What qualities make ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ considered by many to be the best anti-war novel so far written?

Official reason and real reason

What is your country? How can ‘France’ insult ‘Germany’?

Dehumanisation – training of soldiers; how can they be ‘untrained’?

To protect ‘civilized’ values, soldiers are asked to kill without compassion and obey without question, thus renouncing empathy and free will, two essential qualities that define our humanity.

Brutality and horror – World War 1 – the first ‘industrial’ war. Slaughter on a massive scale.

‘Big picture’ and ‘little picture’. The novel argues that every human life matters, yet the only way to survive a war is to become numb and indifferent to human suffering.

Necessity of lying: about how the war is going, the horrors you have witnessed; Paul lies to Kemmerich’s mother about how her son died. ‘may I never come back if he wasn’t killed instantaneously’. The only truth is to be found on the Front.

Reintegration into society: impossible after 4 years of an animal-like existence.

Paul’s ‘failings’ as a soldier: he is compassionate, sensitive, and intelligent. Oellrich the sharpshooter has no empathy, no imagination, and enjoys killing: he will get a medal.

‘Band of Brothers’: there is shared comradeship and a deep bond between the soldiers because civilians can never understand what soldiers have endured; ironically, for Paul, this comradeship extents to enemy soldiers like the Frenchman he kills…NB Christmas 1914: German and English soldiers declare a one day unofficial truce, which horrifies their ‘superiors’.

Dulce et decorum est….there is no glory or honor in war; every heroic act in the book is ultimately futile. The idea is simply to kill the enemy and stay alive yourself. Life consists of being bombarded for hours in trenches, living in mud, having the stench of the dead continuously in your nostrils, little food, no sanitary facilities, then going ‘over the top’ – charging towards machine gun posts which are still fortified by barbed wire.

Who wins? Barbed wire manufactures. quotes from book

All Quiet on the Western Front

Please answer the study questions from the the book titled ” All Quiet on the Western Front” ISBN : 978-0-449-21394-0 by Erich Maria Remarque

Study Questions – All Quiet on the Western Front

1. Who was Erich Maria Remarque? Why did he write All Quiet on the Western Front? What experiences qualified him to write this classic war novel?

2. Who are the main characters in the work? In what ways do they represent different social classes in Imperial Germany? Why have they joined the army?

3. What pleasures and diversions do the soldiers enjoy in the field? Why was Katczinsky especially valuable to the group?

4. Identify Himmelstoss and Kantorek. What did both of these figures represent to the young soldiers? Did Paul Baumer and his fellows ever exact revenge upon them? How so?

5. What was the fate of Franz Kemmerich? Why does Muller covet his boots? How do the soldiers come to react to death? How do they respond to the deaths of close comrades?

6. Who are the “Iron Youth”? How does the war affect them differently than the older men? What sort of contribution will these young veterans be able to make to post-war European society and politics?

7. What does Paul remember of training camp? How did it prepare him for service at the front?

8. What do the soldiers know of the origins of the war? Do they have a clear sense of what they are fighting for? What is Kropp’s idea for solving international disputes? Would it work?

9. What factors make combat in World War I so horrible? How does modern technology contribute to the slaughter that is described? How do Paul and the others manage to survive in this environment?

10. How does Detering react to the wounded horses? What eventually happens to him?

11. What difficulties do the soldiers face during periods of inactivity? How did they cope with rats and lice?

12. What are Paul’s feelings as he goes on leave? In the end, why does he regret returning to his hometown?

13. Describe Paul’s killing of the French soldier, Gerard Duval. What are his thoughts while trapped in the shell-hole with this man? What resolution does Paul make because of this episode?

14. “A hospital alone shows what war is”. (Pg. 228) Fully elaborate on this statement.

15. How does Paul describe the final stages of the war? How is it evident that Germany is losing? What is the effect of America’s entry into the conflict? What happens to Paul’s closest comrades?

16. What are Paul’s emotions by the end of the book? What is his ultimate fate? What is the irony of the novel’s title?

17. Adolf Hitler hated this book and it was banned from Nazi Germany. Why?
Give me only the answers, most of them are short answers

All Quiet on the Western Front

Please answer the study questions from the the book titled ” All Quiet on the Western Front” ISBN : 978-0-449-21394-0 by Erich Maria Remarque

Study Questions – All Quiet on the Western Front

1. Who was Erich Maria Remarque? Why did he write All Quiet on the Western Front? What experiences qualified him to write this classic war novel?

2. Who are the main characters in the work? In what ways do they represent different social classes in Imperial Germany? Why have they joined the army?

3. What pleasures and diversions do the soldiers enjoy in the field? Why was Katczinsky especially valuable to the group?

4. Identify Himmelstoss and Kantorek. What did both of these figures represent to the young soldiers? Did Paul Baumer and his fellows ever exact revenge upon them? How so?

5. What was the fate of Franz Kemmerich? Why does Muller covet his boots? How do the soldiers come to react to death? How do they respond to the deaths of close comrades?

6. Who are the “Iron Youth”? How does the war affect them differently than the older men? What sort of contribution will these young veterans be able to make to post-war European society and politics?

7. What does Paul remember of training camp? How did it prepare him for service at the front?

8. What do the soldiers know of the origins of the war? Do they have a clear sense of what they are fighting for? What is Kropp’s idea for solving international disputes? Would it work?

9. What factors make combat in World War I so horrible? How does modern technology contribute to the slaughter that is described? How do Paul and the others manage to survive in this environment?

10. How does Detering react to the wounded horses? What eventually happens to him?

11. What difficulties do the soldiers face during periods of inactivity? How did they cope with rats and lice?

12. What are Paul’s feelings as he goes on leave? In the end, why does he regret returning to his hometown?

13. Describe Paul’s killing of the French soldier, Gerard Duval. What are his thoughts while trapped in the shell-hole with this man? What resolution does Paul make because of this episode?

14. “A hospital alone shows what war is”. (Pg. 228) Fully elaborate on this statement.

15. How does Paul describe the final stages of the war? How is it evident that Germany is losing? What is the effect of America’s entry into the conflict? What happens to Paul’s closest comrades?

16. What are Paul’s emotions by the end of the book? What is his ultimate fate? What is the irony of the novel’s title?

17. Adolf Hitler hated this book and it was banned from Nazi Germany. Why?
Give me only the answers, most of them are short answers