preview

All Quiet On The Western Front Summary

Decent Essays

The story “All Quiet on the Western Front” is centered around the German war front during World War I. Paul Baumer, our narrator, is a young soldier within the German infantry along with a group of his friends. Baumer and his friends were urged to enlist in the war by their patriotic teacher who glorified the fighting and how they would be saving their homeland. Our story starts out on the front lines where Paul and a group of his friends are fighting for their survival. Due to all the death and mayhem surrounding them they have become disillusioned by the war. They have quickly learned that it’s not the generals or captains out risking their lives, but the ordinary men, like themselves, who die and suffer through the gloom of the war. They …show more content…

At home again, he recognizes that the war has changed him. He feel uncomfortable in civilian closes and feel like he doesn’t know how to interact with non-serviceman. Paul begins to resent how everyone in hi hometown act as if the war is a great and wonderful thing, a game even. He is upset because no one there quite understands the true horrors of war time and how they probably never will. While he is away, Paul and his go for a swim and end up coming together with a group of French girls. This is the first time Paul actually begins to feel that the “enemy” are just normal people. Near the end of his leave, Paul sends some time at a training camp near a group of Russian war time prisoners. Paul again feels sympathy for the “enemy”; he doesn’t understand how war could make an enemies of people who have never met. Before long, Paul is reunited with his friends when he is sent back his company. While his back, the Kaiser (German Emperor), visits the front line to try and boost esprit de corps. However, Paul and then men are all very disappointed because it become clear to them that the Kaiser is merely a small man with a weak

Get Access