The Epigraph:

Remarque's epigraph spells out in no uncertain words the major theme of his novel: war is brutal and it destroys even those who physically survive. However, he first claims the book is not an "accusation"; it seems doubtful that criticism will not accompany such a harsh view of war and of those who promote it.

Chapter 1 Summary:

Paul Bäumer, the narrator, and his fellow German soldiers of the Second Company recuperate behind the front in World War I after having fought for two weeks. The last day of fighting thinned their ranks from 150 men to 80. As the men receive their rations, Paul describes them. Three 19-year-old boys from his class volunteered for the war: Albert Kropp, the "clearest thinker" among them; Müller, a physics-inclined academic; and Leer, lusty and sexually mature. Their friends include Tjaden, a skinny 19-year-old locksmith; Haie Westhus (referred to hereafter as "Haie"), a large peat-digger, also 19; Detering, a married peasant; and Stanislaus Katczinsky (referred to hereafter as "Kat"), their wise and crafty 40-year-old leader.

The cook, Ginger, has prepared enough food for 150 men. The soldiers dislike Ginger because he does not bring the food close to the front lines during fighting, and it is always cold. They want the leftovers and get into an argument. Their lieutenant comes over and orders Ginger to serve all the food.

Paul describes the latrines; there is a common one for 20 men in which everyone is visible under constant supervision, and there are scattered individual latrines. He remembers how embarrassing it was at first to use the common latrine, but worse things have since made them overlook it. Still, he enjoys doing his "business" in the open air, finding it natural. Much of the soldiers' graphic vocabulary comes from dealings with their stomachs and intestines; in fact, most gossip originates in the latrines. They often play cards in the latrines, and sometimes indirectly refer to near-death experiences. They decide to visit a wounded soldier, Kemmerich, that afternoon. Kropp says Kantorek, their former schoolmaster, sends his regards in a letter.

Kantorek, a small, stern man, used to lecture his pupils at length about the benefits of volunteering for the war. The boys, not knowing what they were getting into, were fearful of being labeled cowards for not joining. The "poor and simple" people knew the war would be trouble, while the others were ecstatic to be part of it. One student, Joseph Behm, reluctantly joined and was almost immediately killed. The boys felt let down by Kantorek and his kind. They had relied on their elders to guide them wisely into maturity, but once they witnessed death, the boys realized that their own generation was more trustworthy. Nevertheless, the boys patriotically and courageously continue to fight and die--only now they see the world for what it is, and see that they are alone.

The boys bring Kemmerich's things so he has them for when he returns. They find him resting weakly in a room at the dressing station. Someone stole his expensive watch while he was unconscious. Paul and the others can see it doesn't matter, as Kemmerich will die here. Kemmerich is unaware that his leg has been amputated. They try to cheer him up, but he is a deathly shell of his former self. When they bring him his expensive boots, the boys all think that they are useless to him now, and if they stay here, the orderlies will steal them. Müller tries to convince Kemmerich to give them up, but he does not want to. Paul promises to visit him again in the morning; Müller does, too, thinking of the boots. Outside, Paul bribes an orderly with cigarettes to give Kemmerich a dose of precious morphia (morphine).

Kropp makes sure Kemmerich receives the morphine, and Müller talks more about the boots. They predict Kemmerich will die by tomorrow, and Paul thinks about the letter he must write to Kemmerich's mother. Kropp gets angry on the way back, then calms down. He says Kantorek called them the "'Iron Youth'" in his letter. Paul feels they are no longer young, despite their age.

Analysis

World War I, official begun in 1914 with the assassination of Serbian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, developed out of 19th-century conflicts between European imperial powers. Nationalism, the unswerving dedication to and promotion of one's country, heated up in Europe during this time and reached a boiling point during the war. The intricate political relationships formed two major unions at the start of the war: the Triple Alliance of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy, and the Triple Entente of Great Britain, France, Russia.

Kantorek personifies this generally insidious nationalism. He bullies the youth into joining the war, and they do so out of fear of being ostracized as a coward. Once they are in the war, he and others keep them there with grandiose talk of country and duty. However, as Paul bitterly reflects, Kantorek and his kind are not the ones fighting and dying.

Moreover, the young soldiers are not the "Iron Youth" Kantorek believes them to be. Death has aged them considerably. They no longer trust their elders, and the world now seems much more cruel and hard. WWI was the first truly "modern" war; new technologies and tactics like tanks, chemical gas, and trench warfare brutalized soldiers in unprecedented ways. Approximately nine million men were killed (not including those from Russia, which is estimated to have lost six million soldiers); Germany accounted for nearly two million of these casualties. Roughly half of the 70 million men and women serving in the war were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.

The soldiers have found a new kind of loneliness and alienation befitting this new kind of war. It emerges when they see Kemmerich, a wasted, gruesome vision of death. However, there is some hope; perhaps through each other the soldiers can defeat this crippling alienation. Paul frequently narrates with the first-person plural of "we," emphasizing their unity. The soldiers also bond in the common latrines and in line for food.

