Erich Maria Remarque’s Arch of Triumph (Initial Reaction)

I wonder how great writers would respond if they were to read reactions to their works. Some would, perhaps, laugh. Some would be surprised. ‘Dummy… didn’t figure out what I meant here’ — they might say. Or ‘look, how she embellished it! I have not thought of it from this angle’ — they might say and laugh. Despite the hesitation I had wondering how Remarque and his devote readers would accept my reaction, the vibrant impressions occupying my mind left me no choice but to write.

Some people are granted with extra power. Extra power which is so generously given that the payoff is unbelievable. Those people are destined to having to always break ties and abandon relationships. Those people look like a steel wall. A little rusty… but still firm, still on feet. One might think such a person would never fall into the trap of love. Never. Or … would he? Look closely. Look at that angel hiding behind that steel wall. Look at that crying angel. It is those salty teardrops that rust the steel. An angel in love. No, those people do fall in love! And the love they carry is inexplicable to others.

Ravich, the central character of Remarque’s work, is one of those ‘steel-wall’ humans. A refugee from Germany who illegally works in France as a secret doctor… Ravich is not his real name…something he made up. It is because he is hiding. Ready to be caught any moment with forged documents, he has been living in cheap hotels of various countries for many years. At the time of the events in the book Ravich is in France. Does he hate such a lifestyle? Maybe, he does. But he is certain that if alive, you should live. Even if life does not go in the way you wished it for, it could be worse. ‘When you study history, you’ll find that we are living in a relatively calm era.’ says Ravich. He is not happy with life but does not seem to evince it. There are not many alternatives for him. He merely lives and does the work he is able to do. Being a surgeon, he saves people from physical pain. He merely lives and works without being sentimental about anything. This lasts until he meets Her, the one who will ruthlessly capture his mind and heart…until he falls head over heels for her. Though he does manage to climb out the pit later, the wound received seemed to be there to stay.

Ravic is a symbol of people with a similar fate living during the Second World War. His has an obligation to live, yet, to do it, he has to go through hardships and sufferings. And…this love of his… Drawing him away and making philosophize life , it does not even allow him to concentrate and go through the turmoil of his life in an ordinary fashion.

The work aspires to acquaint readers with a surviving human soul amongst political turmoil of the world. Yet, Remarque does not attempt to make this character perfect. He created Ravic as a real human being. A human being with all his weaknesses, obstinacy, compassion, honesty, and ultimately, love. He drinks a lot… coffee and alcohol… He is in a constant process of pondering. He thinks, questions and hesitates a lot. He makes up his mind and then changes it. The writer depicts the hero’s thinking process with such a meticulous care with all his contemplation, irony and hesitation that a reader might have an impression of being in the middle of Ravic’s brain. Ravic’s all analyses, irony and reflections are mirrored there. This is helpful in an attempt to shape one’s mind about him and watch the world through his lens. Hence, the book demonstrates that this personality with his array of commendable and blameworthy characteristics does not have only one facet: dishonesty.

The writer does not seem to shed ample light on Ravich’s past. So does he about his future. He only possesses the present. He exists at the present. He lives at the present. The rest is not presented. This is the beauty of this work. A reader is indulged into the ocean of the book’s present time. Just like a talented artist or a film director, the smell, taste and sound of the hero’s present are smoothly transferred to a reader. At that point, you are not even interested about what happened in the past, and what turns will Ravich’s life take in the future. You are just there. At that present moment and in that present place of the book. Feeling every word, you become the hero’s shadow following him all the way.

I certainly believe with this work, Remarque expressed his wish to see a changed world. Bloody wars lead the humanity to abyss, he seems to assert; until peace and friendship are established, these bloodsheds will claw millions of Ravichs.