He goes on leave and comes home to visit his mother. He feels separated from society, "I find I do not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world"(168). Paul's further participation in war separates him from the life which he cherished so greatly. When he and his mother greet each other, he realizes that he has nothing to say to her, "We say very little and I am thankful that she asks nothing" (141). Finally she does speak to him and asks, "Was it very bad out there, Paul?" (143). Here, when he answers, he lies, evidently to protect her from hearing of the horrible conditions that he has just experienced. "Mother, what should I answer to that? You would not understand, you could never realize it. And you never shall realize it." He thinks to himself. "Was it bad, you ask.-You, Mother,--I shake my head and say, No, Mother, not so very. There are always a lot of us together so it isn't so bad." (143). Paul decides to use words that are false because he does not want his mother to have to hear these awful things but Paul creates separation between his mother and himself. Paul does not want to respond to his mother's question because he knows that the experiences he had are very overwhelming and that any attempt at telling the truth would have no point at all. During the course of his leave, Paul also sees his father. Paul says his father "is curious, about the war, in a way that I find stupid and distressing; I no longer have any real contact with him" The fact that he does not wish to talk with his parent shows Paul's movement away from the past. (146). .
When Paul returns from leave he is soon caught in a shell hole during the attack. Here, he is forced to kill a Frenchman who jumps into the trench while attacking the German lines. Paul is horrified at his action. He thinks, "This is the first time I have killed with my hands, whom I can see close at hand, whose death is my doing" (193). The war and his part have become much more personalized because he actually sees the face of the enemy, the man he has killed, right in front of him.
