All+Quiet+on+the+Western+Front

 //All Quiet on the Western Front// by  Erich Maria Remarque

 About the Author

Erich Maria Remarque was born in Ossnabrück, Germany in 1898. At the age of 18 he was forced to enlist in the German army. While in the army he fought in War World One on the Western Front. While there he was wounded multiple times. His experience while fighting gave him the experiences that contributed to his writing of //All Quiet on the Western Front.//

When the Nazis took over Germany //All Quiet on the Western Front// was banned and was one of the many books that the Germans burned. Remarque had to flee to Switzerland to escape persecution. He would later move to America. He wrote other novels depicting the struggle in Europe, but these were never held in such high esteem as //All Quiet on the Western Front.//  (__Prose and Poetry- erich maria remarque__. 21 Oct. 2001. 10 May 2009 .)

 Major Characters

Paul Baumer- The narrator and protagonist of the story. Paul is a twenty year old man who has enlisted with all of his class mates into the German army. While fighting on the Western Front he experiences the true horrors of war.

 Stanislaus Katczinsky- He is known as Kat throughout the novel. He is aroung forty years old. He serves as Paul's best friend throughout the novel. He watches out for the men around by providing food and other goods when his friends and fellow soldiers needed them.

Albert Kropp- One of Paul's classmates. He is an intelligent young man whose comments on the reasoning for war is what gets Paul to question why all these young men are pitted against each other. <span style="font-size: 110%; color: rgb(0,0,255);">Tjaden- Another of Paul's classmates. He is part of the group that Paul interacts with throughout the war.

<span style="font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0,0,255);">Muller- Another of Paul's classmates. Also part of the group Paul interacts with throughout the war.

<span style="font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0,0,255);">Kantorek- German schoolmaster, he is responsible for persuading Paul's class into enlisting into the army.

<span style="font-size: 120%; color: rgb(0,0,255);">Himmelstoss- <span style="font-size: 130%; color: rgb(255,0,0);"> <span style="color: rgb(0,0,0);">German officer, tormented Paul's regiment during training. He is a topic of conversation between the soldiers throughout the entire novel.

<span style="font-size: 130%; color: rgb(255,0,0);">Plot Summary

The novel follows a young soldier named Paul Baumer. Paul is fighting on the Western Front in World War One. He has been persuaded to enlist in the army with the rest of his class by a school master by the name of Kantorek. As Paul begins to see his classmates around him die he starts to realize the absurdity behind the war. He sees countless new recruits lose their lives to the stupidity of the way the war is fought. He is angered by the fact that his friends are dying for a purpose unknown to any of them. When he returns home on leave he realizes that he will never be able to return to normal life. After returning to the front line he and one of his best friends, Kropp, are injured. Kropp eventually has to have his leg amputated. Paul watches as his friend begins to lose his will to live, but he is shipped back to the front line and doesn't know if he will ever see Kropp again. When he returns to the front line again the fighting is intensified and he sees more of those around him dying, as the story comes to an end there is rumors of an armistice, as this comes closer his last and best friend Kat is killed. He is then left alone to face this war that is pitting young men of the same generation against each other for what seems to be no reason.

<span style="font-size: 120%; color: rgb(255,0,0);">Quote

"I am young, I am twenty years old; yet i know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, follishly, obediently, innocently slay one another."

<span style="font-size: 130%; color: rgb(255,0,0);">Image selection

This picture shows how ragged the soldiers look and the conditions that they were forced to live in for weeks a time.

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