Importance of Life Revealed in Erich Maria Remarques All Quiet on the

Importance of Life Revealed in Erich Maria Remarques tot all toldy Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarques classic warfare novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, deals with the many ways in which World War I affected states lives, both the lives of soldiers on the breast lines and the lives of people on the homefront. One of the most profound effects the war had was the way it made the soldiers see human bread and butter. Constant kill and destruction became a part of a soldiers insouciant life, and soldiers fighting on all sides of the war became accustomed to it. The atrocities and frequent deaths that the soldiers dealt with desensitized them to the truth of the vast quantities of people demise daily. The title character of the novel, Paul Bumer, and his friends experience the devaluation of human life firsthand, and from these experiences they become stronger and learn to live as if every day were their last. The killing and death of WW I depicted in the n ovel desensitizes Bumer to the reality that death is now a regular and driving force in his life, and that each human life is no longer sacred and precious. Bumer feels great emotion and sadness when one of his childhood friends, Kemmerich, dies early in the war. Bumer expresses his emotional despair after Kemmerichs death, stating, I become faint, all at once I cannot do any more. I wont harm any more, it is senseless, I could drop down and never rise up again (Remarque 32). Because this is one of the first deaths that Bumer witnesses personally and because Bumer and Kemmerich were childhood friends, the emotional impact is even greater. However, not all the deaths of his comrades effect him in such a powerful manner. The fighting gets to a point at which Bumer... ... him. Death, which he once agonized over, is now a daily occurrence and seems commonplace to him. Life, which he once took for granted, is now cherished beyond belief, and holding on to it becomes his greatest preoc cupation. These effects are not restrain yet to Paul Bumer, but extend to all the millions of people that are manifold, directly or indirectly, in the war. WW I has far-reaching impact. It not only touches those in combat on the front lines, but also those who nourishment the soldiers and help to make munitions and supplies on the homefront. Bumer, and the millions of other people involved in WW I, learn the difficult lesson that the most trying experiences in life, or in this case death, are what make us the strongest and what drive us to survive. Works Cited Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. New York Balantine Books, 1928.