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Title: A Comparative Analysis of Hemingways A Farewell to Arms and Erich Remarques All
Quiet on the Western Front
Discussing the historical events and literature of the early 20th century is next to
impossible without acknowledging the prominence World War I and the effect it had on the
people that made up what became known as The Lost Generation. After all, numerous of
literatures most widely-known figures came out of this era. Two widely-known authors that
played a particularly significant role during this era are Erich Maria Remarque and Ernest
Hemingway. Remarque and Hemingway both participated in World War 1 in their own right and
were deeply affected by their experiences from their involvement in the conflict. Remarque, a
German, experienced the war on the Western Front; meanwhile, Hemingway served as an
American Red Cross ambulance driver in the Italian Army. Despite serving on opposite sides of
the war, both Remarque and Hemingway, like the rest of their generation, were deeply affected
by their experience in World War 1. The effect their war-time experiences had on them is evident
in the role the Great War played in each of their respective novels: Remarques All Quiet on the
Western Front and Hemingways A Farewell to Arms.
In order to fully understand these novels, it is essential to read through a new historicist
lens and consider the historical context of the time. New historicism is founded mostly in the
writings of Stephen Greenblatt, widely-considered the founder of this literary theory. New
historicism emphasizes the historical context of a literary work by relating it to the role and
presence of power, society, or ideology in a given time period. As evident in reading through a
new historicist literary lens, the protagonists in Hemingways A Farewell to Arms and
Remarques All Quiet on the Western Front represent the isolation, struggles, and camaraderie of
the Lost Generation that came as a result of World War I; additionally, the themes of the novels

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provided insight that showed the true nature of war, one in which many of its readers could relate
to on a personal level.
New historicism is essential to understanding these two particular novels because they are
seen as the definitive World War I novels. Both novels were not only widely-sold and
tremendously popular, but also were subject to great controversy. The Nazi regime, which was
rising to power at the time of the release of All Quiet on the Western Front, criticized Remarque
to the extent that they claimed he was not a German, but a French Jew using the penname
Remarque in place of his alleged actual name Remark (Wagener 33). The Nazis included All
Quiet on the Western Front in their book burnings of literature that was seen as unpatriotic or
conveying messages against the nationalist ideals of the German government. An important
consideration when it comes to understanding new historicism relates to Greenblatts essay on
The Circulation of Social Energy. In this essay Greenblatt discusses that through a new
historicist lens, a reader can capture a glimpse into the time in which a literary work was written,
Whereas most collective expressions move from their original setting to a new place or time are
dead on arrival, the social energy encoded in certain works of art continues to generate the
illusion of life for centuries (558). What Greenblatt means by this is that it can be difficult for a
reader from an entirely different era and generation to fully understand what life was like in a
given time period. But when considering the social energy and social context of a given place
and time, a reader can see and understand how the social and historical context of a time
determines how individuals act and respond. Through the literary thought of new historicism,
texts increasingly began to be seen as the result of a socially interactive process (Meyer 592). By
understanding the social energy of the World War I era, the reader can better envision the
differing, yet similar, interpretations of the Great War and related experiences by the two

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aforementioned authors. Consequently, in order to fully understand the themes and overall
messages of these two literary works, a new historicist lens is necessary. After all, it is widelyrecognized that the protagonists of Frederic Henry in A Farewell to Arms, and Paul Bamer in
All Quiet on the Western Front, are in fact extensions of the authors themselves. Additionally, the
events of the novels coincide with the authors own war-time experiences. It is particularly
beneficial to read the text from a new historicist lens because not only does it capture the social
context of a given time period, but also helps the reader capture any commentary the author is
making on the time period through the text and its characters. A part of what makes these works
so prominent is that they describe the negatives aspects of society, government, and war within
the context of their time. It is because of the social implications the authors seem to make in their
novels regarding World War I that their novels were controversial for many readers.
Although each protagonist enters World War I for different reasons, each character feels a
sense of betrayal by their government and their fathers generation for enabling the Great War
and its resulting atrocities to take place. This sense of betrayal creates a disconnection between
the generation that fought in the war, namely the generation in which the characters Henry and
Bamer belong, and their fathers generation. Although each character feels disconnected from
their home countrys government and previous generation because of the Great War, the method
in which the disconnection occurred differs. To begin with, Henry feels a disconnection with his
home countrys government because as an American, he is participating in a war that did not
involve the United States yet, given the setting of the novel. Not unlike Hemingway himself,
Henry is an American serving as a Red Cross ambulance driver in the Italian Army. Passive in
nature, Henry was not drafted; nor was he particularly driven to involve himself in the war by
volunteering. When Henry is asked about how he ended up serving in the Italian army as an