Despite this unity, each soldier is ultimately imprisoned in his own head (note Kropp's outburst when they leave Kemmerich) and detached from his fellow soldiers. This explains why, even during Paul's harshest views of war and Germany, his tone is oddly flat. The war has desensitized him, hardened him to its horrors, and he mentions almost in passing that nearly half his company was killed or wounded in recent fighting. The competition for Kemmerich's boots underlines this desensitization. In the constant face of death, even a friend's death seems less important than the fate of his expensive boots (or his watch, or his other possessions that the orderlies will probably steal).

The war affects the men in subtler ways, too. Aside from their sleeplessness and hunger, the soldiers, long removed from society, have become animalistic. Not only do they eat as if out of troughs, they go to the bathroom in communal outdoor latrines--which Paul deems better than any "palatial white-tiled 'convenience.'" Although he describes the outdoor experience as tranquil and natural, one gets the sense that the men are becoming more primitive through the war experience.

Chapter 2 Summary:

Paul thinks about his unfinished play and poems at home. Sometimes he works on it, as do other soldiers on their own writing, but he no longer comprehends it; the young soldier's past life is forgotten the moment he enlists in the war. The older men, however, have a strong enough background that cannot be destroyed. Despite their lack of a past and inability to think beyond the war, the young men are "not often sad." Paul defends Müller's pragmatism in wanting Kemmerich's boots; if Kemmerich could use them, Müller would never consider taking them.

Paul describes how the boys were different when they enlisted. Twenty young men with no plans for the future proudly and patriotically enlisted. Their ten-week training prepared them for subservience to military authority. Their class was sent out among various platoons; Paul, Kropp, Müller, and Kemmerich joined No. 9 platoon under the disciplinarian Corporal Himmelstoss. The Corporal immediately disliked Paul and some of his friends, recognizing some defiance in them, and punished them with arduous tasks. Still, the training prepared them well; had they not had it so rough, Paul believes they would have gone mad in the trenches. They also developed the "finest thing that arose out of the war--comradeship."

Paul sits with Kemmerich, who now knows that his leg has been amputated. Paul tries to cheer him up, but Kemmerich is convinced he will die, and he tells Paul to give Müller his boots. Paul has seen friends die before, but his growing up with Kemmerich makes this harder. Paul believes the boys look like powerful soldiers in uniform, but like children when naked. Kemmerich cries for an hour, saying nothing. Then he gurgles, and Paul goes for help. The orderlies are not helpful, and when they return, Kemmerich has died. Paul collects his things and they remove the body to free up the bed for more wounded. Paul runs home, feeling connected to the earth and full of life. He gives Müller the boots. Müller gives him some saveloy (sausage).

Analysis:

Paul relates the utter alienation of the young soldier; he does not have a deep history to think back on, and now the future seems out of reach. Curiously, despite being caught in this no-man's-land between the past and future, Paul says the soldiers are "not often sad." They dull themselves even to depression, for allowing the natural feelings of sadness in such an environment is tantamount to outright surrender. Likewise, the doctor who is unhelpful with Kemmerich similarly shuts off his feelings; he has already amputated too many legs today, and to deal with one more dying man would be too much.

(As an additional note, the word "no-man's-land," which dates back to the 14th century, took on greater significance in the trench warfare of WWI. The space between enemy trenches--"no-man's-land"--was bitterly contested ground, and it was considered a major victory if one side advanced even a few yards per month.)

We also see more insight into how Germany molds soldiers and why Paul and the others are so alienated. The process relies heavily on nationalism and the assumption that young Germans will do anything for their country. After the military recruits soldiers when they are at their most patriotic and willing (i.e., before they have seen war), it quickly breaks their will in training. The men become subservient to authority, a necessity for war. Otherwise, not only would the men be unable to handle the rigors of war, as Paul notes, they might question more vociferously why they are fighting in the first place. Dehumanized, they accept their fates.

Paul also explains how the harsh conditions of war seem to eliminate sympathy when, in fact, the men must often simply be pragmatic. Müller wants the boots only if Kemmerich is unable to use them, not at the expense of his friend's life. The only unsympathetic people in the war, it seems, are those who do not fight and have not undergone the same trials of brotherhood: the orderlies, the cook, the higher-ranking men, and the nationalists at home like Kantorek.

Indeed, Paul gives credit to the "finest thing that arose out of the war--comradeship." Whatever does not kill the men only serves to bring them closer. This closeness is why Paul reacts so strongly at the end of the chapter. His lifelong friend's death inspires him to embrace life, if temporarily. One might argue he skips along because he is happy he has avoided Kemmerich's fate (he specifically comments on the suppleness of his limbs and the strength of his joints, a contrast to the amputated Kemmerich). One may also view his elation as a tribute to his friend whose death has inspired Paul to embrace life. Likewise, Müller's offer of the saveloy is his way of expressing thanks (and sympathy) not only to Paul, but also to Kemmerich.

