Analysis Of Erich Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front

In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque, a man named Paul Baumer is persuaded to join the war by his school teacher. As he gets more into war itself, he questions his decision to join and so do his mates in the war. When Paul has time alone on sentry duty, he really opens up and tells the reader about what he is thinking about the war. As the war progresses, Paul begins to think about memories of home and how pride of being in the war was something that is not all that important to him. The importance Paul being the narrator in this novel shows how a first person point of view can give the reader a better outlook on what the plot is suggesting. Using a first person point of view, Remarque can show his intent easier by having feelings being shown by Paul and his personal beliefs about being on the front lines of the war. Paul is persuaded by his school teacher, Kantorek, to join the war. In the first few pages of the novel, Paul explains how it is not Kantorek’s fault for talking them into this. He says, “Naturally, we couldn’t blame Kantorek for this. Where would the world be if one brought every man to book?” (Remarque 12). …show more content…
He has sings of hope because of the armistice occurring and him being able to go home and return to his family. However, these hopes fall away and are replaced by pure confidence. We hear this from Paul, “I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear” (Remarque 295). This confidence from Paul is something that we never got throughout the book because he was always so worried about his life and his families. Now, he is just looking ahead to the coming years and months of being home and will confront them without any fear because what he has been through can let his mind overcome anything. This helps the reader get a better understanding for why Paul has this burst of energy to allow him to overcome his