Robert Backes
All Quiet on the Western Front
Role of the character Paul Baumer
In the
book All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer is the main character
and narrator of this novel. Paul had
enlisted in the German army at the young age of 19. Paul states that if he
lives through the war he will not know what to do with himself. His entire manhood has been war and he does
not know how he will be able to exist in a world without war. Before the war Paul was a very sensitive,
creative, and loving person who wrote poetry. He loved his family and was able
to express himself by being able to share his true emotions.
During
the war his ability to be the man that he once was is lost. With all the killing and death his ability to
express his emotions is lost. He starts to separate himself from emotion and
the hardships that he has faced. One of
the most powerful quotes that I felt was in this novel helps prove this. Paul
stated “Parting from my friend Albert Kropp was very hard. But a man gets used
to that sort of thing in the army.” The
war had changed Paul’s attitude and personality along with other aspects of his
past life.
By the
end of the novel Paul is struggling with himself. He realizes that the war has
destroyed his hopes and dreams. Paul feels like he will never be able to regain
any of them. Paul’s inner person was
killed long before his true death. He
has no more emotion for anything. Paul comes to a conclusion that he will no
longer know what to do with himself and decides that there is nothing else to
loose.
After
years of fighting and the loss of his soul Paul is finally killed. He was
killed in October 1918 on a very peaceful and alarmingly quiet day. Paul is
finally free from the hardship of the war. The army report that day contains
only one phrase: “All quiet on the Western Front.” As Paul dies, his face is
calm, “as though almost glad the end had come.”
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