Attitudes Towards the War in Regeneration and All Quiet on the Western

...no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice we cannot have both.-- Abraham FlexnerRegeneration is an anti-war novel, reflecting the issues and theconcerns in wartime Britain. any Quiet on the Western Front is also aninfluential anti-war novel and an important chronicle of World War 1.Both are historical fiction set near the end of the war, 1917-1918.The two texts explore similar themes in condemning the war. Remarquesnovel (All Quiet on the Western Front) is a profound statement againstwar, focusing especially on the ravaging effects of war on thehumanity of soldiers. Similarly, Barker (author of Regeneration)offers hard-nosed detail of many flagitious war scenes, dwelling uponthe destruction that war wreaks upon mens minds. These detailscomprise a large portion of the novel.In All Quiet on the Western Front, through the narrative of PaulBumer, a young German soldier, there are constant attacks on theromantic ideals of warfare. The no vel dramatizes the disconnectionbetween high minded rhetoric about patriotism and honour, and theactual horror of trench warfare. Remarque continually stresses thatthe soldiers are not fighting with the abstract ideals of nationalisticspirit in mind they are fighting for their survival. Nothing in thisnovel makes the actual experience of war look attractive.The overriding theme of All Quiet on the Western Front is the terriblebrutality of war, which informs every scene in the novel. It sets outto portray war as it was actually experienced, successor romanticizedversions in preceding novels, with a decidedly unromantic vision offear, meaninglessness, and butchery. World War 1 completely alter... ... large concepts ofduty, sanity, and war.Barker, with her insightful and direct writing style, succeeds inpresenting a microcosm of madness that prevails during war.Regeneration recounts many vivid war scenes, and without drawingconclusions, effectively instils a feeling of vexation aga inst the warinto the reader.In presenting his grimly realistic version of a soldiers experience,Remarque strips away the typical romanticism of war narrative in AllQuiet on the Western Front, providing an grisly portrayal ofcarnage and gore. It is a novel of social protest totally rejectingthe war and nationalistic policies and in doing so, successfullydepicts the many horrors of World War 1. flora Cited Barker, Pat. Regeneration. New York Plume, 2003.Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. New York Ballantine Books, 1984.