Paul Bäumer

     “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

The adventure began on July 28th, 1914 and Paul Baumer is five miles behind a French front. As the First World War begins, the soldiers believe it is honorable to join but as they spend more time in war and gain experience they realize war is a lot different from what they had in mind. The soldiers become more hopeless as the days and years pass. The life in the trenches was risky, and every day could be the soldiers last. “I am so alone and so without hope that I can confront them without fear” (Remarque 295). This quotation shows how Paul Baumer has lost all his hope, and desire. The soldiers no longer fight for their country, they do not desire to make it out alive, the First World War has made them so miserable, and so hopeless they have lost feelings for everything. Everyone except for Paul Baumer has died from his class. It is the beautiful season of autumn, and it starts by

“Fiction is the lie that helps us understand the truth.” This quote by Minnesota author and veteran, Tim O 'Brien, displays his passion for writing stories that make truth come to life. Tim O’Brien is a remarkable man who has positively affected the world through his literary works regarding the Vietnam War. His personal life and authorship through his military experience, have led to making him one of the most influential war authors to date.

Some were true while some were just to portray heroism and were filled with false facts. The story “How to Tell a True War story” written by Tim O’Brien illustrates the difference between true and fictional war sorties. To show this O’Brien used two different stories and compared them. In both the stories, the common theme is that war brings melancholy and pain to everyone. The first story was about two friends Curt Lemon and Rat Kiley. Curt Lemmon accidently dies by stepping on a barbed wire. The second story was about a military troop which was sent to check the enemy movements. Both the stories are based on real war situations. The book was published after the Vietnam

In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, author Erich Maria Remarque adopts an exemplary use of diction and emotion to describe a critical moment in the life of the protagonist, Paul Bäumer, as he ends the life of the French soldier Gérard Duval. On a “patrol… sent out to discover just how strongly the enemy position is manned” (209), Paul dives into a shell hole for refuge from the lead storm above. Trapped, an alarmed Paul is forced to stay in the hole for an extended period of time as “minute after minute trickles away” (217), all the while fearfully attempting to escape. When the enemy troops begin to attack, Paul plans what he might do in advance in the event of one of them falling in the hole and finding him. He ultimately decides to pull his knife out as self-defense. When an enemy soldier stumbles and falls on top of him, without thinking and merely responding to survival instincts, Paul stabs the soldier. In that dire scene, Remarque depicts the entire perspective of war as it evolves for both the reader and the young Paul Bäumer. It is only until Paul (who represents the entirety of the armies) discovers what he has truly done as he kills and witnesses Gérard Duval’s life slowly drain from the pool of red on his chest, realizing that everybody is a human, much like himself.

At one point during the story, Paul Baumer returns home for a short leave from the front line. While at home he is faced with old faces, some who want only to hear of the war. Those who want to hear the war and stories constantly put a strain on Paul’s psyche. He describes in several occasions that when the conversation of war came up he would only others funny stories but nothing of his hardship. Some, like his mother, asked about the conditions of the front line. Paul is unable to describe world of the front line because he is afraid once the conversation starts he will be unable to control his feelings. “I am afraid they [words] might then become gigantic and I be no longer able to master them” (Remarque, 165). This is paramount to the life a soldier, he must be able to control his emotions in order to survive. In other circumstances, the older men wish to know of the progress of the war. In one part of the story, a few elderly gentlemen were speaking of strategy and how to win the war with Paul. The older men do not appear to be very sympathetic to Paul’s struggles and ask him sensitive questions. Paul, though angry, does not react to their prying. At one point one of the men talks of destroying the “froggies” and “johnnies”, in reference to the French and English soldiers, and remarks that Paul and the army should “shove ahead a bit out there with your

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.

All quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque is a story told by a soldier named Paul Baumer. He shares his experiences of his service in World War one. The realities of the war and the death that surrounded Paul Baumer were so epic that he didn't even feel like he was himself when he visited home. Dying in a war or getting injured is considered a courageous act by society. Society doesn't know what the soldiers go through.

“ How To Tell a True War Story” By O’Brien is a complex story that scrutinizes the complex correlation that exist between war experience and the way stories are being told. Through anecdotes, O’Brien substantiates that a writer contains the ability to form its readers beliefs and viewpoint. Finding a meaning for O’Brien’s story was practically easy because through his anecdotes I was able to openly examine what O’Brien was

The images that linger in my mind from the novel All Quiet on the Western Front is how Paul and his classmates, one by one, battle with death and lose. As the story progresses, Paul constantly watches his classmates and friends die one after another until he is the last man standing. Though the war itself is traumatizing I find it more devastating to watch people you love parish before your eyes. Kemmrich’s death was upsetting because Paul had to watch his friend slowly and painfully die on the hospital bed while the doctors overlooked his condition. Kemmrich’s death was also upsetting because his friends only seemed to care about who would receive his lavish boots. Another ominous death was the death of Kat, Paul’s best friend. Kat and Paul

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.

Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the greatest war novels of all time. It is a story, not of Germans, but of men, who even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war. The entire purpose of this novel is to illustrate the vivid horror and raw nature of war and to change the popular belief that war has an idealistic and romantic character.  The story centers on Paul Baümer, who enlists in the German army with glowing enthusiasm.  In the course of war, though, he is consumed by it and in the end is "weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope"  (Remarque page #).

After having been in combat during World War I, Erich Maria Remarque was determined to capture the worst horrors of the war in many of his fiction novels, including All Quiet on the Western Front. This novel focuses on the protagonist, Paul Bäumer, and his friends as they face physical and emotional challenges during World War I. As a result of volunteering for the war at eighteen, it seems that Paul’s only role model before the war was his professor in school, who later in the novel can be deemed hypocritical and misleading. His lack of a strong role model or mentor forces Paul to develop his own way in the world after he becomes a soldier. Paul displays qualities exhibited by an honorable role model in the way he continues doing what needs to be done and adapting to life as a German soldier in the midst of World War I, despite his doubts about the war and how his actions ultimately deteriorate him physically and emotionally; a condition which is prevalent in American society amongst

Before, Erich Maria Remarque wrote “All Quiet On The Western Front”, a book respectfully known as ‘The Greatest War Novel of All Time’, war was glorified by man. The author wrote the book to give an accurate summary of the Great War by portraying the mental toll soldiers faced, the great number of deaths, and the fact young soldiers fought other men’s battles against each other. The main character in the true story, Paul Baumer, describes warring against the French in the battlefield. He tells of how they “have become wild beasts” who “not against men that [they] fling [their] bombs”, but death itself (Remarque, 113). Remarque, captures the mental toll on the soldiers by illustrating that the war turns soldiers into animals,

At the very beginning of the book, Erich Maria Remarque says "This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war."1 The book does not focus on heroic stories of bravery, but rather gives a view of the conditions in which the soldiers find themselves. The monotony between battles, the constant threat of Artillery fire and bombardments, the struggle to find food, the lack of training of young recruits, and the