All Quiet on the Western Front

          In Barron's Notes, Christine R. Barker and R. W. Last analyze the philosophy of Erich Maria Remarque’s modern classic All Quiet on the Western Front. They believe  the book to theorize that the world has fallen so far into decay that it no longer makes sense. This worldview is justified through the eyes of one who is not Christian, but not for one who is saved.

         Barron's Notes states that “human existence can no longer be regarded as having any ultimate meaning.” They accredit this, not to the inabilities of the characters to reason, but to the near impossibility of seeing order and reason in a world of hate and violence. The authors of Barron's Notes wrote that “Remarque refuses to lull his reader into a false sense of security, into thinking that God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.”

         The idea that the Remarque did not write All Quiet on the Western Front to have any “ultimate meaning” is correct. The main character joined for the glory and camaraderie, but left saying “Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear. The life that has borne me through these years is still in my hands and my eyes. Whether I have subdued it, I know not. But so long as it is there it will seek its own way out, heedless of the will that is within me.”The men instinctively do not want to make sense of war, in all its murder and hellishness.  In that, they do not want to see God as being involved in that war, for they do not truly believe that such a Being could permit such chaos if He were not Himself violently disposed.

           In truth, life is to be lived for the glory of God, and all people are called to worship Him (Romans 15:7-12). Without a grasp on the ultimate will of God, one can not make sense of the way the world works. When such an understanding is reached,life, event

         Barron's Notes demonstrates rather accurately the ideology behind All Quiet on the Western Front. The hopelessness and helplessness exhibited in Remarque’s classic is symbolic of the philosophies of many people worldwide. All Quiet on the Western Front shows the often-made choice to refuse to understand the purpose behind an action in defense of a sin-stricken humanity, and people that shaped history begin to fall into line that points towards the second coming of Jesus Christ.