Analysis: All Quiet On The Western Front

323 Words2 Pages
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque poses many questions throughout the story including why an enemy soldier can cause grief. The French soldier Gérard Duval is significant to All Quiet on the Western Front because he changes the perception of the enemy by being an idea, an almost lifeless body, and a single name that all cause grief without speaking a single word. When Gérard Duval is first introduced, he is plunging into the trench that Paul Baumer is in. He is not portrayed as a person at first, instead being “steps [that] hasten over [him]...a body [that] falls over [him]” because he is fearful of his life and soon after, Paul stabs him without thinking about who he is(Remarque 216). Remarque uses non-specific nouns