All Quiet on the
Western Front is a graphic depiction of the horrors of war. In the short note before Chapter
One, Remarque
lets the reader know exactly what themes he intends. War is a savage and gratuitous evil, war is
unnatural, and
war is responsible for the destruction of an entire generation. Remarque is very clear on the
strength of his
themes, and uses graphic imagery to convey to the reader the physical and
psychological impact
that war has on
humanity. But Remarque uses more than
graphic description to support his themes.
Remarque
also utilizes a
very defined nature motif, with the forces of nature constantly rebelling
against the conflict it plays
battleground
to. With the Earth itself, the source of
all things, supporting his themes, Remarque has a seemingly
unbiased witness
bearing testament to his observations.
Remarque can use nature as the judge to condemn war,
along with
shocking imagery, so that his literature remains without a trace of
nationalism, political ill will, or
even personal
feelings.
It should be noted that the nature motif
is carried consistently throughout the novel, and that it supports
many of the
author's lesser themes. For the purpose of portraying war as something
terrible, though, the nature
motif is
expressed most dramatically in the following passages. These passages mark the three distinct stages
of
nature's
condemnation of war: rebellion, perseverance, and erasure.
The first passage occurs in Chapter Four
when the troops are trucked out to the front to install stakes and
wire. However, the narrator's squad is attacked
unexpectedly by an English bombardment.
With no visible
enemy to fight,
the soldiers are forced to take cover and live out the bombardment. In the
process, the earth is
shredded and
blown asunder. It is during this melee
that many of the companies' horses are wounded, and begin
to bellow
terribly.
"It is unendurable. It is the moaning
of the world, it is the martyred
creation, wild
with anguish, filled with terror, and groaning."
The bombing subdues, but the bellowing
continues.
"The screaming of the beasts becomes
louder. One can no longer
distinguish
whence in this now quiet silvery landscape it comes; ghostly,
invisible, it is
everywhere, between heaven and earth it rolls on
immeasurably."
Remarque is none too subtle in using the
dying horses as a metaphor for the Earth's own anguish. As the
men face a new
horror, nature is revolting against the damage being done to it. Remarque will return to this
usage of the
nature motif, with war being anomalous and unnatural in the "natural"
world. At the first sign of
war, a
disturbance in the Earth's eternal peace, nature rebels. "...it is the earth itself raging."
The next passage is found in Chapter Six,
where the protagonists have experienced constant battle for
many days.
"The brown
earth, torn, blasted earth, with a greasy shine under the sun's
rays; the earth
is the background of this restless, gloomy world of
automatons..."
The seemingly
hapless and helpless nature can now only persevere. Earth plays the role of the victim, impotent
to the forces
that mutilate it. Whereas in the first
passage, nature accuses man for his aberrance, and reacts
violently, but
ineffectually, against that which torments it.
Now, however, nature is silent. It endures, waiting for
the
unnatural phenomena to pass.
The final passage is more subtle than the
two prior. It is found in Chapter Six,
during the calm after a
massive
struggle. The dead are present
everywhere, and the earth is marred with
innumerable craters. It is in
this quiet that
the narrator makes the following observation:
"My hands grow cold and my flesh
creeps; and yet the night is warm.
Only the mist is
cold, this mysterious mist that trails over the dead and
sucks from them
their last, creeping life. By morning
they will be pale and
green and their
blood congealed and black."
Once again, Remarque uses metaphors with
notable success. The mist, which behaves
abnormally, is the
manifestation of
nature. Nature is slowly and quietly
erasing the traces of its former anguish.
In this instance,
nature is at work
decaying the dead; beginning the relentless process of repairing itself. This final stage in
nature's
condemnation of war can be seen consistently throughout Chapter Eleven, where
the war toils on, but
the seasons pass
indifferently as the dead pile up.
Nature's victory can be seen as the simple ability to outlast its
tormentors. The novel ends with the war's conclusion, and
at the same time, the rejuvenation of the Earth in
those tortured
regions.
What then does Remarque accomplish by
demonstrating these three stages?
Staying consistent with his
themes, Remarque
is emphasizing the horrors and pointlessness of war. But where Remarque uses vivid and
horrific imagery
to make clear the former, the latter is clearly supported in his nature
motifs. By observing the
three stages
above, the reader realizes the insignificance of war. Nature is above it, and greater than any
war.
Despite the
immeasurable impact the war had on those involved, it was but a minor
disturbance to the forces of
nature. The dead decay and the earth mends
itself. All traces of the carnage are
erased, and although the war is
history for
humanity, for nature, the source of life, it has passed.
Remarque has then accomplished his goal in
writing the novel. His theme of
condemning war as a
gratuitous act of
savagery is fully supported with accurate and shockingly graphic imagery. War being both
unnatural and
unnecessary (and ultimately, insignificant) is expressed clearly with the
consistent nature motifs.
And while the
reader is in the state of suspended disbelief, these themes will be conveyed to
him with alarming
clarity. It is at this moment that Remarque has truly
succeeded. The successful utilization of
the nature motifs
have given All
Quiet on The Western Front a voice and emotion all of its own. This voice compels and
influences the
reader; for those immersed in Remarque's haunting novel, war has lost its
glory, its grandeur, and
its meaning.
No comments:
Post a Comment