All Quiet on the Western Front
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque

All Quiet on the Western Front Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

Sometimes, there’s more to Lit than meets the eye.

Iron

In the book we hear the term "The Iron Youth" used to describe Paul's generation. "The Iron Youth" is an ideal of a strong Fatherland-lovin' group of young soldiers who enlist and fight in the war...

The River

The guys gather at the river's edge and swim naked across to a home apparently rented by a bunch of French women. The river is a natural break between the land of brutality and gunshots and the lan...

Kemmerich's Boots

Like the pants in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (what happened to the pants?!), the boots get passed around. Unfortunately, unlike the denim flavor, these boots kill whoever wears them; or...

Religion

Where there is war, there is death, and where there is lots of death, we would expect a discussion of higher powers and afterlife. However, there aren't many religious symbols to speak of in this s...

Quiet

If you're looking for a task that will take you, oh, all week to complete, count how many times the word "quiet" appears in this novel. We didn't have that much time on our hands, but we'll just sa...

Nature

The Earth is painted as a living thing that is accosted and then destroyed by bombs and blood. It both comforts and shelters characters from the assault of weapons raining from above. The land is r...

Rats

Remy may be an adorably charming rat of Ratatouille fame, and he may have put rats on the proverbial map, making us realize how cool they can be – but rats are bad news in All Quiet on the We...
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