Extended Essays 2021

Imagining the Unimaginable

By: Noah JAY

How effectively do the authors ErichMaria Remarque and Sebastian Faulks explore the transformative experience of trench warfare on the soldier in All Quiet on the Western Fron t & Birdsong ? World War 1 (WWI) was a uniquely appalling and unimaginably traumatic event that transformed an entire generation of young men. Many soldiers found it difficult to integrate back into society as anyone who did not directly experience the conflict could not understand their suffering. ‘Shell shock’, now better understood as post-traumatic stress disorder, was a common response to the horror they had witnessed. (Crocq & Crocq, 2000). All Quiet on the Western Front and Birdsong both describe life in the trenches during WWI, yet the authors were motivated by different objectives. Remarque was a WWI veteran with first-hand experience of the fighting. In the epigraph to his novel, he wrote, “ This book is intended neither as an accusation nor a confession, but simply as an attempt to give an account of a generation that was destroyed by war – even those of it who survived the shelling. ” (Remarque, 1929). In contrast, Faulks was motivated by a desire to preserve the histories of the men whose experiences were passing out of collective consciousness (Rowe, 2017). He was also interested in exploring his own thoughts about the limits of human behaviour. As he explains, “The biggest historical question in my mind when I began to write this novel was… Why did the men carry on; why were the mutinies so contained? Or, more novelistically: How far can you go and still call yourself human?” (Faulks, 2014). Both novels have comparatively similar themes, yet the authors use significantly different techniques. Remarque writes in the present tense from the first-person perspective of the protagonist, Paul Bäumer, who is a young German infantry soldier. The novel has the feel of a personal journal, and the reader is invited into his world. In contrast, Faulks writes from the third-person perspective of an omniscient narrator, who is removed from the action. The unnamed narrator focuses on several protagonists between multiple scenes and time periods. The narrative switches between interior monologue, direct speech and dramatic irony (Wheeler, 2002). Both authors explore the transformation of soldiers’ relationships, faith and identity as a result of their traumatic experiences of trench warfare. Remarque effectively conveys how the soldiers have become estranged from their families, communities, and former lives. The people who are not involved in the fighting cannot comprehend the brutal and dehumanising experiences of life in the trenches and, consequently, the soldier’s relationship with them is transformed. Upon his return home on leave, Bäumer describes his feelings of alienation from the people in his town, who are incapable of understanding the deprivations of the Front. Some of the older men have strong opinions about the war and believe the soldiers are not doing enough to repel the enemy. They have no understanding of the realities of trench warfare or the resistance they face from the Allied forces. As Bäumer explains, “I suppose I’m the one who has changed in the