In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, the author develops his central themes of alienation, dehumanization, and disconnectedness by using several literary devices, including diction, syntax, and tone.
Diction
The diction of a literary work is simply the set of words an author...
See This Answer Now
Start your subscription to unlock this answer and thousands more. Enjoy eNotes ad-free and cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, the author develops his central themes of alienation, dehumanization, and disconnectedness by using several literary devices, including diction, syntax, and tone.
Diction
The diction of a literary work is simply the set of words an author chooses to use. Diction can also be defined as the style of speaking (or writing) used by a character or writer. Generally, diction falls into two categories: formal or informal. The diction of All Quiet on the Western Front is broadly informal. Colloquial phrases and everyday speech are predominantly used. The novel is narrated by a young man, and he tells his story as if to peers. The language is simple and straightforward, as evident in the very first chapter:
We are at rest five miles behind the front. Yesterday we were relieved, and now our bellies are full of beef and haricot beans. We are satisfied and at peace. Each man has another mess-tin full for the evening; and, what is more, there is a double ration of sausage and bread. That puts a man in fine trim. We have not had such luck as this for a long time. (Chapter 1)
The language is not written formally, as if to a superior or high-ranking person. Instead, the diction is informal, simple, and plain: an account of Paul's time as a soldier.
Syntax
Syntax is the set of rules in a language. In literature, an author is deliberate with their choice of syntax, because the syntax is connected to the tone and diction of a work. While diction is the choice of words, syntax determines how the chosen words are arranged to form a sentence. Often, an author's choice in syntax is closely connected to the author's choice in diction.
The normal sentence syntax in English is subject-verb-object. Any great deviation from this standard form can serve to draw attention to a particular passage or sentence in a work. (It is worth mentioning that All Quiet on the Western Front is a work translated from German. While translators do their best to preserve literary elements, sometimes translations on the sentence level are less accurate in order to keep the bigger picture closer to the author's intended effect.)
Sentence length is also a way to manipulate syntax, and definitely the method Remarque uses most in All Quiet on the Western Front. Long sentences are used to show that a character is reflecting on a subject, while brief sentences are used when an idea is delivered more forcefully or directly. For example, in Chapter 1, Remarque uses one long sentence when Paul is considering something in a relaxed manner:
He sits down to eat as thin as a grasshopper and gets up as big as a bug in the family way; Haie Westhus, of the same age, a peat-digger, who can easily hold a ration-loaf in his hand and say: Guess what I've got in my fist; then Detering, a peasant, who thinks of nothing but his farm-yard and his wife; and finally Stanislaus Katczinsky, the leader of our group, shrewd, cunning, and hard-bitten, forty years of age, with a face of the soil, blue eyes, bent shoulders, and a remarkable nose for dirty weather, good food, and soft jobs. (Chapter 1)
Conversely, Remarque uses a brief sentence when Paul is delivering a thought more directly:
The war has ruined us for everything. (Chapter 5)
In this way, syntax alerts the reader to the intention of the author: we can recognize the pattern of Paul's long reflective monologues and his short, grim realizations.
Tone
Tone is an author's attitude toward their subject or audience. An author may make the tone evident through word choice, imagery, and/or style. Paul's tone shifts throughout the novel, which Remarque uses as a way to bring authenticity to the events -- both heavy and light -- of the narrative.
Since most of the novel is spent describing a young man's close-up experience of war, the tone can be fairly heavy, grim, and gloomy:
I imagined leave would be different from this. Indeed, it was different a year ago. It is I of course that have changed in the interval. There lies a gulf between that time and to-day. At that time I still knew nothing about the war, we had only been in quiet sectors. But now I see that I have been crushed without knowing it. I find I do not belong here any more, it is a foreign world. (Chapter 7)
There are times, however, when the tone is lighter, signifying a temporary lifting of Paul's spirits:
It is a warm evening and the twilight seems like a canopy under whose shelter we feel drawn together. (Chapter 4)
Other times Paul is reflective and brooding:
To me the front is a mysterious whirlpool. Though I am in still water far away from its centre, I feel the whirl of the vortex sucking me slowly, irresistibly, inescapably into itself. (Chapter 4)
The careful undulations in the tone serve as literary signposts to indicate character shifts that occur as the events of the story unfold.