All Quiet on the
Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque
Notions of War
Traditional
Reality
Rhetoric
 Sacrifice
 Service
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Brutal
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How did the ‘Great War’ change attitudes to
war/challenge previous conventions and
traditions.
Did it change ways of writing about war?
‘The Charge of the
Light Brigade’
‘Mental Cases’
Wilfred Owen
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Presentation of war
Presentation of war
 …
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- Look at two poems: one an early pre-Great
War poem and the other written during WW1.

- How would their ‘original’ audiences
readings of the poems differed from yours,
and why? What implications are inherent in
the act of reading? (context…)
Implications of ‘reading’…
Reading:
◦ is an active process: you as reader are an active creator, not a
passive recipient of second-hand opinion – you are the maker of
meaning;
◦ can never be innocent: all readings are historically, socially and
individually specific – you bring your own personal context and
experience to the text.
 Meaning:
◦ for an individual reader depends as much on what is brought to
the text (by you) as on what is contained within it – your own
experience will influence the way you read the text;
◦ Will not necessarily be instantly accessible – at this advanced
level of study it is likely that you will need to research difficult
or obscure references/vocabulary before you can tease out
meaning;
◦ Will be different on different occasions and changeable as a
result of discussion/reflection/critical reading;
◦ can be multiple; different readings of a text can co-exist: some
texts are ambiguous or capable of delivering multiple meanings.
It is your own selection of and response to textual evidence
which will determine your own personal interpretation.

Consider the following two
statements and their
implications.

A Soldier's Declaration
I am making this statement as an act of willful defiance of military
authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged
by those who have the power to end it.
I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe
that this war, upon which I entered as a war of defense and liberation, has
now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the
purposes for which I and my fellow-soldiers entered upon this war should
have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change
them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would
now be attainable by negotiation.
I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no
longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to
be evil and unjust.
I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the
political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being
sacrificed.
On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the
deception which is being practiced on them; also I believe that I may help
to destroy the callous complacence with which the majority of those at
home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share, and
which they have not sufficient imagination to realize.
Siegfried L. Sassoon, July 1917
 “This
book is intended neither as an
accusation nor as a confession, but
simply as an attempt to give an
account of a generation that was
destroyed by the war – even those
who survived the shelling.”
What do you think Remarque meant and
intended with this epigraph?
How might it prepare us for what is to
come?
Homework – due N/L

Research Remarque’s life:
◦ Dates;
◦ Places, ….

How was his novel received?
◦ At home and abroad.
◦ Did its reception change?

Read chapters one to five.
◦ In chapter one consider Paul’s discussion of his
teacher.
◦ What effect/impact do you think Remarque
intended with chapter one?
Using the AOs as your starting points, read the scene in which
Paul tells us about his teacher Kantorek.
 Make notes under each AO for this scene.
 Be prepared to feedback.
 E.g.,

◦ AO1
 How do you respond to the characters in this
extract?
◦ AO2
 What do you make of the choice of narrative
viewpoint? What do you notice about the choice of
language?
◦ AO3
 What connection can you make between this text
and other texts from your wider reading
(suggestion: Sassoon’s ’Declaration’).
◦ AO4
 How has Remarque used the context of World War
One in this extract?
Close reading: Chapter One – Paul
remembers his teacher, Kantorek
By the next lesson you will inform the
class which additional text you are going
to be studying for your wider reading.
 You will be presenting your text to the
class in the form of a two sided, typed
handout.
 Your handout will address themes and
links with other reading and will be
strongly focused on the AOs.
 Your handouts will be due the week before
half-term.

Wider Reading Assignment
Dehumaisation

Chapter four: the men are ‘human
animals’; new recruit defecates in his
pants; Paul in the coffin blurs
boundaries between the living and
dead.

Chapter six: fighting with the rats to
preserve their food; animalistic
savagery of battle; killing to release
anxiety and stress, not out of
patriotism.

Chapter seven: how Paul is ‘seen’ by
the French woman compared to how
he wants to be ‘seen’; how he is
treated by people at home.

Chapter eight: Russian soldiers.

Chapter nine: Paul’s face-to-face kill.

Your suggestions…
dehumanisation
The brutalities of
war strip away the
moral and
mannered aspects
of human
beings…trace
Remarque’s
treatment of
‘dehumanisation’
in the novel with
specific reference
to key scenes.
Read up to and including chapter 9.
 Make notes for each chapter on how
Remarque presents the loss of humanity
and dignity.
 Keep the AOs strongly in mind when
making your notes.

Homework: for next lesson
The presentation of
nature
and the
realities of trench
warfare.
Read the extract from D.H. Lawrence and
then chose a scene from All Quiet that
considers nature and the realities of
trench warfare.
 Compare the writers’ treatment of these
two themes.
 Make notes (AO specific).

The presentation of nature and the
realities of trench warfare.

Chapter four:
◦ “The earth explodes
in front of us.”

Chapter six:
realities of trench
warfare.

Chapters:
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
one/two;
tree/four;
five/six;
seven/eight;
chapter nine.
Task/Homework:
Finish reading the novel.
Consider Remarque’s use of nature
throughout the novel with specific reference
to key scenes.
The presentation of nature and the
realities of trench warfare.