Chapter 3 Summary:

Twenty-five younger men arrive as reinforcements. Paul and his friends feel like mature veterans. Kat shows one of the recruits, along with Paul and some others, a tub of beans he acquired by bribing the cook. The beans are a precious commodity (turnips are the military staple). He gives some to the recruit and tells him next time to give him some tobacco in return. Paul believes every company has one or two resourceful people, but Kat, a cobbler by trade, is the smartest he knows. Paul is glad to be his friend, and tells a story to illustrate his strength as a leader. One night, bunking in a small, ravaged factory, Kat finds straw for the men to sleep on. But the men are hungry and have no food, so Kat goes off again and returns with bread and horse-flesh without providing an explanation. He oversees the cooking of the meat--he has a frying-pan, salt, and fat. Paul thinks Kat's sixth sense for locating food is his special talent.

One day, Kat and Kropp get in an argument over the war as they rest from an hour's worth of drill (occasioned by Tjaden's not saluting a major properly). Kat believes the war would be over if leaders gave all the participants "the same grub and the same pay," as he says in a rhyme. Kropp believes the leaders of each country should fight each other in an arena to settle the war; the "wrong" people currently do the fighting.

Paul describes the barracks and drill instruction. Above, a German airplane is shot down in a dogfight, settling a bet between Kropp and Kat. The men hypothesize that military men become disciplinarian bullies once they rise in rank. Kat believes that the power balances in the military are reflective of how "man is essentially a beast." Tjaden approaches and says Himmelstoss is coming up to the front. Tjaden especially hates the Corporal because of his cruel solution for Tjaden's bed-wetting problem, which he attributed to laziness: he made him alternate with another bed-wetter sleeping in the top and bottom bunk.

Paul remembers how on the day before he and his friends left for the front, they had plotted to gain revenge against Himmelstoss. They ambushed him as he returned from his nightly pub excursion. Trapping him in a bed-cover, they knocked him down, pulled down his trousers, and whipped him in turn. Finally, Haie, the most violent of all, punched him a couple of times before letting him go.

Analysis:

Paul says he "believe[s]" Kat is a cobbler; his vagueness shows how disconnected the men are from civilian life. Not only do they not know much about each other (except for those they knew prior to the war, of course), their past lives hardly influence their behavior in the military. Kat's being a cobbler, for instance, "hasn't anything to do" with his uncanny ability to make shrewd trades and find valuable items. What his middle-class job might influence is his somewhat Communist idea that if all men were given equal allowances, there would be no war. This Communist bent fits with his actions; he operates outside of a monetary system, instead acquiring things through bartering.

Kropp humorously voices in his vision of a fight between leaders what Paul has been suggesting: that the youth have been exploited as cannon fodder while their leaders--those who truly desire the war--remain out of harm's way. In their ambush of Himmelstoss, we see how the soldiers react to the unjust designations of power in the military. The powerful world leaders who wage the war from the safety of their offices and bunkers are as much the boys' target as is the disciplinarian Himmelstoss.

Indeed, Kat relates the entire climate of military power to the battles in the animal kingdom, and their attack on Himmelstoss is similarly animalistic. Kat's comment is important because not only are the front-line soldiers reduced to animalism in the military--we have already seen them eat and use the latrines like animals--but so are their leaders. The leaders are simply at the top of the food chain.

Again, what looks like unsympathetic behavior--Kat and Kropp's betting over which airplane will defeat the other--is necessary to desensitize them to the loss of life. The bet turns their attention to the bottle of beer at stake; without this, they would have to recognize that a fellow countryman has just met his grisly death.

Chapter 4 Summary:

The soldiers are sent in trucks to put up barbed wire at the front. Paul hears geese cackle, and Kat makes a note of it for later. They arrive at the artillery lines, where the fired guns rattle the ground and make the air taste of gunpowder. The men, though reserves and not in the front-line, become serious. Having been to the front before, they are not fearful, but the new recruits are. Kat predicts there will be a bombardment tonight. The English artillery starts firing--an hour before their regular ten o'clock schedule. Gunfire opens nearby, and again Paul observes a change in the men's faces and behavior. Paul feels the front is like a whirlpool, sucking him in. The earth becomes the soldier's closest ally as he buries himself into it during fighting, seeking holes and small valleys for protection. He believes this action is instinctive, and the only way to save oneself.

The trucks drop the soldiers off in the woods and plan to return before dawn the next day. Paul watches troops file down the nearby road and sees them as one mass. The magnificent-looking riders on horseback "resemble knights of a forgotten time." Paul and his unit carry wire and iron stakes to their site over hazardous terrain. They stop and watch the fiery display of rockets as the bombardment commences. Machine-guns and artillery join in; it reminds Paul of a flock of wild geese.

The men take a few hours in setting up the wire. They try and sleep in the cold, but are woken by the bombardment--they are now the targets. A young recruit, too scared even to put on his helmet, seeks shelter under Paul's arm. Someone is hit, and Paul hears cries between explosions. The battle quiets down overhead. The recruit has defecated in his pants, and Paul reassures him that it is understandable.

News arrives that some of the columns have been hit, including the horses. Detering, a farmer, pleads for them to be put out of their misery, especially once they hear the horses' screams. They find the horses in the darkness, but Kat does not let Detering shoot one of the wounded horses. They cannot bear the sounds of the horses anymore. The wounded horses are shot. Detering fumes over the idea of horses being used in war.

