Character Analysis: All Quiet On The Western Front

Psychologically Paul is greatly affected by his experiences in the war and is unable to express his time there. He has escaped any major injury during the most violent parts of the war. However after all his companions are killed in duty, he is restless and loses the desire to live. Paul was set free from the emotional turmoil when he dies; the physical pain no longer affects him. Ironically, he dies on an all quiet western front after seeing the terror behind the country’s nationalism.

The war also changed Paul by hampering his ability to communicate with the people on the home front. Paul learns that it is hard to communicate with them when he visits his hometown. He realizes that people have no clue how bad war really is especially his own mother. "Suddenly my mother seizes hold of my hand and asks falteringly: Was it very bad out there, Paul?(143)" He did not know what to say so he lied to her and said that it was not so bad. Paul could not believe said that. Of course the war was bad, anything is bad when people are dying. He sees that the gap between him and society is getting bigger especially with his mother. Also Paul has no way to describe his experiences, he can not put them into words because the experiences were so horrible

All quiet On the Western Front, a book written by Erich Maria Remarque tells of the harrowing experiences of the First World War as seen through the eyes of a young German soldier. I think that this novel is a classic anti-war novel that provides an extremely realistic portrayal of war. The novel focuses on a group of German soldier and follows their experiences.

The beginning is the starting point of Paul’s change throughout the novel; first going into war, Paul knew who he was, not just another solider. But the literal line where the front starts is the launch of the stripping of his humane and individual identity. Paul narrates the exact point where a physical and mental borderline is set up, “We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers – we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals” (27). His identity shifts when he acknowledges that there must be change for like on the field, he becomes an “instant human animal;” no matter “moody of good-tempered” prior to arriving at the line, their individuality is demolished. War rips the uniqueness off civilian men and throws them in backwards evolution and forces them to act like animals: attacking, killing, and surviving.

All Quiet on the Western Front Essay We learn about past wars in history. We hear stories from soldiers that partake in these wars, but do we really understand what goes on out on that battlefield? We would have to see and experience it ourselves to fully grasp why soldiers come back so scarred. Not only physically but emotionally, and socially as well.

When he is reunited with his mother "[they] say very little," but when she finally asks him if it was "very bad out there" Paul lies. In trying to protect her by lying, Paul creates a separation between his mother and himself. As Paul sees it, the tragedies and horrors of war are not for the uninitiated. Sadly, the true nature of war further separates the two generations.

Paul explains his view of the constant attacks in the war and the overall negative atmosphere of the war. He feels as if the atmosphere itself “clogs the lungs,” and “suffocates” (Remarque 29) because of the loss that Paul has endured. Paul feels that the constant warfare and atmosphere surrounding him is slowly killing him. He is used to the constant loss and death around him so much so he does not know what living a normal life is anymore either. When Paul returns home he does not feel like he can live a normal life anymore.

In the book, Paul loses his innocence during the war where innocence being his moral uprightness. Paul compares his life before and during the war saying “We are not youth any longer. We don’t want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing. We fly from ourselves.

In addition, when Paul goes to visit his sick mom with cancer, he is saddened and confused. Paul can’t dodge idea of war and its death it bestows, even when on leave at home, “a sense of strangeness will not leave me, I cannot feel at home amongst these things” (160). This quote proves heartbreak is following him everywhere and he is unable to express

Guided by the ideas of patriotism and honor from their old schoolmaster Kantorek, Paul, and his classmates enlisted in the German Army (11-12). But after returning from battle, Paul explains,”… in our hearts we trusted them…. The first bombardment showed us our mistake, and under it the world as they had taught it to us broke in pieces,”(12-13). Through the first encounter of warfare, Paul learns that war was nothing he expected and that he was set on a path that would lead to destruction. As a part of the younger generation, Paul looked up to the authority figures of the older generation as his guidance to the future. But in contrast, the first death shattered his belief, and because of it, Paul believed that most of the older generation is incapable of teaching them. Consequentially, Paul must turn towards the younger generation and his survival instincts to concentrate on war as he enters a hopeless

Paul’s attitude began to change soon after going home on leave when he realized that he no longer had any connections with his old community except for his school mates who also enlisted and eventually died in the army. Even the conditions at home were hopeless as illustrated in the moldy food, his father’s futile efforts to change the situation, and his mother’s illness. The hopelessness of war is obvious to the reader and to Paul when Tjaden and Paul are severely injured while attempting to protect a town. They resist medical treatment due to the number of fatalities that result from amputation. They realized that death was almost inescapable if they allowed themselves to be treated in just any hospital. At the end of the novel, one of Paul’s closest friends, Katczinsky has recently died due to a small splinter to the head as Paul was attempting to carry him to safety on one of the last days of battle. At this moment it is evident to the reader that because of the war this young man has lost everything that he once held including all of the members of his class and the ability to connect with the rest of the world. In October 1918, Paul even lost his most precious commodity - his life to a stray bullet on what the army pronounced to be still and quiet day on the entire front. It is ironic that the army considers only a few deaths to be a peaceful and quiet day. Death has become such apart of reality that only

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

Additionally, Paul needs to stay resolute when in tough times, and must continue on. He goes through many hardships through the book. In the beginning, Paul watches his friend, Kemmerich, die in vain. Despite his friend dying, he still continues on. In the middle of the book, Paul is on leave and decides to go visit his mom and sister. Once he arrives, he finds out that his mom has just been diagnosed with cancer. Paul has to focus on the war, even if he can’t help his mom all the time, Paul has to focus on the war. Later, Paul has to say goodbye to his good friend. “Parting from a friend Albert Kropp was very hard. But a man gets used to that sort of thing in the army” (269). Eventually, all of Paul’s original group of classmates die, and Paul is the only one left. He becomes more resolute as he continues his job as a soldier, and needs to be mentally

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

The war has changed Paul from an artistic boy to a wild beast. Before the war as a young student Paul used to write poems. As stated in the text “at home in the drawer of my writing table there lies the beginning of a play called “Saul” and a bundle of poems” (Remarque, 19). This shows that