German author Erich Maria Remarque based All Quiet on the Western Front on his own experiences as a Germany Army soldier in WWI. The imagery Remarque uses is very vivid and realistic, and it helps bring to life the intense action and emotion of the novel. One time that imagery shows is when, in the middle of the daily destruction of war, however, there exists beauty. One day, Paul sees beautiful and fragile butterflies and he says. ''The grasses sway their tall spears, the white butterflies flutter around and float on the soft warm wind of the late summer.''This is contrasted with the ominous, or evil looking, observation balloons overhead. The author uses these images as a way to demonstrate that even in war, a soldier seeks a sense of order