The unit returns. Kat is anxious to leave. The artillery fire returns, and the men seek cover behind the mounds of a graveyard. The earth is torn up as the men stay down. After a nearby burst, Paul's sleeve is torn away by an artillery shell splinter. He makes a fist to test for pain; there is none, but he knows that wounds don't hurt until after they've been inflicted. He feels his arm; it is only grazed. He receives two splinters on his helmet but fights against fainting. He covers himself in a hole created by the shells and finds a dead man in a coffin.

Paul crawls deeper into the hole but is stopped by Kat, who screams to spread the warning: gas. Paul grabs his gas mask and warns a recruit, who doesn't understand. Paul puts the boy's mask on and returns to his shell-hole. The gas-shells arrive, and Paul worries that his mask isn't airtight; he has seen in hospitals how gas can destroy lungs. The gas floats over the ground as a second bombardment begins. A coffin is thrown up from the ground and hits a man. The men free him, but his arm is shattered and he swoons. The shelling over, Paul removes his mask. They carry off the wounded man and find another man on the ground, hit in the hip. Paul knows the man will never walk again. They dress the wound, and when Paul finds the recruit is not wearing underwear, he realizes he is the one who defecated in his pants. They decide it is better to shoot the recruit and put him out of his misery, but before they can others come by and they carry him off.

The losses are fewer than expected. The soldiers climb into the trucks and ride home through the heavy rain.

Analysis

Remarque depicts the brutality of modern warfare with spare, poetic precision. Artillery and gas shells, terrible and awesome sights and sounds, and grotesque injuries mark the unrelenting bombardment; if Remarque has not yet convinced the reader that war is hell, he surely has after this chapter.

Paul first notes the change of identity that occurs at the front. The men turn into animals--and more likely the hunted, not the hunters: "Šthere is suddenly in our veins, in our hands, in our eyes a tense waiting, a watching, a heightening alertness." He later calls the soldier's impulse to seek the earth for protection an "animal instinct," and says the soldiers become "human animals" on the front.

One thing is clear: the men lose much of their humanness during war. They are de-individualized as instruments of war; the marching men are a "column--not men at all." Real animals play a significant role here, as well. Remarque contrasts the cackle of the geese--which Kat playfully promises to get at the beginning of the chapter--with the dreadful, geese-like sound of the artillery. Moreover, the wounded horses jolt the soldiers out of their desensitized states more than wounded men do. Though both soldier and horse alike are exploited in the war, at least men make the decision to enter the war, however reluctant they may be; the horses have no choice but to submit to the destruction of man.

The injuries and deaths of the horses also destroy whatever semblance of romanticism war may hold for Paul before the battle starts. He views the horsemen as the "knights of a forgotten time." One does not need to go back as far as the Middle Ages to find this "forgotten time"; battle was still romanticized even early in the war, and only massive losses could change war's glorified reputation.

War's glory is also shattered in the kinds of injuries the soldiers sustain. Paul puts the helmet on the recruit's behind because a shot there can still be serious. In the same way, Kemmerich--whom the recruit reminds Paul of--had a seemingly minor wound in his leg, but one that took his life nonetheless. The soldiers rarely die "honorable" deaths on the battlefield, instead often receiving wounds that painfully lead to death or are otherwise debilitating. (A prime example of these dishonorable wounds can be found in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises; in it, the war has reduced the protagonist, most likely, to impotence.)

If the various wounds of man and animal were not bad enough, the recruit's defecation in his pants is. But even that humiliation allows Paul to play the paternal role of a veteran--which, indeed, he and the others are in comparison to the green recruits, as they previously noted. More evidence of camaraderie occurs in the gas episode, when Paul puts on a recruit's gas mask for him, just as he shielded the first recruit.

An even more curious form of camaraderie occurs in this chapter--camaraderie between the living and the dead. Remarque deploys a dark irony as the soldiers use the coffins and mounds of the graveyard for cover. They will end up in the same place soon enough, Remarque implies, though not of their own will. However, their actions are also pragmatic. Just as Kemmerich's boots were of no use to him anymore, the bodies of the dead are more practically used as shields for the living.

Chapter 5 Summary:

The men delouse themselves, but they are preoccupied with the arrival of Himmelstoss, who was removed from his training post for his barbaric tactics and forced to go to the front. The men discuss what they would do if it were peace-time. If Haie were a non-commissioned officer--which Kat reminds him he'll never be--he would want to remain in the army, as it guarantees a cushy life after retiring. Detering wants to return to his farm. Himmelstoss shows up, unsure how to act amongst the men. He and Tjaden insult each other. Himmelstoss, as the superior officer, threatens to court-martial Tjaden and leaves. The men laugh, though Kat says Tjaden may get five days in jail.

The men realize that out of their class of twenty, seven are dead, four are wounded, and one is insane. Of the remaining twelve, three are lieutenants. They reminisce about Kantorek, reciting questions he asked about both academic and patriotic topics. Paul thinks what they learned in school is useless in the war. They question the use of going back to school after the war. Kropp points out that the young soldiers who did not have jobs before will have difficulty getting used to a new one after having fought in the war. He also doesn't believe they'll ever go back home. Paul can't imagine what he would do, as he's disgusted by the notion of "professions and studies and salaries." Kropp believes the war has ruined them, and Paul thinks he is right.

