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Characterization Of Paul Quiet On The Western Front

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A Worthy Protagonist I enjoy following the journeys of Paul Baumer. Out of all the characters in All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul has the most diverse personality along with the most complicated inner conflicts. By making an interesting protagonist, Remarque shows details of Paul that make him a more enjoyable and interesting character. Paul is a guy who acts like a young adult. I am able to relate to Paul more than other characters because he is an ordinary guy who thinks about simple ideas. He is only at a point where he has "his parents, some enthusiasm, a few hobbies, and [his] school" (Remarque 26). His possessions resemble a typical teenager's life which I can rely to because all we have is our parents, hobbies, and school. In addition, he describes him and his friends as “old folks” who were teenagers a “long time ago” (Remarque 24). Like a typical teenager, Paul thinks that he is ready to deal with war and other conflicts, but in reality, he is still a young adult that has not experienced life. Paul's naive and child-like personality gives me an interesting …show more content…

Unlike other military men, Paul has the ability to see through the enemy military members’ perspective to the extent that he could see their struggles. He believes that the enemies from Russia are as “kindly as the peasants in Friesland” (Remarque 190). Paul’s analyzes that the eastern side enemy begs and acts just as humane as the peasants in Friesland, Netherlands because both side want to survive and have a good life. Furthermore, Paul connects to the person who he had slain by describing that his “mother is just as anxious as [theirs]”, and they have “the same fear of death” (Remarque 223). Remarque shows this comparison between Paul and the dead man because he wants to show how Paul has the ability to look into his enemy's’ side of the war. Overall, Paul is more likable because he could find struggles within himself and

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The inhumanity that he witnesses makes Paul conscious of the animal-like suffrage that the soldiers experience throughout their time in the war. To Baumer, the Russian soldiers “are so feeble” (Remarque 193) and have lost their sense of humanity as they are the “pitilessness of men” (Remarque 193). However, Paul can relate to the men as they are all soldiers fighting for a cause that they do not necessarily believe in, bringing out their inner beast in order to survive. He then begins to realize that the more he finds connections and a sense of

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She was clinically depressed and also had agoraphobia, which got to the point of her moving into the basement of their family home. Despite these aspects of his childhood, Paul was seemingly happy growing up and was in boy scouts, among other things. However, later into his teens, he began to develop darker

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“‘Yeah. Why not?’”(Bloor 172). Paul’s character is now less afraid of Erik and Arthur, who have been mean to him for a while. Paul, when he told on Erik, is now hated by Erik, but is a hero to his parents. In conclusion, because of some reasons, like when Erik killed Luis, Paul tells on Erik, and his character becomes more

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As the book goes on, Paul starts to overcome his fears by confronting Erik and Arthur. He overame the fears that dominated his life. For once Paul wasn’t afriad, instead showing courage and bravery. Others might dissagree and say that Paul reveals fear because on it says “... I felt afraid for the first time, afriad that we might all get sucked down and drwon in the mud”, Even if Paul was sacred, he forgot about that and saved multipul kids from the sinkhile in this quote, “My glasses were so caked with mud that I couold no longer se anything clearly. I muyst have pulled twenty kids up befor

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Kat and Paul were best friends and stayed together throughout the war. Paul did not know what to do when Kat died, he is at a loss of words, and wanted to hurt himself to stay with Kat and go wherever he went. He is courageous even though he witnessed an awful death. Although Paul is a good comrade and a smart decision maker, his best trait is that he is a brave

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We see this change when Paul goes from shy kid to daring hero in seconds to save his classmates “We pulled and grabbed at kids as they made their way up the slippery incline to the top.” (82). This was one of the first big dynamic change we see in Paul. As Paul is exposed to more his character grows immensely. The biggest risk we see Paul take is when his new friends decide to give Erik and Arthur what they deserve during the senior football night.