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American he passively shrugs it off without any clear explanation because there wasnt one
particular reason for him (17). As a foreigner in Italy, Henry already felt isolated from his home
country simply because he was away from the United States. Henry seems to ride the wave of
opportunity, with no particular direction he intends to take. However, after becoming involved in
the war as an ambulance driver, that feeling of isolation as a foreigner with a role in a foreign
army only became more pronounced. One particularly striking moment of disconnection with his
home country was an incident in which Henry had to salute a superior Italian officer, I saluted
and went out. It was impossible to salute foreigners as an Italian, without embarrassment. The
Italian salute never seemed made for export (21). It is understandable that Henry would feel
uncomfortable conducting an Italian salute as an American, because at the end of the day he is
not Italian. This emphasizes the disconnection between himself and the United States, because
although he is in the Italian army, the country of Italy does not claim him as their own.
Meanwhile, since the United States is not involved in the war at this point of the novel, the
United States cannot claim him as its own in the American army. Additionally, Henry is
disconnected from his father and his fathers generation because he no longer has a father figure
in his life since he left the United States for Italy. Consequently, there is no particular incentive
for him to return to his homeland and no one from his fathers generation seems to look out for
Henry and provide him the guidance expected from a father figure. Henry does not have a
particular incentive to participate in the war in the first place. This passive approach shows when
he explains why he is not concerned for his own well-being in the war, Well, I knew I would not
be killed. Not in this war. It did not have anything to do with me. It seemed no more dangerous
to me myself than war in the movies (Hemingway 35). The disconnection from a home country
leads Henry to perceive the war as no more of a threat than a football game.

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On the other hand, Bamer became disconnected with his home country, Germany, due
his inevitable participation in the Great War because of the nationalist ideals of the German
government and his fathers generation. This is a significant driving point in the overall theme of
All Quiet on the Western Front, because Bamer and all his classmates enlisted or were drafted
into the war after being pressured by his father and high school teachers who mercilessly
promoted the nationalist cause for the Great War. Bamer blames the members of his fathers
generation for allowing the Great War to take place, a war that has claimed the lives of too many
of his friends. Due to his war-time experiences, Bamer in one particular monologue questions
everything his fathers generation taught him,
I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous
superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another,
and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. I see that
the keenest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more refined and
enduring. And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see
these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me. What would our
fathers do if we suddenly stood up and came before them and proffered our account?
(194)
In this passage, Bamer questions why his fathers generation, whose obligation as
fathers and mothers was to seek the overall well-being of their children, would allow the despair
and destruction of the Great War take place. Not only does Bamer question how they could
allow the Great War to take place, but also how they could encourage their children to participate
in such a horrific and destructive war. As more and more of Bamers friends and comrades are
killed in the war, the disparity between the two generations is only magnified. As a result of his

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experiences in the war, Bamer feels betrayed by his fathers generation. The betrayal Bamer
feels from his fathers generation comes as a result of the common concept on the role a father
should play in his sons life. Wagener describes the concept of this role of fathers and how it
wasnt fulfilled by the generation prior to Bamers, The youths belief that their elders have
greater insight and wisdom was shattered by their sight of the first war casualties (Wagener 14).
Once Bamer and the rest of his classmates and comrades experienced the war for what it really
is, it was only a natural response to question everything they have ever been taught by the older
generation. They questioned everything and rightfully so, as the older generation of the time
period not only allowed, but also encouraged their participation in the Great War that violently
took the lives of his classmates, comrades, and friends. Through the protagonists they created,
Hemingway and Remarque provided their readers the opportunity to understand the different
ways members of the Lost Generation became disconnected from the world they knew. Whether
the root of the disconnection was, like Henry, through physical means of living in a different
country or, like Bamer, fighting in a war solely for your governments nationalist ideals, a
disconnection existed for those involved in the war.
Furthermore, the disconnection that was established between generations occurred simply
because war changes a man; consequently, the characters of Henry and Bamer felt a fish-bowl
effect when they returned to the civilian world. They often felt like foreigners when returning
home on leave; partly because while everyone saw glory and honor in war, the soldiers saw and
experienced war for how it really is. Even on the surface the effect the war had on Bamer was
clear, as civilians would follow him with their gaze as he walked home from the train station,
down-trodden and dirty in his military uniform (117). The passage referenced here enables the
reader to understand the fish-bowl effect, as it seemed to Bamer that everyone was watching