Himmelstoss returns with a sergeant, who tells them the absent Tjaden must report to him in ten minutes. Paul finds Tjaden and warns him; he disappears. Himmelstoss returns later for Tjaden, and Kropp calls to attention Himmelstoss's lack of experience at the front. Himmelstoss leaves, and Kat predicts three days' punishment. The case is put on trial in the evening, and Paul has to explain the reason for Tjaden's insubordination with the bed-wetting story. The lieutenant lectures Himmelstoss, gives Tjaden three days' open arrest, and Kropp one day's open arrest. Open arrest is a fairly pleasant stay in a former chicken-coop; close arrest is in the cellar. The men visit Tjaden and Kropp behind their wire-netting and play cards with them into the night.

After they finish cards, Kat suggests they find some geese. They ride out to a shed belonging to a regimental headquarters. Kat hoists Paul over a wall, and Paul finds two geese. He lunges for both and tries to bash their heads together, but they cackle and fight back. A bulldog knocks Paul down. Paul stays still so as not to provoke it any further. He slowly reaches for his revolver, then quickly shoots the dog, and runs out with one of the geese. Paul throws the goose over the wall and makes it just before the dog attacks him. He and Kat run away with the goose, now dead by Kat's hand. They cook the goose in a lean-to while the sound of distant fighting intrudes. Paul reflects how cooking the goose makes him and Kat more intimate. Paul watches Kat dreamily and sees in the stars a little soldier marching on in big boots. Kat interrupts him from his reverie to tell him the goose is done. They eat the tasty meat and smoke afterward, then give the leftovers to the grateful Kropp and Tjaden before retiring.

Analysis:

Remarque explores the long-term effect of war on soldiers, especially young soldiers. They are almost all profoundly nihilistic about life outside of the war, as Paul describes: "We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war." Their past seems useless to them; education has no place at the front. They cannot imagine any future or how to assimilate into society. Haie in particular is at such a loss that he would want to stay in the military, were he higher-ranking. Indeed, the benefits are great: a pension after a few years of service, and respect from civilians. The latter explains why the men joined in the first place--the romanticized myth of the military. Though Haie has by now seen through the myth, it is his only option for life. Nevertheless, he is the exception among the men. Detering is another exception: with a wife and a farm, he has something worth returning to.

We see more humorous instances of the military compared to animals. Tjaden and Kropp are detained in a former chicken-coop, while Paul plays the role of a fox as he raids the geese. Himmelstoss's trial, on the other hand, seems distanced from these animalistic rites, but we should remember Kat's conjecture that power struggles in the military are like those of the animal world. The trial, then, is just a more civilized version of the battles fought in the animal world--as are, one might argue, all the large-scale battles being fought.

While the homosocial relationships Remarque has so far related revolve around military camaraderie ("homosocial" is a term frequently used in literary criticism that describes relationships between people of the same sex, especially men), there has so far been little homoerotic subtext. Paul and Kat's bonding, however, overtly states this: "We don't talk much, but I believe we have a more complete communion with one another than even lovers have." Their behavior while cooking the goose is reminiscent of a clichéd scene of post-coital interaction: instead of a man and woman lying in bed while smoking cigarettes, a man and a man sit in a lean-to while cooking a goose. (They also smoke a cigarette and a cigar after they eat it.) Paul goes even further when he says of Kat, "I love him, his shoulders, his angular, stooping figureŠ" Though he is not embarrassed by his thoughts, he tones them down later, calling Kat his "brother" and his "comrade"--two words that are far more acceptable in the soldier's idiom.

Chapter 6 Summary:

Rumors of an offensive call the soldiers to the front early. They see over a hundred new coffins roadside on their way over. The men joke, but understand that the coffins are for them. The evident strengthening of the English artillery dispirits the men. Soon their side's shells land in their own trench, misfired by worn-out barrels. Paul believes that all soldiers believe in "Chance" in the trenches; he cites a lucky incident in which he barely escaped being killed twice in a row.

Rats invade the worn-down trenches and assault the men's bread. They lay out some bread as bait and kill many of the rats that go for it. The men receive cheese and rum, and remove the saws from their bayonets, as the enemy kills at sight anyone with such a blade. Still, the bayonet is practically obsolete now. At night, gas shells explode, but the men are prepared. All through the night they hear the mysterious sounds of transportation behind enemy lines. Kat predicts disaster, and Tjaden is the only one in good spirits. Days pass with no major attacks. Finally, the enemy launches an artillery bombardment one night and continues through to the next day, but no full attack commences. Men are sent out to bring back food, but no one can get through the bombardment. One recruit has a claustrophobic attack and wants to be let out of the trench. A direct hit rocks the trench. Several recruits throw insane fits.

