Throughout the course of humanity’s history, world-changing events are recorded in various literary works and expressed in their different manners. With the two largest wars in the twentieth century, World War I and World War II, came along numerous anti-war novels that paint war’s true colors. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, two of the most well-known anti-war books from the last century, tell the tales of soldiers’ wartime experiences. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the storyline follows Paul Bäummer, a once eager German youth who has ended up at the Western Front during World War I. Alongside his fellow classmates and others, Paul becomes aware of war’s brutality as well
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In All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrative style is quite orthodox, with the novel possessing a linear and chronological timeline. At the beginning of the novel, Paul and his fellow classmates are known as “the Iron Youth” (All Quiet, 18), which resonates with their ages, around eighteen or nineteen.The storyline follows Paul as he spends the next two years fighting horrid conflicts, both internal and external. Slowly, the war progresses and battle after battle, these once fresh recruits turn into war-torn veterans and Paul’s once hopeful self is no longer present. Eventually, the novel leads to Paul realizing the war has altered his life into one of “despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow” (All Quiet, 263). This chronological writing structure gives the reader a straightforward tale of a soldier who has seen the hideousness of war. By the use of the linear style, Remarque can build on Paul’s character, with every page turn adding depth to him — finally leading to a mentally-changed, new Paul Bäummer. In contrast to this, Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five has an unconventional narrative style. In the novel, the author shares Billy’s story in a highly unorganized manner, with Vonnegut having him jump around from one point in time to another. In chapter one, the novel’s prelude, the author goes as far as saying “It [the story] begins like this:” and “It ends like this:” (Slaughterhouse, 22), further expressing Vonnegut’s capricious nature when it comes to writing. As Billy jumps around on the time spectrum, the reader gets small glimpses and pieces that show the effect war has had on Billy. By the end of the novel, the reader has obtained enough information to put all these pieces together, forming one large plot line that
In All Quiet on the Western Front, the narrative style is quite orthodox, with the novel possessing a linear and chronological timeline. At the beginning of the novel, Paul and his fellow classmates are known as “the Iron Youth” (All Quiet, 18), which resonates with their ages, around eighteen or nineteen.The storyline follows Paul as he spends the next two years fighting horrid conflicts, both internal and external. Slowly, the war progresses and battle after battle, these once fresh recruits turn into war-torn veterans and Paul’s once hopeful self is no longer present. Eventually, the novel leads to Paul realizing the war has altered his life into one of “despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow” (All Quiet, 263). This chronological writing structure gives the reader a straightforward tale of a soldier who has seen the hideousness of war. By the use of the linear style, Remarque can build on Paul’s character, with every page turn adding depth to him — finally leading to a mentally-changed, new Paul Bäummer. In contrast to this, Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five has an unconventional narrative style. In the novel, the author shares Billy’s story in a highly unorganized manner, with Vonnegut having him jump around from one point in time to another. In chapter one, the novel’s prelude, the author goes as far as saying “It [the story] begins like this:” and “It ends like this:” (Slaughterhouse, 22), further expressing Vonnegut’s capricious nature when it comes to writing. As Billy jumps around on the time spectrum, the reader gets small glimpses and pieces that show the effect war has had on Billy. By the end of the novel, the reader has obtained enough information to put all these pieces together, forming one large plot line that