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After the traumatic experiences he suffered through, Paul made mental growth in the human aspect. He figured out that “there are still human faces” even in his enemies. Further in this realization he sympathizes with the rest of the wounded soldiers stuck in similar hospitals all over the enemy lines. This identification attaches Paul to the enemy, positively affecting his mental condition. He recognizes that he is not as drastically different as he thought which ultimately changes his outlook on the war.

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Since many people look down upon Paul, he notices facts and clues society does not, however, he fears saying something, in which causes his friend to end up dying Within the story, Paul lives in his own bubble, disconnected from the world and society, so he knows what others do not. It is as if Paul lives in the sun and knowledge of the world, baring that burden while others in society live in darkness with a slight sliver of light from the moon, believing they know the world to its full extent when in reality they are blind and in the dark. This affects Paul since he possesses ideas from another point of view that others have no clue about. This is important because without the knowledge that Paul posses, he would be like his none the wiser parents, which

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Although Paul and his friends are raised by the older generation, the real enemies of Paul and his friends are the older generations because of the kaiser and the people in the country. Paul realizes that they are not fighting for themselves or the country but for the older generation instead. Paul points out that World War 1 is not needed, it is the kaiser that commands them to the war in chapter 8. He also compares with one of the soldiers he has killed and finds out that he has a family and friends just like Paul in chapter 9. Paul illustrates that french is not their enemy by telling the soldier that he will do what the man wants.

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Title In World War One, one of the most bloody, gruesome, and horrific wars in modern-day history, the dire need for true brotherhood may be a literal matter of life and death. In Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, the epic effect of comradeship is displayed throughout the actions, characters, and overall impact on the book itself. Without these aspects of comradeship, one may be as hopeless and deserted as the front lines of the battlefield. To achieve a full knowledge and realize the impact of comradeship, one must start by understanding actions as simple as roasting a goose. While some actions may seem silly or not pertinent to the powerful idea of comradeship, they may mean more than what comes to the reader's mind at first.

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Paul is in the middle of a war, his mother is dying, his friends are dying, death surrounds him, and he has firsthand killed a man to protect himself and his hiding place. Mentally, he has experienced more stress and trauma than most of the people his age. His transition from reckless teenage years

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Throughout the story Paul shows that he cares about his comrades by protecting them from the dangers of war, and he also displays that he will guide them in war. Paul uses his skills of intelligence to guide his team in the trenches and at the front, and he passes on his knowledge and tricks of war to the new recruits. Not many soldiers have all of these qualities, which makes Paul stand out more than his comrades. Even today some men don't express the passion and leadership Paul shows in All Quiet on the Western Front, which brings up the fact that the war needs more men like Paul. To sum up, Paul is an honest and true man who will always be there for his comrades when needed, and he is a man the troops are proud to say is a patriotic

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World War I is a well-known historical event, which resulted in immense casualties and distress in the early 20th century. The war paved the way for significant political changes to occur, and entirely reshaped the European map. Propaganda of the war was published once veterans and families were comfortable enough to share their experiences subsequent to the drastic war. Erich Maria Remarque 's All Quiet on the Western Front and Otto Dix 's "Transporting the Wounded in Houthulst Forest" and "War Triptych," portray the notion that war dehumanizes its soldiers and strips them of their identities. Remarque demonstrates this idea by telling solemn stories about soldiers in the war, while Dix renders graphic images of the horrors of war.

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Paul learns that war obtains the capability to demolish society. War destroys so many innocent people’s lives, whether it kills innocent human beings or shatters the innocence of those who fight in

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In order to emphasize the degree to which the soldiers in World War I changed emotionally, Paul juxtaposes the innocence of his youth with a primal instinct of desperate survival that forms from the brutality of the war. As time passes, each of the soldiers slowly loses his sense of self, specifically seen when Bäumer and Kropp, a fellow soldier, cannot seem to recognize themselves in a regular life in the future after the war. Kropp then interprets this as a loss of preparedness because of war. Paul seems to agree as he reminisces, “We were eighteen

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