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him intently, silently judging him from an outside perspective. This fish-bowl effect is
something many soldiers during this time and even today feel when back in the civilian world.
The feeling of being perceived as a foreigner at home and at the front only adds to the feeling of
isolation soldiers such as the character Bamer felt.
Henry felt the same way as Bamer did when he escaped to Switzerland, where there was
no military presence whatsoever, The war seemed as far away as the football games of someone
elses college. But I knew from the papers that they were still fighting in the mountains because
the snow would not come (259). For Henry, being in Switzerland and away from the front
seemed to be an entirely different world, in which he again was the foreigner in every sense of
the word. Despite this, Henry still understood that the war was still going on without him. But
the civilians around him couldnt possibly understand the war and its presence in the same way
Henry had experienced it in the Italian army. The Swiss, being a part of a neutral country, had
nothing to do with the war. Therefore, having an individual who was involved in the war, such as
Henry, was uncommon and naturally only magnified Henrys sense of isolation. Henry decided
to leave the Italian army and the war for Switzerland because the young soldiers in retreat began
killing the men they believed were responsible for it. As a result, being a foreigner in an Italian
army, Henry understood he would be considered a scapegoat and killed, so he escaped (200).
Due to the outlook of the war and the frustration of the soldiers, a foreigner like Henry became
an easy scapegoat. Consequently, Henry determined it was time for him to flee for safety with
Catherine because his time in the war was up. After Catherines death, however, Henry truly
became alone and isolated.
The experience of death and destruction at every turn at the front lines changed the way
both Henry and Bamer viewed life. The change was so evident that when they were removed

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from the war on leave, civilian life just wasnt the same. Bamer recognizes that home is not the
same because the war has changed him, It is I of course that have changed in the interval. There
lies a gulf between that time and to-day... But now I see that I have been crushed without
knowing it. I find I do not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world (125). Bamer understands
that life at home will never be the same for him after his time at the front. He also recognizes that
no one else in the civilian world could possibly understand why, as they had not seen what he has
experienced. Friends and family at home and far from the war did not see the dismembered
bodies in the trees, the cries for help and blood-curdling screams, the sound of collapsing lungs
due to toxic gas, and the bodies of comrades that at one moment were full of life but then were
quickly silenced by artillery. These were just some of the things soldiers were exposed to in the
war that civilians simply could not comprehend because they never experienced or seen them.
Due to their experiences, soldiers like Bamer no longer saw any purpose in a life at home when
there was so much death and destruction at the front. One of the most frustrating aspects of the
war for Bamer was the fact that he had no means to escape the war. If Bamer abandoned his
post at the front, he would face consequences from military personnel as well as the government.
Bamer was drafted and obligated to serve. Were he to abandon his unit he would embarrass not
only himself and his family, but he and his family would potentially face political and social
discrimination as well. Consequently, Bamer now prefers to be alone so that no one troubles
him about the war; because everybody has an opinion about the war despite the fact they have no
personal involvement in it (125). This only strengthens the feeling of isolation that the character
of Bamer feels from the civilian world; additionally, this feeling is one that related to a majority
of the World War I soldiers of that time.

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Although the war changed Bamer so that he preferred to be alone, the war changed
Henry so much so that he did something completely out of the ordinary for him. He began the
war as a passive participant driving an ambulance. But after his wounding, comrades and friends
assumed he did something heroic when he was wounded despite the fact he did not. Later on in
the novel, Henry shoots and kills a deserting Italian soldier (182). The reader may be surprised
by this; however, Hemingway through this scene relays to the reader how war can make one do
something completely out of his or her nature. Henry, it can be presumed, killed the deserting
soldier almost as a way of substantiating his wounding and justifying his combat experience as it
relates to military medals and social standing. Ultimately, though, Henry killed a comrade. He
killed a fellow soldier who had family and friends at home, a future, and a civilian life ahead of
him. Henry killed him simply because he was abandoning the unit he was with. This is
something that the passive Henry from the beginning of the novel would not do. However, his
wartime experience and wounding changed his outlook on life and the war, and so became
capable of committing this murder. He saw killing the other soldier as justified because he lost
respect for the value of life. The reader sees this loss of respect for the sanctity of life again later
in the novel when Henry feels no particular connection for his still-born son (287). Despite the
difference in how the war changed their characters, the authors are showing their readers how
much World War I was affecting its participants.
A source of the change that their characters undergo largely results from dealing with
death on a regular basis in war; consequently the characters, not unlike the soldiers of World War
I, relied on their comrades as coping mechanisms. Remarque and Hemingway in their novels
highlighted the different devastating things soldiers were exposed to on a regular basis. The
character of Bamer is a prime example of the price that war takes on a soldier and his friends.

