... line of sanity, but he never fell to pieces. Instead, Baumer had "grown accustomed to it; war is the cause of death like influenza and dysentery. The deaths are merely more frequent, more varied, and terrible," (Insight 321). Paul was able to maintain sanity during war, but at the ... as their pre-enlistment days. In the novel, Paul disaffiliated himself from his parents and others back at home. This rejection came around as a result of Baumer's realization that pre-enlistment society simply does not understand the reality of war. Baumer either could not, or chose not to communicate tru...

• Word Count: 828
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... - would lose her innocence completely. Remarque parallels this downward spiral within the actions and emotions of Paul Baumer, the novel's narrator and protagonist. Early in the text, the uniqueness of Baumer stands out. He writes poetry and is considerably gentle and kind - a representation of all things ... good in the world. Even he, however, cannot sustain the relentless hellishness of the War. With each fallen "comrade- and sight of torturous brutality, his uniqueness was eroded away by the mass devastation of war. He is no longer Paul ... the common grave,"" he argues, are the onl...

• Word Count: 1278
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Remarque does an impeccable job conveying the torturous misfortunes of war. Through the eyes of Paul Baumer, a young man shipped off to fight, a story is told of hopelessness and desperation on the front lines of WWI. As Baumer experiences starvation and injury among other hardships, the reader begins to comprehend how tragic a ... he killed. AS compassion cam over him, he could no longer face the violence that had taken over his life. Once a cordial and friendly man, Paul Baumer had been made into a monster, lacking all feelings of remorse. This situation describes the emotional ordeal...

• Word Count: 883
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... war fresh from school, knowing nothing except the environment of hopeful youth) were, if not physically, then mentally destroyed by the war. The main character Paul Baumer is a compassionate and sensitive young man; before the war he loved his family, his books, and he even wrote poetry. He enters the war looking ... left him in a hardened, emotionless, and hopeless state with no desire to continue living. Having learned to be an adult while fighting the war, Paul and his fellow classmates only know how to be soldiers. The cold, wet trenches are their homes now and they fear they will nev...

• Word Count: 1787
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... of view, unlike most war stories written about WWI prior to this. The main character of the story is a young German soldier named Paul Baumer. The story is about Paul and his soldier buddies, and just how they deal with the many aspects of war. The story's main focus is not on the ... . (Remarque 87-88) The story depicts in rich detail the feelings of these young men. The horror of war can be seen through their eyes. Paul and his friends found neither glory nor praise on the battlefield. They found suffering, destruction, and death. "With this tale about a class of schoolmates who ... by...

• Word Count: 1239
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The novel's epigraph initiates the intent to further allow the reader to learn about the mental damage that the First World War imposed on soldiers. When Paul speaks about his entire generation "destroyed by the war-, he is talking about the way him and all of the other young soldiers becoming less and less human. The major psychological impact brought upon these young men wreaked havoc with their mental health after the war, even if they survived physically unharmed. Most of the soldiers that served the armies throughout Europe were very young, and at that early age, most of them felt like t...

• Word Count: 700
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... same agony - "I will write your wife I will tell her everything I have told you. She shall not suffer. I will help her, and your parents too, and your child -----"" The words of Paul Baumer relate to the theme of the story in that they express how much destruction and suffering war causes whether on the battlefield or off. It is see from ... Paul's concern and desire to ease the pain of the Frenchman's family that he is feeling the pain of war. Paul is also seeing the future pain of the French man's family as he saw in Kemmerich's mother when he lied ... been killed. All these men know...

• Word Count: 611
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

During WW1, young men looked to propaganda and peers for answers. Paul Bãumer was no exception, he knew that what he was doing what wrong at heart, but he still followed the herd into battle. With visions of glory and victory he marched straight into hell expecting nothing but good to come from it. He received a shock at his first engagement, war without chivalry, what a dreadful thing. Paul soon realized the horrible decision he had made to get himself in this predicament. If Herbert Benally were in Paul's class, I'm sure he would be singing a different tune about the choices these boys made...

• Word Count: 574
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School