Summary: All Quiet On The Western Front

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Oliwia Lazinska History 101, Fall 2014 Book Review The Life of a Soldier The novel All Quiet on The Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque describes the experience of World War I through the eyes of a young solder Paul Baumer. Baumer’s experience with the brutal murders and the bloody battles are so horrible that he learns to disconnect his mind from his emotion to allow him to deal with the horror of war accordingly. Remarque’s analysis of World War I through Baumer’s experience add to our understanding of the life of a soldier after war. During World War I many young men signed up to be a soldier in the war to support their country and show their patriotism. One of those young men was a nineteen-year-old Paul Baumer whose experiences…show more content…
Those people that he became close with die throughout the novel causing lots of emotional damage. To be able to cope with these results of the war,…show more content…
People at the train station are excited seeing soldiers come home from the front, but when getting off the train Paul recognizes no one. As he walks into his house he is in shock, when greeted by his excited sister Paul just stands in the entry way and “no word comes out, and so I stand on the steps, miserable, helpless, paralyzed, and against my will tears run down my cheeks” (158). This is a contrast between the idea of war that the reality of how a soldier feels when coming home. Once being home Paul discovers his mother is lying in bed sick with what the doctors believe to be cancer. When Paul’s mother questions him about the war, if it’s really as bad as some folks say it is, he talks about it with ease telling her “No, Mother, not so very. There are always a lot of us together so it isn’t so bad” (161). He can’t bring himself to say what it is really out there, she could never understand and he does not want to worry her even more. While being at home Baumer struggles to talk to his family due to the difference in their opinions of the war; Paul can’t get the horror out of his head while his whole family wants to hear the stories about what it is like there. Paul’s proud father wants to introduce him to all his friends and have him share all the stories from the incredible war. Except that Paul’s
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