The men wait more until night, the strain nearly paralyzing them. Finally, the bombardment stops and the attack begins. The men jump out of the trenches and run toward the enemy Frenchmen, lobbing grenades as they approach. Barbed wire slows the French assault. Paul stares into the eyes of a Frenchman on the ground and eventually throws a grenade at him. The Germans retreat and allow the next line of machine-guns to do their work. Paul reflects that the men have become "wild beasts" who kill with "mad anger." The French casualties add up. The Germans reach the enemy line and repel the French, drinking their water and eating their superior food.

On night watch, an exhausted Paul imagines being in a quiet cathedral and thinks about the meadows behind his town. He realizes that all his memories are silent and calm, and that they always make him check his gun in case he gives in to their serenity. The memories do not provoke desire, but sorrow, as they no longer exist in the current world. Even if what they remember did exist, the men would not know what to do with them.

More casualties pile up in the coming days; the men cannot always retrieve their wounded comrades in no-man's-land, and they die out there. They spend days trying unsuccessfully to find one wounded man whose cries grow increasingly hoarse and from seemingly everywhere. The men recover the copper driving-bands and silken parachutes of the French shells; Haie wants to use the driving-bands to "supplement" his girlfriend's garters. The silk is for handkerchiefs or women's blouses. Rats devour the dead in no-man's-land. Through the regular shelling, the men watch airplane battles for amusement. Observation planes, however, direct the artillery, and eleven men die in one day from their efforts. The shelling renews its strength. New recruits are brought in, but they are so inexperienced that they almost hurt the cause. They die at high rates from foolish mistakes.

Paul dives into the same trench as Himmelstoss. A novice at trench fighting, he pretends to be wounded in the trench. Paul orders him to go out with the others. He doesn't, and Paul knocks him around until a lieutenant orders them both to join the others. Paul and the other veterans teach the recruits the ways of war, but in the heat of the battle they forget the lessons. Haie is wounded in the back. Men lose body parts. In the end, the battle is a success for the Germans, who have yielded just a few hundred yards to the French--"But on every yard there lies a dead man." The men are relieved, ride away, and regroup. Second Company has thirty-two men left.

Analysis:

This chapter is divided into two graphic, minutely detailed portraits of war: life in the trenches, and life--or, rather, death--during battle.

The trench section is unrelenting in its description of the death that gradually creeps in on the men. Before they even directly face the enemy, the men have to contend for days with rats, claustrophobia, strained nerves, and hunger. The long-range capabilities of improved artillery and the advent of the airplane for reconnaissance created this new kind of fighting, or pre-fighting. Neither side could advance while under constant artillery bombardment, so the trenches, or dug-outs, became their only ally.

The fighting depicted here is true to life. The goal of trench fighting was less to advance--indeed, the French army gains only a few hundred yards--but more to inflict massive loss of life. Although Paul finds that "Chance" governs a soldier's fate while he is in the trenches, during combat experience tremendously increases the survival rate. The veterans again turn into animals, or "wild beasts," as Paul says; even in his cowardice Himmelstoss snaps and barks like a dog. This animal instinct is again necessary to desensitize the men to the horror around them. Paul's eye frequently roves over missing limbs and open gashes, but he cannot allow these sights to affect him too deeply. Rather, he must embrace his bloodlust along with the others and kill mercilessly. When he sees the Frenchman's face up close, he only momentarily refuses to kill before coming to his senses and hurling a grenade.

Despite the length and breadth of this chapter, Paul occasionally remarks on the difference between the horror of war and the language that conveys it: "Bombardment, barrage, curtain-fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand-grenades--words, words, but they hold the horror of the world." Remarque may be alluding to Hamlet's famous line "Words, words, words" here, and it makes sense: both Hamlet and Paul see the futility of words in the place of action. No matter how graphic and intimate Remarque's narrative is, he implies that it does not match up to the real thing. Even the terms he ticks off here sound harsh (though they are, of course, translated into English), and Paul's narrative tone reflects this: spare and hard, his language emulates the vicious war he fights in.

Chapter 7 Summary:

Second Company is taken to a field depot for reinforcements, and the men are given some time off. Himmelstoss wants to make amends with the boys, and Paul is willing to forgive him, since Himmelstoss helped Haie when he was hit in the back. Even Tjaden comes around when Himmelstoss becomes the new sergeant-cook and treats the men to delicacies. Paul reflects on habit and how it seems to obliterate memory; with food and rest, the days at the front hardly exist in their minds. At rest, the men turn into "loafers" out of necessity. Otherwise, they would have to confront the huge numbers of dead and wounded among them. The same goes for their sense of humor--without it, they would "go to pieces." Paul also knows that the things they try to forget now will haunt them after the war.

Paul and Kropp stare at an attractive girl on an old poster for an army theater performance. They rip out the picture of the man next to her. Comparing her clean appearance with their dirty clothes, they go off to get deloused. Leer and Tjaden look at the picture in far more "smutty" ways. Across the canal from the men's lodging are women. One night while swimming nude, they see three French women across the bank. The men flirt with them and tempt them with a loaf of bread, but it is forbidden to cross to the other side. The men swim down the bank as the women walk, and eventually they point out their house. They make plans to meet there at night when there are no guards, and promise to bring bread.