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Over the course of the war, he witnessed the deaths of his high school classmates, comrades, and
friends. Due to the fast-paced nature of combat, the overbearing presence of death, and in order
to maintain his own sanity, Bamer suppresses his emotions and avoids reflecting on the deaths
of his friends. Living and fighting at the front is strenuous so much so that soldiers cannot afford
to allow the deaths of their comrades to weigh them down and distract them. For if their attention
is on their dead comrades, whose death they can no longer do anything about, they become
susceptible of making a mistake and suffering the same fate. Bamer describes this outlook on
death at the front, We want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with feelings
which, though they might be ornamental enough in peacetime, would be out of place herebut
what has it to do with us now-we live (104). It is clear in this excerpt that death and devastation
is everywhere on the front lines. This passage also provides a window for the reader to
understand the mentality that is needed at the front in order to survive.
It is not only the over-bearing presence of death that weighs on the soldiers, but also the
wounds of the survivors as well. Bamer, after being wounded and recovering in a military
hospital, reflects on the widespread presence of military hospitals filled with hundreds of
thousands of wounded soldiers across France, Russia, and Germany (193). The magnitude of
military hospitals and wounded soldiers across the map solidifies how massive and destructive
World War I really was. Consequently, Remarques focus on the devastating aspects of war
largely was focused on the wounding and deaths of its soldiers.
Hemingway, on the other hand, focuses on the ever-hanging presence of uncertainty of
death that the soldiers feel. At any given moment, a soldier or comrade can be wounded, killed,
or captured. The way in which Henry was wounded represents the uncertainty of the front lines.
Henry was wounded while he and others were eating cheese at the front; however, because

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civilians and other personnel do not fully understand the reality of the front they assume that
Henry must have done something heroic when he was wounded (59). It is difficult for someone
who never experienced a war front to comprehend the idea that it is possible to be wounded or
even killed while doing something as simple as eating cheese. This leads soldiers and military
personnel alike to be on edge and alert at all times and never being truly comfortable or at ease.
Hemingway also shows that it is not always necessarily shrapnel, grenades, or artillery that could
take the life of a soldier. As Henry describes in A Farewell to Arms, disease was wide-spread and
took a devastating toll on the soldiers at the front, At the start of the winter came the permanent
rain and with the rain came the cholera. But it was checked and in the end only seven thousand
died of it in the army (4). The particularly striking point within this excerpt is that only seven
thousand died of cholera. A disease that takes the lives of seven thousand people easily can be
classified as an epidemic. But for Henry, seven thousand seems to be a trivial number of deaths
in relation to other combat-related deaths. The lack of concern Henry has just goes to show how
devastating the war was: that seven thousand deaths from disease was not much of a big deal.
Ultimately, not only did soldiers such as Henry and Bamer have to deal with surviving combat
at the front, but also had to maintain their health and well-being in such poor conditions so that
they would not succumb to the fate of wide-spread infections and disease.
Additionally, both Remarque and Hemingway convey the destructive nature of war as
their characters Bamer and Henry witnessed the destruction that the countryside and landscape
around them suffered as a result of the war. Soldiers at the front developed a deep connection
with the land they fought on, as the earth can save a soldiers life. Bamer describes the
relationship that soldiers developed with the earth, one in which the earth serves as a shelter from
enemy fire (43). Bamers reflection at this point of the novel provides insight into how soldiers

