All Quiet in the Western Front: Democracy is not as valuable as Peace.

Book Name： The Western Front Without War (Im Westen nicht Neues)

Edition：西線無戰事（80週年紀念版）

Writing style

Remarque writes this novel in a semi-autobiographical style, interspersing it with his life experiences, with vivid descriptions of the scenes, and with his expertise in describing the five senses in order to present the current situation. He also describes in great detail the characteristics of each of his fellow soldiers and the time he spent with them, so it is not very pleasant to see them die in battle, and it must have been even more heartbreaking for Remarque himself to lose his friends.

In addition to the usual fictional narrative, he also often uses the thoughts of the story's protagonist to bring out his own views on war, life and time.

The author's insights into war

The beginning of the war

At the beginning of the war, the teachers kept encouraging us to become patriotic young men and to join the army to kill the enemy. The young people, who knew nothing about the front line of the war, did not know what to do anyway, so they joined the army together. The postman, who used to be a nice person, became a nonsensical squad leader in the barracks, because in the barracks power was absolute and there was no need to be like in the outside world - power corrupts - the world of the barracks was different from what was imagined, especially in the front line. The idealisation of joining the army ruined these 19-year-olds.

On the warpath

One of the most harrowing parts of the journey is the change and bonding of the men before and after the war. One by one, the memories and the past turn from happy to painful the moment they die in battle, and how happy they were before is how painful it is to recall later. Carter, for example, was a soldier with a great ability to survive, turning out food wherever he went and once finding straw in the rubble for the men to sleep on. However, he was also the last soldier to die and has the most interesting memories with him. The last time he was in the front line, he was accidentally shot in the calf by a bullet and Paul carried him on his back to the medics after hiding in a trench.

The war is over

On leave, Paul was lying in bed in his room, reading a book on the shelf, everything familiar but different. He remembered clearly how he had sorted the books on the shelves and tried to read them, looking at the lines he had drawn, but one by one the words in the books had lost their meaning, nothing was ever the same, and the memories of the battlefield would awaken like a corpse. That's when you really have to face death.

The previous generation lived in the same time and place as themselves, but they had families, careers and hobbies to help them face their lives; the next generation will be separated from themselves because they can't imagine it, and they won't be able to understand what war is. And why should a nineteen-year-old grow up in this way when Paul, who has lived through war, has to fight the world with a gun in his hand at the age when he should love it most? Perhaps this is why Paul was so content to die in battle, because the author would have preferred to have died with his brothers in arms at the front.

After Reading

As a Taiwanese, the problem I have to face is China. I love democracy and freedom, and I was willing to fight for it, but after years of turmoil, reading and converting to Jesus, I have decided to let go of all hatred, because no one is good at war.

George Orwell once said: "All the propaganda of war, all the shouting, lies and hatred, comes from those who do not go to war. Who are the people on the front lines of war? It is the young people, the people who have a great future ahead of them. And who are the people who say they want to start a war? It's the officials who sit in the safest places and give the orders. With a single order, a single agreement, they make the most cruel, disgusting, painful thing in the world the noblest of goals.

Who is right and who is wrong when every nation fights to protect their country? Why should a group of similar humans be trained to kill each other as beasts with weapons? Although most people are highly educated and advocate peace, when there is a conflict with their own interests, they are so desperate to defend their own pathetic sense of 'honour' that the benefits have nothing to do with the soldiers who go to war.

I do not want to be a soldier of honour who sacrifices his life to defend his country, but to kill another human being with flesh and blood and a family, and to see a fellow soldier die before my eyes, with his guts ripped open and mourning all over the place.