Paul Baumer In All Quiet On The Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel about war. A Novel about suffering, loss, and the cold and sad realization that one young man came to about the realities of war. That young man is Paul Baumer. Paul is a very fluid and inconsistent character, he is constantly developing and changing his views on his circumstances. This is the cause of confusion for many, but also the reason that this is such a riveting and powerful book that has affected and will continue to affect all generations. His thoughts often and incessantly differ from what he says, but why? I will attempt to explain that in this paper. To begin with Paul Baumer is a very interesting and dynamic character. You see the thing is, we don’t know that much about Baumer. We know he was 19 when he enlisted, we know his internal dialogue and external conversation, we know he liked reading plays and prose. But we don’t really know much about who he is, which makes him such an interesting character. Because …show more content…
Which was beginning of Baumer 's desensitization to death and loss. Kemmerich, Baumer 's Friend, was wounded and had an amputated leg, he had no chance of survival. Kemmerich was in the hospital when Baumer came to visit him, a couple words were exchanged but Baumer didn’t know what to say, how to console his friend. Although Baumer knew Kemmerich wasn 't going to make it, he couldn 't face the fact that he 'd be losing his friend for good. Baumer didn’t want to diminish all hope that Kemmerich had left, of living to see this war end. of Living to see the end, to have a life after this war. He couldn 't do that to his friend. Kemmerich was the first of many of his friends to die. And after each one of his friends deaths he showed less and less heartache, he grew emotionless and cold. Comparing Baumer 's reaction to Kemmerich 's Death and his farewell with his friend Albert Kropp, the change in him is obvious and