Prediction of Diction

When reading Erich Maria Remarque's epigraph, one picks up a tone of bluntness. Straight and to the point, Demarque tells the reader what will not be found in his novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. It can be predicted that this novel will contain valid facts and details from war. No bias or blame toward either side will be included for the book is "neither an accusation nor confession" (Remarque Epigraph). Death will be a theme, for the book claims to be a story of death, and a hardened tone will persist throughout. Remarque fought during World War I and wrote his novel with the intention of concentrating on the inhumanity of war. During combat, he was injured several times. If his descriptions sound insensitive, it is because he has seen them first hand and has been hardened by their brutality. Remarque knows the horrors of war, making All Quiet on the Western Front a true story "of a generation of men, who even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war" (Remarque Epigraph).

Source: All Quiet on the Western Front: About the Author