All Quiet on the Western Front

In All Quiet on the Western Front, the Great War emotionally destroys Paul through the dehumanization of the soldiers. Throughout the book, thoughts of his future, desperation for life, and coping with his actions crushes him psychologically. Therefore Paul gains realization of the reality of the war; he soon loses everyone he has gained emotional attachment to during the time he serves and is unable to cope with the loss of all his companions. This disturbs him far more than the physical wounds in battle.

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

"A wounded soldier? I shout to him-no answer- must be dead." The dead body has fallen out the coffin and the coffin has been unearthed because of the shelling. Even the dead and buried cannot rest in peace during this war. This just adds to the horror of the situation Paul is in.

     “I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another (263).” Powerful changes result from horrifying experiences. Paul Baumer, the protagonists of Erich Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front utters these words signifying the loss of his humanity and the reduction to a numbed creature, devoid of emotion. Paul’s character originates in the novel as a young adult, out for an adventure, and eager to serve his country. He never realizes the terrible pressures that war

1. Paul Baumer and his friends, as German soldiers in World War I, collectively fight any who oppose the German army. However, Corporal Himmelstoss is an enemy whose transgressions are taken far more personally by Paul and his friends. Himmelstoss often torments Paul and his comrades for the sake of doing so, as he is power-driven and tries to exert control over others whenever he can. It is never stated that the soldiers hate or even dislike the enemies that they fight daily on the battlefield; yet they disfavor Himmelstoss openly. In addition, they all begin to harbor distaste for their former teacher, Kantorek, for encouraging them to join the army. All of the men also struggle against the knowledge that

In All Quiet on the Western Front, the main character Paul goes back to his home, the people he meets still think that the Germans are winning the war. During the war, Paul takes a leave for 17 days to go back home to visit sick mother and family. While back home, the villagers come and talk to Paul about the war. They discuss what land they will take. The villagers think that

In war, both violence and fear revokes a soldier’s humanity. These elements of war cause a person to shut down their emotional instincts, which causes the soldiers to mature rapidly by taking innocence along with joy and happiness in life. Through the experiences that the soldiers encounter, their humanity is compromised. Thus, as war strips soldiers of their innocence, they start to become disconnected from themselves and others. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque illustrates the negative effects war has on a soldier’s humanity, through his use of Paul’s books and the potato pancakes by revealing the soldiers loss of emotion that causes them to become detached from society. Through these symbols they deepen the theme by visually depicting war’s impact on Paul. Paul’s books helps the theme by depicting how the war locked his heart to old values by taking his innocence. Likewise the potato pancakes reveal Paul’s emotional state damaged by the war with his lack of happiness and gratitude.

“He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to a single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front” (Remarque 296). Paul Baumer, the narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front, enlisted into the German army at a young age of nineteen with a group of friends from school. Kantorek, Paul’s teacher, “gave us long lectures until the whole of our class went, under his shepherding, to the District Commandant and volunteered” (Remarque 11). After Paul and his friends underwent the ten weeks of horrific training, under the control of brutal Corporal Himmelstoss, they found out that everything Kantorek had told them about the war being illustrious was inaccurate. Paul and his fellow combatants experienced the war to be an alienating event that led the young men to feel alone because of the relationships between the young men at the front, the problems Paul faced when returning home, and the prewar and wartime civilian society.

In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul experiences the brutality of war. He uses similes and personification to explain the pain he saw and the pain he experienced. In this paragraph, I will go over some ways how Paul describes his experiences. When Paul is at the front line, he says “like a big, soft jellyfish, it floats into our shell-hole and lulls there obscenely”. Paul is talking about the poisonous gas that the French are trying to kill them with when Paul is hiding. Luckily he had his gas mask on but he can feel the gas surround him in the shell-hole. Paul hates war at first, but after years there, he became used to it and he doesn't

As Paul’s story progresses, one by one, he watches all of his friends die. The friendly farmer Detering is driven mad by homesickness and is caught as a deserter and convicted by marshal court. Muller is fatally shot in the stomach during a battle and dies a slow and painful death. He gifts the boots given to him by Kemmerich to Paul. Leer dies after bleeding out from a deep wound in his thigh. Eventually only Paul and Katczinsky as the last two surviving friends. However Kat receives a severe injury to his shin and Paul must carry him to safety. Paul makes it to a triage station only to discover that Kat, whom he had been carrying on his back, had been hit in the head and killed by a piece of shrapnel along the way. His final friend in the entire world was dead. Though parting from his friends was “very hard”, Paul remarks that “a man gets used to that sort of thing in the army” (Remarque 269).

All Quiet on the Western Front is a book that describes the different struggles of World War 1 from the perspective of someone who was there but may have not necessarily experienced it all. In the book, there is a man named Paul. “…Here hang bits of uniform, and somewhere else is plastered a bloody mess that was once a human limb” (208). When Paul is at home, he is having fun with friends and thinking that going to school is so difficult and then he goes to war, and he sees a person blown into pieces and watches thousands of men dying. It is a very different life.

Paul's ability to recognize this most important truth of War is what kills him. He realizes what he has

The novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is the story of young Paul Baumer and Troop 9 as they battle in World War I on the Western Front for Germany. This novel differs from most every war novel in that it shows the true emotions and feelings of a soldier on the battle field. It does not portray the men as valiant soldiers protecting their country, but strips away the romanticized view of soldier’s war to portray the raw feelings that soldiers have in the midst of warfare. The troop does not die all together but they are seen dropping one by one. As both Paul Baumer’s life and the battle on the Western Front move forward, Paul’s values, along with those of other the soldiers, evolve until they culminate in Baumer’s

Taking place in World War I, the story of Paul Baumer and his group of friends closely bonded while fighting for the German army is related from the perspective of Paul himself. The group of friends go through a series of bombings and attacks from the opposing army from France. One by one each of the members of the group dies during battle and while they fight, the effect the war has had on them is clear. In Erich Maria Remarque’s critically acclaimed novel All Quiet on the Western Front, the author presents the demise of many soldiers, especially Paul Baumer in order to display the ruinous effect that war has on the soldiers that fight in it.

The novel All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, is story of the fictional character Paul Baumer and his troop Troop 9 as they battle in World War I on the Western Front for Germany. This novel differs from most war novels in that it does not portray the men as valiant soldiers protecting their country. The way that the story is told strips away the romanticized view warfare and portrays the raw emotions that come with being on the front lines of a battle. As both Paul Baumer’s life and the battle progress, Paul’s values, along with those of the other soldiers, evolve until they culminate in Baumer’s own passing.