All Quiet on the Western Front

With Paul's death, the novel's title takes on a chilling tone. Even on its quiet days, war can be loud to some. Nevertheless, Paul gets his wish, freed from the brutality of war and returned to the earth, the one safe, permanent thing he knows. The war ended officially on November 11, 1918, but it is clear that Paul is better off having died beforehand. Though Paul was ruined for life after the war, Remarque was able to translate his war experiences into one of the most stirring anti-war novels of all time. Although the narrator of the last two paragraphs is anonymous, the reader gets the sense that Remarque is finally allowing himself into the narration. All Quiet on the Western Front is at once a condemnation of nationalism and violence, an examination of alienation and aimlessness, and an ode to the intimate bonds between soldiers in times of horror.