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 first quote explains who Paul is to the war. „We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers - we reach the zone where the front begins and become on the instant human animals.” P. 56. This quote explains that Paul and his group, are soldiers who are trying to reach the zone, complete their mission and to survive. Paul sheds his soft, gentle, listening self and adopts a killing, shouting, aggressive demeanor which he continually links to that of a hungry or wounded animal. The second quote shows how soldier’s mission looks like. “There were thousands of Kantoreks, all of whom were convinced that there was only

In All Quiet on the Western Front Paul witness all the horrors of war. He sees death crawling towards the wounded soldiers in the wood, hospital, and on the front. When a soldier was wounded it killed them, they lost a limb or they got sent back to the front. Another awful part of war is soldiers would get shot and stranded out in the woods. They would yell for help, but were never found. Mental wounds were another injury of war. Paul would see people go insane on the front and some soldiers got shellshock. The worst part of the war for Paul was watching all of his comrades die, and his connection with the ones he loved at home fade away. The horrors of war is clearly represented in both Battle Scars and All Quiet on the Western Front with physical wounds, mental wounds, and loss of loved ones.

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 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

This particular incident, shown first hand through Paul's narration, is a significant reflection of how many soldiers behaved and reacted to similar situations. This demonstrates the consequences of war is the loss of the soldiers compassion, empathy, and humanity to one another. Ultimately resulting in further death that affects the soldiers and kills them, creating a vicious circle. Through war, the soldiers are unable to retain their humanity, shown through the events described above. As conveyed throughout this paper, the impacts of war completely stripped the men of their humanity.

In All Quiet on the Western Front, the author paints a realistic and gruesome tale of war. Many people believe that war is a glorious event. The author succeeds to show how gruesome and devastating war actually is. In many books, movies, and TV shows, war is described as glorious and good. War is not glorious or good from the beginning of time people have been at war and from that people have died. War is shown as the thing that gets the girl or the thing that makes people see you as a king and that people come back untouched. That is the false way the Hollywood and others have butchered the reality of war.

A recurring aspect throughout chapters one through five is the idea of soldiers having animal instincts during the war. These animal instincts are subconscious and are often a reaction to the violent ambiance of the war itself. The duty of the men is comparable to the duty of animals, the squad has to kill its enemies, in the same way that animals kill each other in order to survive. Animals will often attack and kill their predators in order to protect themselves and their offspring. Paul describes this characteristic, “By the animal instinct that is awakened in us, we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it

Along with personal feelings, the same goes for everyone Paul witnessing his best friend’s death have impacted their group so that they cannot feel or care for each other. After a battle that left many injured. While Paul rests he thinks of how everyone is left on their own, claiming, "We have lost all feeling for one another. We can hardly control ourselves when our hunted glance lights on the form of some other man. We are insensible, dead men, who through some trick, some dreadful magic, are still able to run and to kill" (Remarque, 116). During another day in the trenches Paul sees many bodies everywhere, soldiers being killed in front of him. Losing everyone that was close to him has caused him to lose himself mentally making him unstable. He carries the pressure of telling the families which furthermore carriers his depression. He carries a comrade’s boots as they are passed down from soldiers after each owner dies, Paul carries these boots to represent unimportance of human life. In addition to young soldiers have to follow and look up to older generation and higher rank officers which lead to betrayal. Propaganda played a huge role in World War 1 giving everyone biased opinions and bad judgements of others. These opinions gave Paul a false perspective of older generations.

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

World War I affected the soldiers mostly negatively mentally and physically because no war before it was as horrifying as the Great War. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, tells the tales of a group of German teenagers that were convinced to enlist to fight in World War I. Paul Baumer is the protagonist and the narrator in the novel who changes from an innocent young man to a hardened soldier along with his friends. The author uses the characters Paul, Himmelstoss and Kat to reveal the negative and positive consequences of war and to exemplify that war brings out the worst in people, war brings people closer together, and that war is dehumanizing.

For Paul and his comrades, who had sacrificed so much to participate in the war, the unfair leadership created tension between the ranks. For example, when Paul was on leave and strolled the streets of his hometown, a nearby Major became furious at Paul because he had missed the opportunity to salute. This man, with the considerable power to overthrow Paul’s leave, orders Paul, “Twenty paces backward, double march!” Paul complied, but was infuriated and contemplated the validity and relevance of these men. This, “ruins everything” (163), for Paul, as he abandoned wearing his uniform to avoid another confrontation. It was shown that the most controlling officers were so often those without combat experience on the front. In fact, Himmelstoss, a Corporal that trained Paul and his company, showed fear toward the battle when he was called to participate. In Chapter Six, he was found, “pretending to be wounded.” The thought of him progressing made his, “lips quiver, his moustache twitch” (131-32). Pretending to represent their country, these men showed no respect for the soldiers, resented them, and expressed the deepest inhumane actions in the name of

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) .”

The French soldier dies an agonizingly painful and prolonged death; his gurgling and whimpering haunting Paul, but when the soldier finally dies, the resulting silence is even more haunting and debilitating. “Paul describes the trenches, the shelling, the screams of wounded horses and men, the poison gas attack, and the rain that drenches everything. [He] describes the tension and the horror of a major battle, with the confusion, the noise, and death turning the soldiers into numbed, unthinking machines.” (All). Paul recognizes how war forces people to think and act in ways that differ from their values and beliefs, as they are desperate to survive. Remarque uses imagery and sensory details to skillfully formulate a raw and grisly atmosphere that leaves no aspect hidden. Towards the end of the novel, many of Paul’s comrades have died, and he is the only person left in his class who is alive. He expresses the desolation and misery he feels, “I am very quiet. Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear.” (Remarque 295). Paul has nothing left to lose at this point, so he faces his enemies free of fear and obligation to return back to his friends and his home. His sorrowful tone conveys his indifference towards death and his desire

Through out this book the author shows that war is not about heroism and fighting nobly for your country, war is a terrible thing. Paul and his friends are on the frontline in the shelters for days and the pressure gets to the men as Paul says here. "The recruit who had the fit earlier is raving again and two more have joined in. One breaks away and runs for it." This shows that the frontline, added by lack of food, has driven the young recruits mad and so much so that one recruit runs away out into the battle field with inevitable consequence of death. Paul describes the front line in many ways to show the reader and give the reader a good picture of what the frontline is like for a soldier, as Paul expresses here." The front is a cage and you have to wait nervously in it for whatever happens to you", and Paul also says. "I can be squashed flat in a bomb-proof dugout, and I can survive ten hours in the pen under heavy barrage without a scratch." This shows the reader that it is very unpredictable on the frontline and that a soldier owes his life only to lucky chances that they have not yet been killed.