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at the front used the earth around them as a source of protection from artillery and other
weaponry. Soldiers used craters, trees, rocks, anything they could that they deemed to be helpful
in their quest for survival at the front. But even the land around them became devastated because
of the war, as the reader envisions when Henry describes an oak forest that was green and lush in
the summertime, but was depleted to nothing but stumps by the time winter came (6). For some
soldiers, this devastated land was home. For those soldiers, to see their beloved homeland
depleted and destroyed added to the over-bearing presence of death and destruction all around
them.
Ultimately, the presence of uncertainty and death all around them takes a toll on the
soldiers on the front, and so they must find ways to cope with it in order to survive. For the
majority of soldiers, they relied on each other due to the shared experience of fighting at the front
and the uncertainty of their fate. Bamer describes his relationship with Kat, which exemplifies
how simply having someone to share a traumatic experience with has created a special bond
between the two, We are two men, two minute sparks of life; outside is the night and the circle
of deathFormerly we should not have had a single thought in common-now we sit with a
goose between us and feel in unison, are so intimate that we do not even speak (72). The
relationship between these two characters is the epitome of what camaraderie means to soldiers
fighting at the front. Due to their shared experience of war, death, and destruction, there is an
understanding between them that does not require any communication. By simply sharing a
presence together, as Wagener describes, they provide each other comfort and support throughout
these devastating and traumatic experiences of life and death at the front, Comradeship as
described here then is not so much a love for individual persons as a feeling of community with

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those who are daily threatened by death (24). This sense of community creates the foundation
that enables the close relationships that are developed through their common experiences.
Remarque and Hemingway present in their novels how developing close relationships
with comrades can be beneficial despite the unintended side effect of making it more difficult to
cope with the absence of a wounded or killed comrade. It was a common occurrence for a soldier
to keep a memento or any particular form of personal belonging as a way of remaining connected
to his comrade. Rinaldis actions, as the character in A Farewell to Arms that is a close friend and
roommate of Henrys, exemplifies this common response when he keeps Henrys tooth-brushing
glass after Henry is wounded and spends months away rehabilitating in a military hospital.
Rinaldi kept the tooth-brushing glass because it would remind him of Henry brushing his teeth of
Villa Rosa, swearing, and eating aspirin the morning after a night of drinking (151). In this way,
Rinaldi was able to make a difficult time for himself, one in which he was alone because of
Henrys wounding, into a time in which he can reflect on the positive experiences hes had with
Henry. Consequently, he was able to stay positive at a time when he was often alone in his
thoughts of nearly losing his best friend and comrade. This goes to show the deep connection
between comrades and how they would cope with losing their close friends in order to remain
positive and mentally capable of carrying on in the war.
Another example of ways soldiers would remain connected with their lost or fallen
comrades is found in All Quiet on the Western Front, as Bamer and his comrades pass along
the boots of their fallen friend Kemmerich (40). This is significant because not only does Bamer
and his comrades keep a connection with Kemmerich after he is killed by keeping his boots, but
they make functional use of them as well. It did not make sense to them to have Kemmerichs
boots, which were in good condition, taken with the rest of his belongings by the army when one

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of them could make practical use out of them. Ultimately, the passing on and inheritance of
Kemmerichs boots was a method in which his friends and comrades could retain a personal
connection with Kemmerich after his death while making practical use of his boots in the
process.
All in all, both authors in Hemingway and Remarque develop the relationships between
their characters to highlight the fact that comradeship is, in fact, the only good thing to come out
of the war for those involved. Remarque explicitly states this when Bamer expresses his
opinion about the relationships he developed with his friends and comrades through their shared
experience of training camp and the war itself, But by far the most important result was that it
awakened in us a strong, practical sense of esprit de corps, which in the field developed into the
finest thing that arose out of the war-comradeship (22). Comradeship and the relationships that
were developed as a result of the traumatic war-time experiences were not only what made the
war somewhat tolerable, but also the only positive thing to come out of the experience. The
esprit de corps that Bamer is referring to was a necessary part of a soldier being capable of
surviving the war. Developing this camaraderie is one of the primary functions of boot camp, as
being able to rely on one another and developing the shared experience of war enables the
soldiers to remain mentally and physically stable during battle.
In order to cope with the trauma of war, not only did soldiers rely on their comrades, but
used women as a means of release from the trauma of war as well. During the era these novels
take place in, during World War I in the early 19th century, women held few personal freedoms
and were largely confined to their domestic roles as mothers and home-keepers. Women, in some
countries such as the United States, at the time did not even have voting rights and were just
beginning the suffrage movement. Despite these short-comings in social standing, the Great War

