In the story All Quiet on the Western Front, the protagonist Paul Bämer experiences multiple characteristic changes while experiencing life from another point of view during his service at the front. While living with his comrades at the front, Paul experiences changes of his attitude towards death due to brutal warfare, dehumanization of himself and his comrade’s, and development of friendship with his comrades. While providing his service at the front, Paul slowly began to lose his old personality of gentleness and compassion towards others as he would fight and kill his enemies while sealing horrific and traumatizing images in his mind. As Paul is on the front during battle Paul begins to comprehend his loss of old self-desires and his …show more content…
But, Paul also benefited from the front by developing close friendships with his comrade’s and built up his character during hard times. During chapter 11, the troop of men get caught into another battle. During this battle Kat is shot in the shin, as soon as this happens Paul is overcome with emotion while trying to save Kat and says “After a few minutes, I straighten myself up again. My legs and my hands tremble. I have trouble in finding my water bottle, to take a pull. My lips tremble as I try to drink. But I smile – Kat is saved. (289-290)” As a result of Paul’s strong relationship due to comradeship Paul is overwhelmed with emotion while trying to save his dying friend. In this moment, Paul gives off the feeling of loss. Before the death of Kat he wasn’t feeling these kinds of emotion when it comes to death due to dehumanization. When A group of new recruits arrives to support the troops, they begin to eat dinner and share their childhood pasts. During this moment, Paul mentions “Kropp divides a cigarette and hands me half. Tjaden gives an account of his...broad-beans and bacon...Kat appears...he has two loaves of bread under his arm and bloodstained sandbag full of horse-flush in his hand” (38-39). Later on in the story, these little things such as sharing food and cigarettes not only build the friendship between Paul’s comrade’s but keeps them alive. Moments
Paul regrets his decision and feels remorse for the man that he has killed; his thoughts show his intact humanity and sensitivity to death, especially in hand-to-hand combat. Paul does not discriminate against men just because of which side they are on; they are all humans, and they feel pain just like he does. Showing empathy towards the horses and each other demonstrates the preservation of the soldiers' humanity. It is possible to think that in All Quiet on the Western Front, soldiers have lost their humanity to the war because of the soldiers' fight or flight adrenaline on the front lines. When Paul is fighting the French soldiers in his trench, he and his comrades fight like demons: “Faces are disorted, arms strike out, and the beasts scream; we stop in time to avoid attacking one another” (Remarque 108).
This is what all young men of his generation have experienced, men on both sides of the war. During Paul's stay in the hospital, he has a lot of time to reflect on not only how he has lost his youth on the battlefield, but also on how life might be when the war is
In All Quiet on the Western Front author and World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque tells the story of a young soldier named Paul Bäumer who enlists in the German army with a group of his classmates. In the novel the reader comes discover the many horrors that Paul has to endure during his service before his untimely death in October 1918, only weeks before the war ended. The events that happen in the novel to Paul and his friends in his company during the war are very similar, if not identical, to what the German soldiers had to endure while World War I raged on in the real world. The way that the novel portrays the soldiers’ rations and reliance on food, their life on the front and in camp, how the young soldiers’ lives were destroyed before they even began, how the older generations pushed the younger ones to enlist, the death of soldiers in battle, and the refusal to surrender matches almost perfectly to how things were during World War I, particularly for the German soldiers.
Through out the novel Paul shows that he is a caring soldier. He shows how caring he is when Kat was shot in the leg while bringing food and Paul being the caring person risked his own life to save his goof friend Kat. This shows Paul is caring because if Paul had not
He no longer was that young, confident boy who wanted to serve his country. By the time he dies, he no longer has a place to go back, friends to see, or have hope in his own future. “Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more.” (295). This quote allows the reader to understand how much of an impact war has on such an optimistic young adult. As a young adult myself, I have hope in my future. But despite being the same age, Paul’s identity has been destroyed by the disillusionment of who he fights for and his loss of
Many of Paul's fellow army men do not survive. After the loss of Paul's closest friends,
One of the main characters of All Quiet on the Western Front is Paul Baumer, the protagonist of the novel and faces a huge conflict, which is Man vs. Self. Although he is a kind man at heart, he dares not to show it in fear of appearing vulnerable and not surviving during war. Previous to the war Peter was a lively young man who used to write poetry. However, after participating in the war he began to feel and look older and because of this he funds it impossible to mourn, even though he tries hard to at times. Corporal Himmelstoss is also an important character of the book because he proves how war brings the wickedness out of people. He sends his recruiters on ridiculous errands and acts cruel towards his men in attempt to teach them “discipline”. In Remarque’s novel he represents the most vicious and meanest of them all that war brings out. An additional important character is Stanislaus Katczinsky; a he is the leader of the pack and a mature and strong forty year old with a family back home. He is also of the Second Company, as well Paul’s best friend. He is also the major factor of his friends’ survival since he provides food and shelter for
The book All Quiet on the Western Front is narrated in first person by the character named Paul Baumer, who shares his experiences on the battlefield during the final two years of the war. Paul is a German soldier who tells the story as he lives it, in the trenches, and on the frontline. Paul is a compassionate, intelligent and sensitive young man who loves his family more than anything and enjoys reading and writing poetry on his free time. Throughout the book, these character traits of Paul vanish because of the horror of the war and the anxiety it brings to him. Paul learns that death is normal and he becomes unable to grieve over the loss of his friends in the war. Paul becomes bitter and depressed throughout the war as he is unable to remember how it feels to be happy and safe.
