All Quiet on the Western Front Questions and Answers
by Erich Maria Remarque

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  How do a person’s surroundings impact their sense of self, specifically in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  It could be said that a person's sense of self is almost entirely constructed by their own surroundings. It is doubtful that any person could identify a facet of themselves that did not have its...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What are the characteristics of a “true” war story, specifically in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  Although it is a work of fiction, All Quiet on the Western Front exhibits many truthful elements. Remarque does not pull any punches when describing the conditions of war. This story depicts the...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  How do authors elicit sympathy for their characters, specifically in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  The word “sympathy” comes from the Greek words “sum” (with) and “patheia” (suffering), so it means that one suffers with the character. The word “compassion” derives from the same two words in...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What does it mean to be an “enemy” in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  The question of what it means to be an enemy, so apparently simple, particularly in wartime, is explored in practically all literature that deals with war at all. One of the points most frequently...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What makes a description powerful or moving?
  Unexpected and specific details can make description powerful or moving. An example from All Quiet on the Western Front is the following: [In school]...nobody ever taught us how to light a...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What does it mean to “grow up”?
  For Paul and his cohort of soldiers, growing up merely means growing older while carrying the experiences of a war that nobody else can understand. Paul thinks about the aftermath of the war as he...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What qualities allow a person to deal with conflict and loss?
  All Quiet on the Western Front was written by German World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque in 1928 and tells of the intense mental and physical anguish that soldiers had to endure during that...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Where is personification in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  Personification is figurative language related to metaphor. Authors use this literary tool as a method of describing something to make it more easily understood, to emphasize a particular point, or...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What are Paul's character traits in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  Paul Baumer is the protagonist of All Quiet on the Western Front. He is presented as a typical German youth of his generation. He likes to socialize and drink with his friends and woo young women....

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What are examples of metaphors and similes in chapter 3 in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  All Quiet on the Western Front was originally written in German by Erich Maria Remarque. In answering this question, I am using the Arthur Wesley Wheen translation, which gave the English-speaking...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Who is a static character in the book All Quiet on the Western Front?
  Keep in mind that the definition of static character (as opposed to dynamic character) is one who does not change. One of the main themes of this book is the changes the war brings out in the...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What are the differences between the book and the movie?
  All Quiet on the Western Front was written by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book has been described as one of the best wartime novels ever. It accurately relays the...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Litetary devices in chapter 1
  To help you come up with your own answers about the literary devices that Erich Maria Remarque uses in the first chapter of All Quiet on the Western Front, let us review what the term “literary...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Was Paul’s death a blessing?
  The "conventional" answer to this question would probably be yes. The loss of Paul's friend Kat has already destroyed him, so Paul's own physical death is described as a kind of afterthought, a...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What are literary devices in chapter 5 of All Quiet on the Western Front?
  The chapter begins with some humor, with Tjaden coming up with an ingenious way to kill the lice in the men's hair. After they pluck out the lice, instead of squeezing the tough insects to death,...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Which recurring motifs and symbols does Remarque employ to criticize patriotic ideals in All Quiet on the Western Front, and how does he use them?
  All Quiet on the Western Front isn't especially replete with symbolism, but there are a number of recurring motifs in the story. Relevant to this particular question is the recurrence of the...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  How does the author use recurring motifs like the boots and psychological terror to criticize patriotic ideals and Nazis?
  It's important to bear in mind that All Quiet on the Western Front was written in 1928, five years before the Nazis came to power. That said, the book remains a trenchant critique of the militarism...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  To what extent does the Author use recurring motifs and symbols to criticize the patriotic ideals displayed by the Nazis in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  In his book All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque uses various symbols and motifs to send a message about several ideas. Most of them, I feel as a reader, involve exposing the cruel...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  In chapter 12 of All Quiet on the Western Front, explain the meaning of the title, especially as it relates to Paul.
  In Chapter 12, the war is finally drawing to a close. Paul is the last of the group of seven youths with whom he joined up to survive to this point, "the last of the seven fellows from our class."...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Compare the novel All Quiet on the Western Front to the movie.
  In order to answer this question I would have to know which movie version you are talking about. There are several and I am only familiar in depth with one. There was a black and white version in...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Why does Paul fall off the top bunk?
  In this scene, Paul is riding in a train car with two bunk beds. His friend Albert Kropp is put on the lower bunk, and Paul takes the top. At first he is amazed, to the point of not wanting to get...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Where is the quote: "I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuos superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow." Why is this significant? 
  All Quiet on the Western Front is an anti-war novel, and this quote, near the end of the novel, sums up the problem with warfare. It is spoken by Paul Bäumer, the novel's narrator and protagonist,...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What are examples of three different types of literary devices in chapters 10, 11, and 12 of All Quiet on the Western Front?
  While there is a spareness to much of Eric Maria Remarque's style of writing, at times it is almost impressionistic; Remarque's narrative touch is direct and sensitive both. CHAPTER 10 The chapter...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  In All Quiet on the Western Front, what symbolism does the earth hold for the soldier?
  In World War I, the earth is extremely significant for soldiers; for, they live in the trenches, they fight from the trenches, they crawl on the earth when they must move out of the trenches. The...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  At the end of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul reflects on his life. How does he feel about his life and about war?
  During the course of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, Paul Bäumer becomes disillusioned with the patriotic messages that had supported the war. He worries about the actual status and mental attitudes...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  In All Quiet on the Western Front why does the author have Paul die? not too long pls
  In my opinion, the author has Paul die because that helps him to make his point about the effects of war. As we have seen in Paul's thoughts, he feels that the war will destroy his whole...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  List 5 events which support the idea of an uncertain, out of control, dangerous, and godless war in All Quiet on the Western Front.
  All Quiet on the Western Front is full of such events, and Paul, the narrator, frequently refers to the war in these ways. Perhaps the one event that embodies all of these aspects of war is Paul's...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Please give examples of romanticism in quotes or scenes from All Quiet on the Western Front.
  Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front is a realistic account of one German soldier's experiences in World War I. Most of the novel is painfully realistic, as it addresses the horrors of war....