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was a cataclysmic event for women just as much as men (Goldman 128). Remarque and
Hemingway feature the roles women had in the war in different ways. For Remarques
characters, one of the most practical uses for women for soldiers was in the form of whorehouses
and brothels. Evidence of what it was like for a woman during this part of history can be found
when Bamer and his comrades go great lengths risking not only military punishment for going
absent without leave, but also going to a house of girls in enemy territory in order to spend
significant and intimate time copulating with them (112). Bamer and his friends took these great
risks because copulating with these girls served as a source of distraction and release from their
war-time experiences. It also gave them a sense of a return to normalcy by spending time away
from the male-dominated front. This is one of the few times and only role women play in the
novel, which speaks to the nature of womens roles in society at this particular time of history.
However, womens roles in novels set at this time was not restricted solely to the purpose
of copulation, as developing intimate relationships with women gave soldiers a sense of
normalcy as well. This use for women during the war is highlighted by Hemingway in his novel.
These intimate relationships gave soldiers the sense of comfort that comes with knowing that
their life was not only going to consist only of fighting and dying in the war but to form a family
with his significant other and return to civilian life after the war. Hemingway uses the intimate
relationship between Henry and Catherine Barkley, a British nurse, to exemplify how these
relationships were a way for soldiers to retain the impression that they have a normal life and
will return to one after the war. But the relationship between Henry and Catherine did not begin
with those intentions, as Henry describes, I did not care what I was getting intoI knew I did
not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which
you said things instead of playing cards (29). As this excerpt suggests, Henrys outlook parallels

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the mindset of Bamer and his comrades: that women were an objective to be attained, a source
of distraction, and a release from the traumas of war. Henry was simply looking for way to
copulate with Catherine, and would say or do whatever necessary to do so. However, he quickly
developed a liking and eventually a new-found intimate attraction to her, I had treated seeing
Catherine very lightly, I had gotten somewhat drunk and had nearly forgotten to come but when I
could not see her there I was feeling lonely and hollow (84). As Henry and Catherine spent
more time together, they began dating and developing a personal relationship with each other.
Their relationship is taken to an even deeper level when Henry is wounded and taken to the same
military hospital at which Catherine has been placed; this allows Catherine to take personal care
to Henrys wounds and enabling them to deepen their relationship (83). Developing personal and
intimate relationships with the nurses that cared for them was somewhat of a common
occurrence for soldiers of this time. Soldiers found that having an intimate relationship with a
caring and personal figure, such as a nurse, easily coincides with the attributes found in wives
and mothers. The search for normalcy by forming an intimate relationship during the war was
largely a mutual experience as well, The war brings Frederic and Catherine together; it creates
their dread and wish for comfort and consolation...their extreme insistence on becoming and
being the other and finding solace and safety there (Cain 378-379). Thus this solidifies the point
that soldiers developed these intimate relationships because thats what they would be doing
were they at home in the civilian world, as opposed to fighting in the war at the front.
Consequently, Hemingway used the character of Catherine Barkley and her role in the novel of
having a deep, personal relationship with Henry as a way of conveying to the reader another
method in which soldiers coped with the traumas and experiences of war.

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Both authors convey through their characters the theme that the young soldiers of the Lost
Generation, those that enlisted or were drafted into the army during or after high school, had
their educational foundation compromised due to their traumatic war-time experiences. This
point coincides with the lost trust that developed between the soldiers and the influential figures
of the older generation. Additionally, they had nothing waiting for them in a return to the civilian
world as they had no occupation or family to return to, as some of the older soldiers did. This
lack of an established foundation only magnified the sense of loss many young soldiers felt, thus
becoming known as the Lost Generation in the first place. The character of Bamer summarizes
this sense of loss that young soldiers felt, and how they came to feel that way through their
experiences,
We are not youth any longer. We dont want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing.
We fly from ourselves. From our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and
the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in
our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such
things no longer, we believe in the war (67).
As commonplace for a young man fresh out of high school, ambitious to make a life for
himself, the young soldiers of the World War I era entered the war to make something substantial
out of their lives and to play a significant role in accomplishing their countrys nationalist cause.
Richard Van Emden explains how so many young men were easily persuaded to join the war
movement in the The Rich and The Dead, Among those who joined up were tens of thousands
of ladsall well under the stipulated age of nineteenSingle and with few if any
responsibilities, they became caught up in the adventure of the occasion, and the promise of a life
less repetitious (19). However, these young soldiers such as the characters of Bamer and his