While on leave, Paul also visits his father and some of his father's friends, but does not wish to speak to them about the war. The men are "curious [about the war] in a way that [Paul finds] stupid and distressing." They try to imagine what war is like but they have never experienced it for themselves, so they cannot see the reality of it. When Paul tries to state his opinion, the men argue that "[he] sees only [his] general sector so [he is] not able to judge." These men believe they know more about the war and this makes Paul feel lost. He realizes that "they are different men here, men [he] can not understand..." and Paul wants to be back with those he can relate to, his fellow soldiers. Paul wishes he had never gone on leave because out there "[he] was a soldier, but [at home] he is nothing but an agony to himself." When Paul returns to the battlefield, he is excited to be with his comrades. When he sees his company, "[Paul] jumps up, pushes in amongst them, [his] eyes searching," until he finds his friends. It is then
While the disconnection allows the soldier to adapt to the brutal war environment, it inhibits them from re-entering society. When he takes his leave, he is unable to feel comfortable at home. Even if Paul had survived the war physically, he most likely would not have integrated back into society suitably. The emotional disconnection inhibits soldiers from mourning their fallen friends and comrades. However, Paul was somewhat less than able to completely detach himself from his feelings, and there are several moments in the when he feels himself pulled down by emotion. These rush of feelings indicate the magnitude to which war has automated Paul to cut himself off from feeling, as when he says, with unbridled understatement, “Parting from my friend Albert Kropp was very hard. But a man gets used to that sort of thing in the army (p. 269) .”
That aspect of his previous life seems unreal and incomprehensible, perhaps even vague because since he came to the war he feels cut off from his early life. It is as if he has lost the person he used to be. Not only does Paul feel he has lost himself as he used to be, but he also believes that he would not be able to recapture his past, even if given the chance: "…these memories of former times do not awaken desire so much as sorrow…Once we had such desires-but they return not. They are past, they belong to another world that is gone from us." (Remarque, pg.106). From this quote it is clear that Paul feels his childhood is out of reach. He has lost his desire to recapture his memories, perhaps recognising that they may not mean all that much to him now anyway, due to the fact that he feels he has already lost the world those memories originated from. When Paul returns home on leave, he realises that it may not be him losing a previous world of memories, rather the previous world is losing him: "I cannot feel at home amongst these things…There is a distance, a veil between us." (Remarque, Pg.139). Paul feels out of place when he returns home, reinforcing his fears that the war has changed him irreversibly. As Paul recognises this occurring change throughout the novel, his thoughts and actions become reclusive. After killing an enemy soldier in battle, the effects of the war on his sense of
He states that when he goes home, his family will be shocked to hear this language. Paul treats his lingual freedom as privilege that soldiers have, and shows the benefits of living a soldier’s life. He refers to the front as if it were a paradise, for he can use vulgar language and not worry about manners and decorum. He treats his service as a time for relaxation, recreation, and a little excitement. This attitude becomes short-lived as the realities of war sink in. When Paul volunteers for reconnaissance one night, he becomes stranded in No Man’s Land (the area between opposing trenches) and begins to realize the brutality of war and starts to lose his own humanity. At the beginning of the book, Paul shows care towards his fellow soldiers and treats his service as an adventure by his education of the recruits and his excitement towards the boundaries of his vocabulary.
In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul is morphed from an innocent child into a war veteran who has a new look on society. Paul used to have a carefree life where he was able to be a kid, but when he enlisted into the army it all changed. Paul became a person whose beliefs were changed because of the war. Paul doesn't believe in society anymore especially parents, elders, and school, which used to play a big part in his life. He changed his beliefs because society does not really understand how bad war really is and pushed many young men, who were not ready, into the army. Paul connects with his fellow soldiers because they are going through the same situation and
Life for the soldiers in the beginning is a dramatic one as they are ordered up to the frontline to wire fences. The frontline makes Paul feel immediately different as described here. "As if something is inside us, in our blood, has been switched on." The front makes Paul more aware and switched on as if his senses and reactions are sharpened. I think Paul and his friends are
Yet another example of the brutalization and dehumanization of the soldiers caused by the war occurs during Paul’s leave. On leave, Paul decides to visit his hometown. While there, he finds it difficult to discuss the war and his experiences with anyone. Furthermore, Paul struggles to fit in at home: “I breathe deeply and say over to myself:– ‘You are at home, you are at home.’ But a sense of strangeness will not leave me; I cannot feel at home amongst these things. There is my mother, there is my sister, there my case of butterflies, and there the mahogany piano – but I am not myself there. There is a distance, a