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Which line provides the best evidence that Himmelstoss is unstable and hesitant to fight in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  For about the first half of the novel, Corporal Himmelstoss exercises considerable control over the young recruits’s lives. A sadist, he enjoys making them suffer more than he actually tries to...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  In Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front, why is there such an abundance of rations?
  In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel of soldiers in the First World War, All Quiet on the Western Front, the importance of food cannot be overstated. In describing the preoccupation of soldiers living...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  What is important about the line at the end of the section describing Kat's death-"Then I know nothing more"? All Quet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
  Although the war is near its end, Germany continues to fight even though there is no hope of winning. The men feel as though they are prisoners sentenced to death; they fight at the front, then...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Explain what the author is describing in these two quotes. "Since then we have learned better than to be shy about such trifling immodesties. In time things far worse than that came easy to us." "It might easily have happened that we should not...
  In chapter one of All Quiet on the Western Front the writer, Erich Maria Remarque, describes the camaraderie of war in a unique way. “. . . we have learned better than to be shy about such...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  "If your own father came over with them you would not hesitate to fling a bomb into him." What is the significance of this quote in Chp 6 pg. 114
  A great deal of what Remarque was writing about was the battle of the men on the front, particularly Paul's battle amidst the destruction, the horror and the inhumanity of the war. In this regard,...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Within Chapters 1-6 how is the theme of the senselessness of war developed in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  Paul prefaces his narrative of war with the deluded appeal of Kantorek to his students to enlist, Kantorek would say that we stood on the threshold of life. And so it would seem. We had as yet...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  In All Quiet on the Western Front, why does Paul say "We will not be able to find our way anymore"?  What does he mean by "men will not understand us"?
  Several authors (Hemingway, Sassoon, Owen) of Remarque's era reflect the mantra of "The Lost Generation." The carnage of the first world war was staggering. Germany lost over 7 million people....

