Literary Devices in All Quiet on the Western Front
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
In the book we hear the term "The Iron Youth" used to describe Paul's generation. "The Iron Youth" is an ideal of a strong Fatherland-lovin' group of young soldiers who enlist and fight in the war...
Setting
It would be hard to conceive of a more bleak and miserable existence than that of a soldier on the front lines of a brutal early 20th Century-style war, fighting for the losing team. The setting in...
Narrator Point of View
All Quiet on the Western Front is Paul's story, and is told through a first-person lens. He tells it. He lives it. He dies for it. And we trust him. Paul balances grim truths about the life experie...
Genre
We can definitely state with no ambiguity that All Quiet on the Western Front is not comedy, children's Lit, or a fairy tale. It's also not postmodern, experimental, or a romance. But it could be j...
Tone
Paul's tone shifts slightly throughout the novel, depending upon where he is on his happiness-o-meter. The majority of his storytelling efforts are spent describing the atrocities of war, and so hi...
Writing Style
Remarque's style involves lots of small words and small phrases. Think about tone in this novel as being gunfire when Paul is on the front lines and violin playing when he's off. The predominant vi...
What's Up with the Title?
Well, the title is a lie, that's what. In the frame of this novel, nothing is ever quiet on the Front—unless it's dead. The historical foreword to the book by Harry Hansen details the historical...
What's Up with the Epigraph?
"This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war."In a gloo...
What's Up with the Ending?
The novel's epigraph and the ending sing the same tune. Take a look at the last two paragraphs of the book:He fell in October, 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that th...
Tough-o-Meter
All Quiet on the Western Front is straightforward and the story, characters, structure are riveting, but not overly complex. In fact, the straightforwardness of the book reflects its subject matter...
Plot Analysis
Paul and his friends are on break from the Front. They have a massive feast. The horrors of the war have not yet sunk in. Paul is "stable," having returned from the Front in a battle that took seve...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Paul goes to battle and tries to remain human.Paul is thrown into battle – he caved to social pressure just like all of his peers and enlisted in the war. His hopes revolve around surviving thi...
Three Act Plot Analysis
We see Paul's talents – he can survive. He reads people and is able to suck up his pride in order to survive various hardships and just get through to another day. By the time Paul begins to...
Trivia
Remarque was a big fan of New York City night life. (Source)Remarque liked to hang out at the Stork Club and 21, two popular New York night clubs. (Source)Remarque married the famous actress Paulet...
Steaminess Rating
Other than highly vague references to the men trading army bread for sex from French women, we get almost no sexual details in this book. The omission of sex talk around a bunch of nineteen-year-ol...
Allusions
Plato (2.5)Goethe (2.5, 10.23)Poetic League of Gottingen (5.92) Lycurgus (5.97)William Tell (5.91)Charles the Bald (5.93)Battle of Zama (5.95)