Struggles In All Quiet On The Western Front

You know what would suck? Enduring the entire first world war while watching your close friends die one by one, only to experience your own death while expecting armistice in the near future. The book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, is an emotional story about a man, Paul Bäumer, is a German student that is convinced by his teacher to join the German army to help the cause during ww1. He, his friends, and classmates become even closer under the pressure of war. Paul faces several struggles throughout the book, mental, emotional, and physical. He faces constant threat of death by enemy artillery, and death at the front lines. Paul also struggles emotionally after the death of his friend, Albert Kropp, who is the first, but one of the many friends that Paul loses.

Paul returns home and feels as if he does "not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world." He feels as if war has permanently changed him. It is now all he knows. He later returns to war, now feeling relieved to be back where he belongs with his friends. Another mental challenge occurs after, Paul volunteers for patrol for the first time and kills his first enemy by knife. This is a tender moment for Paul, because he is devastated and feels remorse for the man he just killed. At this time, every last one of his friends are dead. Paul doesn't know what to do with himself. These struggles and challenges ultimately leads to the biggest struggle of all, his own death. Ironically Paul dies on a non chaotic, quiet day. He was shot dead, and the army report of his death read “All quiet on the Western Front”. In this war novel, lives Paul Bäumer, a struggling man to find inner peace. A recurrent theme are the vast number of challenges Paul must face. Paul struggles to find himself amidst the