The master scrounger, who even secures four boxes of lobsters to share with his comrades, lightens the load of the young combatants by removing their dependence on the military and reconnecting them with the earth and the normal order of hustling for a good meal, a manly jest, and an […]
Read more Character Analysis KatCharacter Analysis Leer
The first of Paul’s class to experience intercourse, Leer lords his insider’s knowledge over the other men by recounting his conquests. The leader in flirtation with local women, he locates their house and joins the group who swim the canal. Fearless of the possibility that the women may be courted […]
Read more Character Analysis LeerCharacter Analysis Albert Kropp
A contemplative man, Albert, who curses Kemmerich’s ill fate, turns over in his mind the significance of his experiences and concludes that wars would be fair if warmongers met in a ring and fought like toreador and bull, using only clubs as weapons. In Chapter 5, as the men contemplate […]
Read more Character Analysis Albert KroppCharacter Analysis Franz Kemmerich
Although Kemmerich appears in only two chapters of the book, his wartime experience makes the first strong impression of ill fate, suffering, and loss. As Paul and his friends visit him, they perceive the real truth about war; he lies on bed 26, incapable of sensing the amputation of his […]
Read more Character Analysis Franz KemmerichCharacter Analysis Himmelstoss
The former postman, whose name means “heaven-knocker,” overexerts his authority and is reported by the son of a local magistrate. As a result, the tormentor is sent to the front to fight alongside the men he intimidated with his petty drills and sadistic punishments. Adorned with a twitching red mustache […]
Read more Character Analysis HimmelstossCharacter Analysis Paul Baumer
Too innocent and inexperienced at first to foresee the violent shift in his thinking, Paul, whose last name comes from the German word for tree, must learn to bend and sway with violent forces in order to remain firmly rooted in reality and to survive the inhuman buffeting that besets […]
Read more Character Analysis Paul BaumerSummary and Analysis Chapter 12
Summary Now it is Autumn of 1918. All talk is of peace and an armistice. Resting for fourteen days because he swallowed some gas, Paul considers the possibility that an armistice means they can go home. But what is home? He and his whole generation have no goals, no aims, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 12Summary and Analysis Chapter 11
Summary Back at the front in springtime, Paul perceives war as a kind of disease, “the cause of death like cancer and tuberculosis, like influenza and dysentery.” His mind refuses to focus on the carnage, which leaves craters on both the physical and emotional landscape. No one remembers what existed […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 11Summary and Analysis Chapter 10
Summary Paul’s luck appears to change when he is assigned, along with seven others, to guard a deserted village and supply dump. He is pleased to join Kat, Albert, Muller, Tjaden, Detering, and the rest, but mourns that Haie is no longer alive to share their good fortune. These few […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 10Summary and Analysis Chapter 9
Summary On his way back to Second Company, Paul goes by rail and on foot in search of its new location. He hears that his company is being sent to places “wherever it is hottest.” While this is not “cheerful” news, he searches for his friends and finds he must […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 9