really an "Iron Youth" or brazen, ready to fight soldiers. "Their stillness is the reason why these memories of former times do not awaken desire so much as sorrow-a vast, inapprehensible melancholy. Once we had such desires-but they return not. They are past, they belong to another world that is gone from us" (Chapter 6, page 121) The morality of the battalion has indefinitely fluctuated, they no longer have happiness nor personality within their mindset. From animal related behavior of the crew, to not understanding their purpose in life. The young men leave for war as boys, yet never return as men.
http://youthvoices.net/taxonomy/term/35570
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