Character Analysis: All Quiet On The Western Front

All Quiet on The Western Front is a novel about growing up in the sense that the reader watches most characters, especially Paul, transform from young, patriotic school boys to shattered men destroyed by the war. Paul and his comrades face their obstacles together and never leave a man behind, but although they have the support of one another, the war still takes a severe mental toll on all the men. Paul enlists in the army with his school friends excited to fight for their country, but soon realises that war is nothing but horror, and forget what they are even fighting for.
Throughout the war Paul has experienced so much terror that he can’t even begin to explain what war is like to his family, and finds that things he used to hold dearly

After Kemmerich dies, Paul thinks, “Iron Youth. Youth! We are none of us more than twenty years old. But young? Youth? That is long ago. We are old folk.” (Remarque 18). The comrades are forced to look death in the face at a very young age which immediately takes away their chance to be a normal kid ever again. Having to kill someone, or seeing people be killed is hard for almost anyone, but at such a young age is alters how the comrades see humankind and puts a dark spin on the world. “We stick out our chests, shave in the open, shove our hands in our pockets, inspect the recruits and feel ourselves to be stone-age veterans” (Remarque 35). Throughout the book the comrades are forced to do little things that all together take their innocence away. Even something as simple as shaving or using the latrine in the open forces the men to grow up and leave their childish ways behind. While talking his teachers, Paul states,“While they continued to write and talk, we saw the wounded and dying. While they taught that duty to one's country is the greatest thing, we already knew that death-throes are stronger.” (Remarque 13). The adults who convinced Paul to enlist in the army immediately took away his innocence by telling him he should put his life on the line out of respect for his country. The moment Paul made the decision to enlist in the army he signed away his innocence as well. During their time at the front the men have been forced to do more mature things they aren’t used to which forces them to become more manly and stop acting like