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comrades of Kemmerich, Muller, Westhus, and others, quickly discovered that nothing they
learned in school could possibly have prepared them with the tools necessary to surviving the
war. Consequently, due to their traumatic war-time experiences, they determined that their
educational foundation was useless. With their foundation for life and everything they learned in
school compromised, the gap between the soldiers from the civilian world only widened. The
young characters began to question all that they have ever learned, and even began questioning
those who taught them, even their parents. They felt a sense of deception and betrayal because
they learned how to make a life for themselves, only to be lead into a war all but guaranteed to
take their lives and exposed them to the horrors of combat. This feeling of deception, of
discovering how fragile life is and how life and education can be so quickly wasted is
summarized by a passage in All Quiet on the Western Front, in which Bamer speaks in a
monologue,
I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and
fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one
another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. I
see that the keenest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more
refined and enduring. And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole
world see these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me. What
would our fathers do if we suddenly stood up and came before them and proffered our
account? What do they expect of us if a time ever comes when the war is over? Through
the years our business has been killing;-it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of
life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us?
(194)

King 19
This monologue by Bamer represents the isolation that the Lost Generation felt, as well
as summarizing the sources of the division between the young soldiers and the older generations.
The characters in these novels, much like the young soldiers of World War I witnessed first-hand
how society and countries can be influenced to fight each other simply for nationalist and
governmental reasons. They witnessed how educational backgrounds can be used for the purpose
of mass death, destruction, and evil. They feel used and cheated by their older generations, and
their lives have been forever changed because of their war-time experiences. Their future is
compromised because of these experiences as well. All that these soldiers know outside of what
they learned in school is how to fight and how to kill. These things are not what were meant to be
learned in school to be utilized in life. Life is meant to better the world and future generations
through education. However, the generation before the Lost Generation failed in this regard. The
older generation was capable of sending young men to war because it easier for them to fight, as
the common misconception is of a young generation is that they have nothing to lose. However,
although it may be easy to presume that young people dont have anything substantial to lose,
they in fact have the most important thing at stake of all: their future. Not only do they have their
future at stake, but the future of the coming generations as well. Additionally, novels such as
these works produced by members of the Lost Generation portray how the war became
somewhat of, a rite of passage for young men and women who lost their adolescent naivet
within the crucible of war (Keene 440). Consequently, a common theme throughout World War
I novels follows suit with A Farewell to Arms and All Quiet on the Western Front in that it gave
an account on how their generation became disconnected from the world.
The fact that war-time experiences affected the soldiers long after the war ended is
evident in that Hemingway and Remarque became known as spokespersons for the Lost

King 20
Generation, due to the popularity of their works. It has already been established that Hemingway
and Remarques novels were based on their personal experiences in World War I, as the
protagonists of Henry and Bamer are extensions of Hemingway and Remarque, respectively.
For instance, critics have come forward to point out the similarities between Hemingway and
Henry, as the description of Henrys wounding parallels the circumstances of Hemingways
wounding in the war (Meyers 34). By drawing on personal experiences such as a wounding or
spending time in a military hospital, readers are able to relate to the characters on a much more
personal level. Laurence W. Mazzeno explains in his book The Critics and Hemingway, that the
reason for Hemingways rise to fame after the release of A Farewell to Arms is that because
Hemingway expressed, better than any other writer of his time, the limited viewpoint of the
members of the generation which was formed by the war and incompletely demobilized because
of it (20). In other words, Hemingway in his literary works was able to express the experience
and sentiments regarding the war better than anyone else from the Lost Generation that
experienced the war could. Steven Florczyk, a writer and literary critic, defines A Farewell to
Arms as, [A] quintessential example of postwar literature that abandoned earlier notions of
optimism (15). Hemingways novel was one of the first of its kind in that the theme of the war
ran deeper than just the glorification of fighting for ones country. Popularity of his works rose
because his readers were able to connect with his writings on a deep and personal level. Readers
of this generation could relate to what became known as the Hemingway hero, a character,
[W]ho would like to disengage from the world but cannot, who cannot keep himself from
thinking and feeling, and who uses a cultivated reticence to protect himself from a world out to
crush him (Mazzeno 21). The cultivated reticence that Mazzeno refers to is something that
many soldiers used to cope with their war-time experiences. Henry, like many of Hemingways

