An Analysis Of Paul Bäumer's 'All Quiet On The Western Front'

At age nineteen, Paul Bäumer and his classmates enlist in the German army of World War I. His elders constantly pushed him to sign up for war, as serving his nation was seen as the greatest honor of all. People like his old schoolmaster convinced him and his classmates that war was an honor and constantly romanticized the idea of fighting for your country. Since all these ideas of defending the German pride were indoctrinated into his head, Paul absent mindedly followed along without questioning his motives and means. When Paul first went into the trenches, he was shocked at how different things were compared to the place made up in his head based of the tales told by the older generation. Paul was an innocent young man when he first enlisted into the army, full of life and dreams for the future. The first death
In order to survive the harsh brutality of the war, Paul must strip himself of his humanity but he continues to show some vestiges of his old self.
Paul has spent over three years in the front and everything he used to be before the war seems very foreign to him. His old hobbies and interests have become strange to think about. He has had to work so hard to fit in with the dangerous environment of the trenches, it has become all he knows. In the novel, Paul states, “It is strange to think that at home in the drawer of my writing table there lies the beginning of a play called ‘Saul’ and a bundle of poems. Many an evening I have worked over them - we all did something of the kind - but that has become so unreal to me I cannot comprehend it any more. Our early life is cut off from the moment we came here, and that without our lifting a hand.” Before coming to the front, Paul and his friends all enjoyed different hobbies like writing poetry or plays. However, the trenches are no place for such things and they have long forgotten about their old lives. Paul has had to develop and mature earlier in order to adapt