Isolation Created By War in All Quiet on the Western Front Luc Deleau 10th Grade

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity” (Eisenhower 1). These are words written by Dwight Eisenhower, a Five Star General in the United States Army, and a veteran soldier from the Second World War. Eisenhower reveals how, although he did not die in the Second World War, he never really survived; the horrific events he endures form memories that stay with him for his entire life. Eisenhower’s inner feeling portray the thoughts of the fictional character Paul Baumer, the protagonist in All Quiet on the Western Front. Isolation is a key reason soldiers kept their hearts closed during the First World War. Through the eyes of Paul Baumer, Erich Remarque, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front, illustrates that along with the isolation from others, soldiers experience isolation from their families, and even themselves during the First World War.

The isolation from others is the most common form of isolation depicted in the novel, and occurring in the First World War. Soldiers train to be detached killing machines, having sympathy for neither comrades nor enemies. After stabbing a French artilleryman, Paul Baumer is forced to watch the enemy soldier die next to...