Ethics of memory and politics of trauma in Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front
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Abstract
The research analyses Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front focusing on isolation, alienation of the German soldiers by using the trauma theories of Cathy Caruth, Sigmund Freud, Kali Tal etc. The army men Paul, Albert, Muller, Peter etc. have extreme mental stress during the war. They feel detachment from civilian life while returning home from the trench. They are isolated and alienated. Paul feels like an outsider in his own home as he cannot express his experiences about war. The war appears to have snuffed out his hopes and dreams which he can never regain. Similarly, his friend Albert has made his mentality to commit suicide with his own revolver which he used in fighting because his leg has been amputated. War has caused the devastation in society.