The clear message is that there is no glory or honor in war because it all will end in death. The reasons that men gave for enlisting were nationalism and patriotism, which were later shown to be false and empty by Remarque. The author makes these claims with example in each chapter; the sharing of the boots in chapter one, the dehumanizing of soliders in chapter three, the amount of losses in cha

The dehumanizing of the soldiers and the effects that power has over them is present throughout the novel. Katczinsky, the wise, 40-year-old unofficial leader of Paul's company relates the entire life of military power to the battles in the animal kingdom, and the companies attack on Himmelstoss is similar to animalistic lifestyles. Kat's comment is important because not only are the front-line soldiers reduced to animalism in the military we have seen them eat and use the latrines like animals, also what looks like unsympathetic behavior between Kat and Kropp's betting on which airplane will overcome the other it is necessary to desensitize them to the loss of human life. The bet quickly turns their attention to the bottle of beer; without this, they would have to recognize that a fellow countryman has just met his horrific death.

On the Front, it was fear and the desire for self-defense that made Paul Baumer immediately stab Charles Duval when he joined him in the shell hole. When he tells the story to his friends, they unanimously agree that he has done the right thing in killing the French soldier. However only Baumer seems to question his own actions for killing the soldier, Paul realizes that Duval was just another soldier fighting for the same cause. He asks, "Why do they never tell us that you are just poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours and that we have the same fear of death and the same dying and the same agony. Forgive me, comrade how could you be my enemy." He is convinced that the war has created a lost generation without morality and hope.

In Chapter 6, we get an insight into the scale of losses suffered. We learn that only 32 of the original 150 in Paul’s company remain after a period of fightin

Some topics in this essay:
Maria Remarque, Kat Kropp's, Charles Duval, Remarque Paul, Corporal Himmelstoss, Paul Baumer, Quiet Western, quiet western front, Western Front, throughout novel, quiet western, save ourselves, human life, war death, expensive boots, fear death, anti-war novel, western front,