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  In "All Quiet on the Western Front", what does Kantorek pressure the men to do? In Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, what is Kantorek's role?
  Kantorek is the schoolmaster whose inflammatory speech stirred such patriotism in his students that all (but one) joyfully volunteer to fight "for the Fatherland." Kantorek is a small man with a...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  When Paul reflects on his childhood experiences in chapter #6, do these memories awaken happy feelings or sorrowful feelings in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  Paul has a difficult time remembering the past because of the contrast between the calm in the memories and the chaos of war. On the front, there is always noise. In their memories only, there is...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  How does stabbing the French soldier affect Paul? God do you interpret his comment afterward: "after all, war is war."?
  The original question had to be edited down. I would suggest that Paul's statement reflects the condition of being that he has come to accept as part of his being in war. There is a note of...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Why do Paul and Kropp scoff at the term Kantorek uses for his former students in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  Schoolmaster Kantorek refers to his former students as "the Iron Youth". Paul Baumer and Albert Kropp scoff at the term because it is so ironic. Kantorek speaks of them as if they are glorious...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Explain the attitude of this novel towards World War I and all wars. Do you agree or disagree with the author? Why or why not? The novel is All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.
  Though of course it is just my opinion, Remarque was commenting on the futility and the utterly back-breaking sadness of a war and its ability to destroy an entire generation of youth from, in this...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Describe Paul Baumer's characterization in chapter 1 of the other characters in All Quiet on the Western Front. Indirectly, what does it tell us about Paul?
  In Chapter 1 of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer describes his friends from school with whom he enlisted and the soldiers whom he met in the Second Company. Paul selects one...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  In chapter two of All Quiet on the Western Front, why does Kemmerich cry?
  Kemmerich is crying in the second chapter because he knows he is dying. After being wounded in the war, he is in a hospital bed whilst the narrator speaks to him and tries to cheer him up. However,...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Why, according to Chapter 6 of All Quiet on the Western Front, do "between five and ten recruits fall to every old hand?"
  In this part of Chapter 6, the narrator talks about ways in which new recruits get killed because they do not know what they are doing. He mentions one reason right after the quote you provide us,...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  "I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow." Paul can hardly be blamed for his negative outlook on life. Thankfully, many of us know nothing of...
  I think that what can be done here is to express how Paul's emotional experience can be universally appreciated. Certainly, few could say that they "get" what Paul is talking about. His...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  alienation, isolation, dilocation - chp. 7 How does Paul feel alienated, isolated and dislocated while on leave - supported by references and quotes.
  For a quote, what about the part where Paul goes to see Kemmerich's mother. She wants to know how her son died. She is really anxious that she should know the truth. But Paul can't understand...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  From Chapter 2 in All Quiet on the Western Front describe some of Himmelstoss's methods for showing his power over Paul and his friends.  In describing these harsh methods, what does Paul mean by ''We became hard, suspicious, pitiless, vicious,...
  In Chapter 2, Paul remarks that "we stood on the threshold of life." There is a level of excitement and exuberance that Paul and the recruits feel about the war. It is for this reason that...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  After Paul returns to the front, what happens to his comrades in All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque? 
  Having lost his youthful innocence and joie de vivre after being in war, Paul feels alienated from his family when he returns home on furlough. Upon his return to the front, Paul finds himself...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Why does Paul refuse to be chloroformed after his injury in All Quiet on the Western Front?
  Paul refuses to be "put under" because he fears that the surgeon will amputate his injured leg. In Chapter 10 of All Quiet on the Western Front, after having three weeks of good food and relaxation...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  Who is the narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front?
  The narrator of the Erich Maria Remarque World War I novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, is German infantryman Paul Baumer, who tells his tales of battlefield horror mixed with peaceful respites...

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• All Quiet on the Western Front
  While on an especially risky patrol, Paul promises himself that, should some soldiers hop into his shell hole, Paul would be the first to strike. Once he carries out this strategy, why does he try to save the French soldier he has mortally...
  After Paul fatally wounds the French soldier in the shell hole, he begins to realize that the soldier is just a man like him. Throughout the novel, Paul has been saying that the war has robbed him...

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