Paul Baumer In All Quiet On The Western Front

The narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer, loses his humanity in and through World War I. Baumer goes from a piteous young man to a stalwart soldier. He learns the characteristics of a valiant warrior. The German veteran becomes incapable of expressing his feelings about the war. Baumer can no longer think of a future without war. He becomes a pessimistic, negative soldier. He no longer fears death and treats it like an ordinary event. Baumer’s experiences during the war are so harrowing that he cannot describe what he has experienced with other people. When Baumer’s sister mentions his mother in chapter 7, Paul becomes forceless. “I can do nothing, I struggle to make myself laugh, to speak, but no word comes, and so I stand

After witnessing all of his companions in the second company die, he realizes that it is just a fact of life. Baumer does not realize it is just a fact of life when he is slowly watching Kemmerich being tortured by a slow and painful death. “I sit tensely and watch his every movement in case he may perhaps say something.”(Pg.31). Kemmerich knows his leg is gone and he is aware of the fact that he is very close to immediate death. Baumer repeatedly tries to cheer him, but, Kemmerich ignores him and refuses to respond in conversation. Even though it is obvious that his tactics are not working, Baumer constantly talks to him, trying to make him avoid death. To Baumer, this is not just the passing of another human being, this is the death of one of his closest friends, the fact that these words could be the last words Baumer says to Kemmerich and these could be the last words Kemmerich hears. “Suddenly Kemmerich groans and begins to gurgle. I jump up, stumble outside and demand: “Where is the doctor? Where is the doctor?”(Pg. 31). As Kemmerich gets closer and closer to his death, Baumer tries harder and harder to prevent it. Unfortunately, Baumer’s efforts are wasted. “We are by Kemmerich’s bed. He is dead.”(Pg.32). This death takes a major toll on Baumer’s life. He realizes how bad death really is, even though he has not seen a lot of death in war, yet. Even though it seems as if Baumer treats death very emotionally, he discards his feelings of death later in the story. In chapter 9, Baumer dives into a shell hole for protection from a bombardment. While down there, Baumer thinks of a plan in case an enemy jumps into his hole. “If anyone jumps in here I will go for him. It hammers in my forehead; at once, stab him clean through the throat, so that he cannot call out; that’s the only way; he will be just as frightened as I am; when in terror we fall upon another, then I must be first.”(Pg.