Zach Miller English II Accelerated September 4, 2014 All Quiet on the Western Front Character Chart Name Description Paul Braumer Paul is the narrator and main character of the story. He enjoys writing poetry, reading books, smoking cigarettes, and drinking beer. He is very kind and compassionate towards his friends. Tjaden Tjaden is one of Paul’s closest friends. He is very thin, but has a voracious appetite. At home, he is a locksmith. Tjaden wets the bed frequently and Corporal Himmelstoss blames it on his lethargy. Tjaden has a strong resent towards Himmelstoss. Muller Muller is another nineteen year old boy who joined the military. Muller is a stubborn man who studies carries his schoolbooks with him and studies physics. In addition, …show more content…
Detering is a peasant with a wife and a farm back home. He has a strong love for animals and his most horrid experience is hearing the horses die in battle. Upon seeing an olive tree, Detering runs back to his farm. He is court-martialed and never seen again. Kantorek Kantorek is the schoolmaster at Paul’s old school. He convinces Paul and many of his friends to join the military. Ironically, Kantorek is recruited into the army and placed under the command of one of his former students, Mittelstaedt. Corporal Himmelstoss Himmelstoss is a noncommissioned training officer who torments the young boys. He is forces them to do terrible things such as clean a bathroom with a toothbrush. At home, Himmelstoss is a postal worker. Himmelstoss also becomes the chef when Ginger quits. In the front lines, Himmelstoss is a coward who fakes an injury to avoid actually being injured. Gerad Duval Gerad is a French soldier who Paul kills in hand-to-hand combat. At home, Gerad is a printer with a wife and a child. Ginger Ginger is the camp cook. He is a very stubborn man who will not give out extra food, even when he has cooked …show more content…
On their way to the front, Paul and his comrades hear the distinct sound of a mortar firing towards them, but the “animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected” (56). Unknowingly, the second company dodge all the shrapnel and escape with their lives. When one’s life is in danger, the primitive instincts are able to make split-second decisions that can save one’s life. While reflecting on his time in the front line, Paul realizes that all the soldiers “turn into animals when we go up to the line, because that is the only thing which brings us through safely” (139). Instead of reflecting on the happier times before the war, Paul can only think about the front line. Paul is unable to dwell on his past because all that he is giving up will depress him. Caught in the middle of a gunfight, Paul crawls in a hole and pretends to be dead. As an enemy soldier steps in the hole, Paul stabs him with his knife and kills him. However, Paul says to the fallen soldier that he did not mean to kill him and ‘“If you jumped in here again, I would not do it, if you were sensible too” (223). Unknowing that these so called “enemies” were actually humans with families, Paul kills Gerad Duval and immediately regrets his decision. Overtaken by his primal instincts, Paul kills Gerad without thinking to ensure his