Christian Hamp-Gattorna
April 15, 2018
Night and All Quiet on the Western Front Essay
War can often be romanticized by media in an effort to garner support from the citizens of the participating country. Examples of this can range from propaganda, yellow journalism, and other methods that are built to rally support against the opposition. In reality, however, war is characterized by horrific battles and brutality that is unimaginable to the common man. Unfortunately, the world has suffered two World Wars that changed the way people see people. In both All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and Night by Elie Wiesel, the terror and brutality that defined the two wars is documented in detail by two brave men who experienced it all first hand. Although World War I and World War II occurred for different reasons, in a different time, with different participants, the events that Erich and Elie experienced are awfully comparable.
Of all the tragedies that are experienced in war, loss sits at the peak of them all. For those who experience it, this loss can be the loss of a loved one, or a loss of faith. The young boys alongside Paul are all convinced to volunteer for the war to prove their allegiance to their country. One of the boys who stepped up and ultimately set the standard for the rest of his classmates, Joseph Blehm, was one of the first to die in World War I. This death, however, was only the first of several that took place during his time in the war. Similarly, for Wiesel, the loss of people he cared about occurred rather quickly. Upon his arrival at the concentration camp in Birkenau, Elie and his father are separated from his brother and sister. Although it was not immediately obvious that the two were most likely killed, the incident draws parallels to the loss that Remarque experienced early on in his stint with the military.
The loss of Joseph Blehm and Wiesel’s mother and sister mark the beginning of Paul’s and Elie’s loss of faith, and was definitely not the end. As a result of Blehm’s death so early on in the war, Paul and his classmates almost instantly lost faith and trust in authoritative figures such as their teacher that convinced them to volunteer for the war. He says “. . . in our hearts we trusted them. The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our minds with a greater insight and a more humane wisdom” (pg. 12 Remarque). This alone shows how much they idolized and respected their authoritative figures. He then goes on to describe how betrayed he feels to be tricked into experiencing these horrific events. Elie experiences a similar loss in faith, when they are chosen for labor or death. After Elie and his father are selected for labor, Elie’s father begins to pray a prayer for the dead alongside the other prisoners. Elie, however, begins to question what they have God to thank for in this time of tragedy and death. His questioning marks the beginning in a loss of his faith in God.
Another type of loss that the characters, and by extension, the writers of these novels experienced was a loss of identity. They both make note of characteristics that have begun to alter as a result of their wartime experiences. For Paul, while he’s in the barracks, he begins to look back on his passion for poetry, and his parents. He soon comes to realize how cut off from life he has become as a result of the war. He no longer wishes to write poetry, but rather live in the moment, with only the facts at his hands. He essentially feels cut off from life and humanity because this is the only significant thing that defines his life. He makes a remark about this after he returns home and says, "I find I do not belong here any more, it is a foreign world” (pg. 169 Remarque). Elie also suffers a similar change in character when his father is beaten by Idek, who was in charge of Elie’s labor unit. He realizes that in the moment, he was less concerned of his father’s well-being and safety, but rather his own survival. The hanging of the young boy in the square at the center of the camp marked the end of Wiesel’s innocence that he once held as a teenager in Hungary. He no longer identified with the young boy who studied all day, but rather one who’s day was marked by hoping for survival and witnessing tragedy firsthand. He remarks how “[he] was putting one foot in front of the other, like a machine. [He] was dragging this emaciated body that was still such a weight” (pg. 103 Wiesel). Even after his and his father’s grueling journey to Buchenwald, selfish tendencies such as wanting to keep food for himself rather than giving them to his sickly father come to light.
World War I and World War II, despite making distinct, but different, marks on history, changed the way these two men viewed the world. Although the direct experiences of Elie Wiesel and Erich Maria Remarque are different in the events they witnessed, it is clear that they both suffered from a similar loss in values and those they cared for. Remarque experienced brutality of war on the front lines, on the receiving end of bomb shells, bullets, and the like. Wiesel was forced to watch those who shared his religious beliefs wither away, with nothing he could do. Each document how they changed as people as the events transpired, slowly but surely losing faith in those that they once respected and valued, as well as noting the direct change in their personalities and tendencies. At the end of both of these tragic times in history, it is insightful to analyze the daunting similarities that these two suffered during their respective time period.