Illustration of Paul Baumer in a German army uniform with a red background

All Quiet on the Western Front

by Erich Maria Remarque

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Chapter 5 Summary

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The soldiers are infested with lice and kill them by picking them off their clothes and sizzling them to death over a candle. It is a mindless task, and the men are preoccupied with the latest news. The rumor is true: Himmelstoss has arrived. They ponder what they will say to their former nemesis, and then talk to turns to the future. The idea of the war being over is almost too much to comprehend, but Katczinsky knows he will go home to his wife and children. Haie may, inexplicably to the others, stay in the army; he claims that digging trenches is better than digging peat. If there is no war, the army will at least provide him a decent living with free time in town in the evenings. Tjaden wants only to spend his time getting retribution on Himmelstoss. Detering simply wants to go back to his farm.

Himmelstoss arrives, takes one hesitant step when he sees this group ahead of him, then moves toward them with confidence. No one reacts to his presence. He is no longer the direct authority to whom they answer, and their attitudes reflect their disdain for their former taskmaster. Himmelstoss has been warned that some soldiers would like to put a bullet in his back, and not just men in this group. Tjaden insults him by calling him a “dirty hound,” and the reaction is immediate. Tjaden refuses to stand and salute Himmelstoss as his superior officer, and Himmelstoss marches off, threatening Tjaden with a court martial.

Again the conversation turns to post-war plans. Kropp gets them all thinking about all the rather pointless things they once studied, things that now seem far away from their realities. They did not finish their schooling before they volunteered, so if they ever want to go to university they must go back and finish school—something which is virtually impossible given where they are and what they have seen and experienced. When they think of jobs, those who have never had one find the prospect hard to consider after being in the military. They are truly at a loss when they consider what they will do once the war is over and their “real” lives begin: “Two years of shells and bombs—a man won’t peel that off as easy as a sock.” They decide their entire generation will wrestle with this issue. As Albert Kropp says, “The war has ruined us for everything.” They are no longer youth; instead, they have seen too much and just want to run and hide. At the time in their lives when they should have been in love with life, they were forced to mutilate it with guns. Moving forward is no longer an option; these young men only believe in the war.

A rotund sergeant-major comes huffing into their group, followed by a vengeful Himmelstoss. They are looking for Tjaden, who raced into the woods immediately after the earlier altercation. Kropp is rude and insulting to both officers. Because the man they are looking for is not there, they leave. There is a trial that evening. Rather than gloating in victory, Himmelstoss is reprimanded for such past actions as the bed-wetting incident. Lieutenant Bertink is lenient with Tjaden and Kropp, and they serve their time easily.

Paul and Kat go hunting for the geese that night. They are sheltered near a regimental headquarters that is guarded by a dog. It is a risky venture, and Paul is soon trapped by the dog. He manages to outmaneuver the dog while Kat catches a goose. They find a secluded lean-to and cook it, sitting around a small campfire and taking turns basting the bird. After they eat their fill, Paul and Kat take what is left to the two inmates, Kropp and Tjaden.

Expert Q&A

In Chapter 5 of All Quiet on the Western Front, are the lice symbolic?

Yes, the lice in Chapter 5 can be seen as symbolic of the soldiers and the war itself. Paul's struggle to kill each louse mirrors the difficulty of killing individual enemy soldiers. Tjaden's contraption for mass lice extermination parallels the development of more efficient, deadly weapons in war, like machine guns and gas, to kill large numbers swiftly. The "red cross" lice further symbolize the irony of warfare, reflecting the presence of the Red Cross among soldiers.

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