All Quiet On The Western Front :: essays research papers

All Quiet on the Western FrontThe remains of Paul Baumers company had moved behind the German front lines for a brusque rest at the beginning of the novel. later Behm became Pauls first dead schoolmate, Paulviewed the older generation bitterly, particularly Kantorek, the teacher who convinced Paul and hisclassmates to join the military, savour alone and betrayed in the world that they had left for him. Pauls generation felt empty and isolated from the rest of the world due to the fact that they hadnever truly set up any part of themselves in civilian life. At boot camp, Himmelstoss abusedPaul and his friends, yet the harassment only brought them closer together and developed a strongspirit amongst them. catczinsky, or Kat, was soon shown to be a master scavenger, being able toprovide the group with food or virtually anything else on this basis Paul and him grew quite close. Pauls unit was assigned to lay barbed wire on the front line, and a sudden shelling resulted in the unforg iving wounding of a recruit that Paul had comforted earlier. Paul and Kat again stronglyquestioned the War. After Pauls company were returned to the huts behind the lines, Himmelstossappeared and was insulted by some of the members of Pauls unit, who were past only mildlypunished. During a bloody battle, 120 of the men in Pauls unit were killed. Paul was given leaveand returned home only to find himself precise distant from his family as a result of the war. He left inagony knowing that his youth was lost forever. Before returning to his unit, Paul exhausted a little whileat a military camp where he viewed a Russian prisoner of war camp with severe starvationproblems and again questioned the values that he had grown up with contrasted to the values whilefighting the war. After Paul returned to his unit, they were sent to the front. During an attack, Paulkilled a French soldier. After discovering that this soldier had a family, Paul was deeply shatteredand vowed to prevent other s uch wars. Pauls unit was assigned to guard a supply depot of an remiss village, but he and Kropp were soon wounded when trying to escape from the village. Paul headed back to the front, only to engage in final battles where all of his friends were killed. The death of Kat was particularly hard for Paul because they were very close. One month beforethe Armistice, Paul was killed.