At night, the men get drunk and tell tall sexual tales. Since there are only three women for the four of them, they get Tjaden drunk enough so he passes out. With a loaf of bread, cigarettes, and some sausage stowed in their boots, they swim across the canal and run to the women's house. The women give them dry clothes and the men give them their gifts. The men do not understand most of their rapid French chatter. One of the women, a little brunette, takes a liking to Paul. He loses himself in her passion, hoping she will deliver him from "war and terror and grossness, in order to awaken young and happy." After a while, the men reassemble; Paul is unhappy, unlike the jovial Leer. On their way back, they spot Tjaden, naked, running off with a package to find the women. The men laugh and arrive home.

Paul receives seventeen days' leave, after which he is to report to a training camp away from the front for four more weeks. As Paul buys the men drinks at the canteen, he wonders if he will see them all again--Haie has died by now, too. At night, they return to the women's house. Paul tells her he will never see her again, but she is nonchalant; it occurs to him that his going on leave does not excite her in any way.

The next morning, Paul's friends see him off on his train. He rides through the countryside and cities, absorbing the landscape and the street life. He is deeply affected by all he sees. He arrives in his hometown, passes familiar terrain and landmarks, and goes to his home. His eldest sister, Erna, happily greets him, but when she calls out for their mother, Paul feels weak and almost paralyzed. He recuperates and goes to his mother's room, where she lies in bed, ill. She is more affectionate with him than normal. He downplays the brutality of war to her. Paul learns from Erna that the doctors think their mother probably has cancer again.

Paul reports to the district commandant. A major reprimands him for not saluting properly. In a bad mood, Paul later puts on his civilian clothes, which no longer fit.

His mother likes seeing him in them, but his father prefers he kept his uniform on. His father also barrages him with questions about the front; Paul gives him only a few anecdotes and refuses to talk about violence. Paul finds that others he meets have unrealistic expectations and ideas about war; at any rate, he feels he does not belong in this "foreign world." He spends much time alone; even if others understand him, it is "only with words," only with "half of themselves." He examines the books in his old room and attempts to think back on his youth, but nothing comes--he is only a soldier.

Mittelstaedt, a former classmate of Paul's in nearby barracks, tells him that Kantorek has been called into the war in a low rank. Mittlestaedt tells Paul how he lords his authority over their former teacher. He takes him to the parade ground. Paul almost laughs when he sees Kantorek decked out in ill-fitting military uniform. Mittlestaedt torments Kantorek in the exercises, even quoting patriotic words Kantorek himself used to preach.

Paul's mother sorrowfully counts down the days of his leave. Paul sees Kemmerich's mother and lies that Kemmerich died immediately, and swears to it when she doubts his story. She kisses him when he leaves and gives him a picture of her son.

On Paul's last night, his mother gives him advice about how to handle the war that he finds both absurd and moving. She gives him two pairs of wool underpants that he knows cost her dearly. In bed, Paul regrets having come home; before this, he was indifferent and hopeless, but now both he and his mother are in agony.

Analysis

The sexual liaison across the canal at first appears to be a picaresque adventure of the kind frequently found in war stories; lusty young soldiers skirt authority while meeting up with exotic local women. But from the start, it seems doomed for failure. First, sex to the men cannot be a regular experience; war has made sure of that. Instead of getting new clothes to "compete" for the woman in the poster, they have to settle for a delousing.

Moreover, the women are French and, technically, their enemies. This immediate confusion (which does not seem to bother any of them at all) bleeds into an even greater ambiguity: the fusion of love and war. Love and war are frequently starkly contrasted in literature: love produces birth and other emotions of re-birth, while war produces death and its attendant mortal emotions. Paul hopes to separate love and war--he wants the brunette to deliver him from "war and terror and grossness, in order to awaken young and happy." However, the brunette is interested in Paul only if death is around the corner for him. When she learns he is going off on leave, he is no longer a "'pauvre garçon'" ("poor boy"), but simply another man. She is sold on the romantic notion of war, and love for her is possible only if Paul is an idealized, heroic soldier.

Paul doesn't want to put his war experiences into words, afraid they will become "gigantic" and out of his control. In Chapter Six he posited that words could never match the horrors of war, and here he repeats the idea, feeling that civilians half-understand him "only with words." But he also seems to imply that his own words might, in fact, do some justice to the experience and make war too "clear." He also says, of his painful meeting with Kemmerich's mother, that he "cannot write that down" (although he does relate their conversation). Paul is afraid of understanding his experiences too deeply; he would rather they drift just below the surface of his consciousness, never popping up in fully realized language.

But the terror will pop up, in some form. Paul says that the men's laziness and habits while on rest are ways to ignore and forget the death around them. However, "We forget nothing really." No matter how hard they suppress it, death will always have a foothold in the men's minds--and Paul fears, especially, the post-war shell shock, the uprising of the death that they have buried in the ground and in their minds.

Indeed, we see this shell shock emerge far more quickly for Paul, but in a different form. Though the war does not haunt Paul when he is at home, he feels distanced from home life, emphasized by the civilian clothes he has out grown. He cannot relate to any civilians, most of all his family. His dealing with Kemmerich's mother is a more pronounced version of how he relates to his own mother; he protects her from the painful truth. Paul's mother, however, sees through him more clearly. She understands she may never see her son again. The irony, though, is that it may be from her death from cancer, not his from war.

