In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the devastations that result in war are exemplified by the protagonist, Paul Baümer and his comrades. The devastations of war are incredibly prevalent throughout the entire novel. From the death of friends to the desensitization of seeing a corpse or a brutal injury, death is so prominent in his life that Paul has even personified ‘him.’ The tragic effect of war is highlighted through Paul’s irrationality, vulnerability, and insanity when he states, “But the shelling is stronger than everything. It wipes out the sensibilities, I merely crawl still deeper in the coffin, it should protect me, and especially as Death himself lies in it too” (4.88, Remarque). At this point in the story, Paul has become incredibly close to the complete acceptance of death, or the idea that he will die in this war.
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The war has desensitized him so much to a point where he refers to the fictional personified version of death that he created as not so much as someone whom he greatly fears, but a comforting presence, or guardian. Furthermore, Paul has not only become emotionally hardened toward death upon himself, but upon his comrades as well. When Kemmerich’s mother is grieving to Paul and pleading for answers regarding her son’s death, Paul expresses his coldness toward the subject when stating “When a man has seen so many dead he cannot understand any longer why there should be so much anguish over a single individual. So I say rather impatiently: "He died immediately. He felt absolutely nothing at all. His face was quite calm"
The war has desensitized him so much to a point where he refers to the fictional personified version of death that he created as not so much as someone whom he greatly fears, but a comforting presence, or guardian. Furthermore, Paul has not only become emotionally hardened toward death upon himself, but upon his comrades as well. When Kemmerich’s mother is grieving to Paul and pleading for answers regarding her son’s death, Paul expresses his coldness toward the subject when stating “When a man has seen so many dead he cannot understand any longer why there should be so much anguish over a single individual. So I say rather impatiently: "He died immediately. He felt absolutely nothing at all. His face was quite calm"