King 21
characters, is a creature without religion, morality, politics, culture or history--without any of
those aspects of the distinctively human existence (Prescott 1). The effect the war had on the
soldiers mentality in regards to life and death is evident. As a result of their experiences in
combat, the soldiers of World War I became reserved and valued the sanctity of life less, but
would reveal their sentiments or feelings only reluctantly. This characteristic applies to both
protagonists of these novels, Henry and Bamer.
Consequently, when these novels were released they became popular because their readers
could place themselves in each protagonists shoes and relate to their experiences. Wagener
elaborates on how readers were able to relate to the characters in the novels, Millions of people
could identify with the soldiers experiences in the novel and saw themselves as one of the
characters. Millions were able to use the war as a scapegoat for their own lack of success, their
inability to succeed in life (33). To build on Wageners claim, soldiers blamed the war for their
professional failures because of the reasons aforementioned: the soldiers had only their
educational foundation, which was compromised by their war-time experiences, to create a life
from and had no professional occupation or established wife and family to return to after the war.
The ability for readers to relate to the characters and ideological concepts also pertains to
Remarques novel as well, In All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque had tried to speak out
for his own non-political generation, for whom the Great War had lasted too long to be an
adventure in heroism for nationalist or philosophical reason (Firda 47). Remarques novel
became popular with the readers of his generation for its political implications, and was also
subject to political controversy and backlash because of these implications as well. Due to
Bamers ideologies and opinions regarding the war, the political implications of the war went
against the nationalistic ideologies of the German government at this time. Since Remarque,

King 22
through his protagonist Bamer, was speaking out politically against the wars nationalist
objectives, the rise of popularity of the common man in his generation was reinforced.
Remarques plain style of writing also enabled readers to relate to his characters, Remarque thus
wants to create the impression that a simple soldier and not a professional writer, is giving a
truthful report about the war. Through his language the narrator clearly appears as the
mouthpiece of millions of soldiers (Wagener 30). In this way, Remarque established himself,
much like Hemingway, as a spokesperson of the Lost Generation. Both writers were capable of
this because of the influence their war-time and combat experiences had on them. Through their
narrative styles, both authors were able to bring the reader uncomfortably close to the terrible
moments of the war all the while indirectly providing an interpretation on the role the War played
in the lives of those involved in it (Vernon 21). They experienced much of the same atrocities
and horrors of combat that their readers did, and so became known as the voices of the common
soldier in such a turbulent war.
All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell to Arms summarize the transformation of
an entire generation affected by The Great War. The war affected the lives of everybody within
the generation of its time and directly or indirectly compromised the foundation on which their
lives were formed and it altered their perspective for the future. Consequently, it is necessary to
read and understand these literary works from a new historicist perspective. The success of these
novels resulted directly from not only the authors war-time experiences, but also of its readers
war-time experiences. In their respectively unique styles of narrative, Hemingway and Remarque
were able to formulate the political disconnect and sense of loss that was felt by the entire
generation affected by the war. The protagonists of Henry and Bamer represented the common
man, who due to the political and turbulent times of the era, were placed into a devastating and

King 23
destructive war. It is directly because of World War I that the young generation of the time
became known as The Lost Generation. Those involved and affected by the war were lost in
every sense of the word. The war caused a disconnection between them and their parents and
other authoritative figures of the older generation. Civilian life and professional occupations lost
their purpose, as all the soldiers came to know about life was death, destruction, and war. The
protagonists, much like the soldiers of the war, became disconnected with their home countries
and their nationalistic ideals. With no country, no authoritative figures to relate to, and no
occupation or established way of life after the war, members of the Lost Generation truly were
lost. The popularity of the novels goes to show how well Hemingway and Remarque
represented their experiences through their characters. These novels define what it means to be a
part of the Lost Generation and unveil the root of the divide that was created by the Great War.
Not only did these novels represent the rift created for soldiers and young men involved in the
war but for women and professional civilians as well. The female characters, although not
directly fighting in the trenches like the protagonists of the novels, still represented the affect that
the war had on the women of the Lost Generation. The novels also relayed the importance of the
role women had as nurses in the military hospitals and how their presence boosted soldiers
morale. The authors were able to relay the atrocities of the war and the mental and personal
anguish that came as a result of it. Additionally, however, they were also able to portray the one
major positive that came from the war: camaraderie. As the major coping mechanism for most
soldiers of the generation and war in general, it is clear that the survivors of the war would have
been unable to establish a life for themselves, let alone survive the war without their
relationships with comrades. These novels were able to capture the turbulent political and social
turmoil of its era. The authors were capable of defining what it meant to be a part of the Lost

King 24
Generation and how the war not only changed life as they knew it but changed history and
influenced future generations. Consequently, due to its relationship with the time period it was
written and its readers generation, it is essential to read and understand these novels through a
new historicist perspective. With this understanding of how the Great War affected an entire
generation, how it influenced history and following generations, and how these novels captured
the sentiments of the Lost Generation enables the reader to interpret the themes of the works with
greater understanding and appreciation.

King 25
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