Remarque, one must assume, also felt he could not relate to civilians or put his experiences into words. Nevertheless, at some point he decided that the war was either too important to ignore in writing, and that civilians might understand more than "half" of what soldiers feel. Perhaps, too, he felt that writing was the only way for him to confront and, possibly, master the terrible experiences.

Finally, it may come as a shock to most readers to learn that Haie has died. Paul mentions it in rather off-handed fashion; unlike Kemmerich's drawn-out deathbed scene, Haie's death does not even take place during the narrative. Remarque reflects the cold reality that, in war, the death of a close friend is not always accompanied by the melodrama we are used to seeing in movies. Death is such a common occurrence that Paul barely thinks about Haie's death; as we have seen before, thinking too deeply about it would be too painful to bear.

Chapter 8 Summary:

Paul has previously been to the camp on the moors for training, but he hardly knows anyone there now. He settles into a routine: he plays piano at night, spends little time socializing, and absorbs himself in nature. A Russian prison camp is adjacent to theirs. Paul observes the enemy prisoners' "honest peasant" faces as they feebly search and grovel for food. Most of the Germans ignore them, though sometimes the prisoners' groveling angers them and they kick them. The prisoners also trade their superior boots for food, although now most have few possessions left to barter.

Paul frequently guards the Russians, watching them mass around the fence in near-silence. They are less lively than they used to be. Paul feels that if he knew them better, his emotions might turn into sympathy for them. He understands that powerful men in politics have decided that the Russians are their enemy, yet he feels that one can find greater enemies even within Germany. Paul is frightened of these thoughts, yet he knows within them lies the "only possibility of existence after this annihilation of all human feeling." He gives the Russians some cigarettes. One morning Paul stands guard as the Russians sing and bury yet another of their own. A prisoner who speaks some German plays a melancholy violin for Paul and the other prisoners.

Before Paul leaves for the front, his father and eldest sister visit him. He learns his mother is in the hospital, and she will soon undergo an operation for cancer. The family has little money for the operation, and his father will work overtime. They give Paul some jam and potato-cakes before they leave. Not liking the cakes, he decides to give them to the Russians, then realizes his mother went to great pains to cook them, and gives them only a couple.

Analysis:

Again, what looks like cruelty in the war (the Germans kicking the Russian prisoners) is simply a reaction to their anguish. The Germans cannot bear seeing such pathetic displays of humanity.

Similarly, Paul cannot muster true sympathy for the Russians because he sees in them only "the suffering of the creature, the awful melancholy of life and the pitilessness of men." He does not know the Russians beyond these generalities; as he says, "How little we understand each other." Such an understanding seems impossible under these conditions of scarcity, when each side wants to take advantage of the other for such bare necessities as boots and bread.

But Paul also recognizes that politics alone make the Russians his enemy: "A word of command has made these silent figures our enemies; a word of command might transform them into our friends." Paul's anti-nationalist thoughts are as explicit as they have been: he is not angry, necessarily, but logical and rational in his conclusion that powerful men have made these simple peasants enemies. Perhaps it is his calmness of thought that frightens him, since it is hard, nearly irrefutable proof that his country has betrayed him. He knows that he cannot afford to dwell on these thoughts now, but will think about them after the war; it is all that "will make life afterward worthy of these hideous years."

It is a great irony of the novel that such nationalism has transformed Paul into a humanist who can overlook boundaries of state and culture. Whereas the other soldiers exploit the Russians with trade, Paul's transactions are not material or greedy. He gives them the potato-cakes generously and, more importantly, he shares in their culture, watching their burial service and listening to the violinist. These scenes demonstrate a shared humanity that the war cannot divide, and are among the few times that Paul allows himself to feel.

The subplot of Paul's mother continues to weigh on his mind. He understands that while his family has not seen the brutality he has endured, they are going through a similar torture and making sacrifices, as well. Though he is still wary of allowing his emotions to take over, his gift of the potato-cakes to the prisoners is his way of paying tribute to his mother. If he cannot connect directly with her, at least he can be a conduit of sorts, uniting his sickly mother with the sickly Russians.

Chapter 9 Summary:

Paul returns to his company and gives his potato-cakes and jam to Tjaden, Müller, Kat, and Kropp. The men go through rigorous inspections and receive new equipment to prepare the arrival of the Kaiser. When he arrives, they line up for his approval. He is a less intimidating figure than Paul had imagined. After, the men discuss the emperor and nationalism; Kropp wonders if both sides can possibly be "in the right," and Tjaden is curious as to how a war gets started and what its purpose is. They soon end their debate. The soldiers have to return their new equipment from the inspections, as well.

The company returns to the front. Trench mortars have blasted huge craters. Dead men hang from trees, and body parts are strewn everywhere. They report it to the next stretcher-bearers' post.

Paul volunteers to go on a patrol to find out how strong the enemy is. The volunteers crawl under a wire and separate; Paul crawls into a shell-hole. Paul worries more than usual when he thinks a bomb has fallen nearby; images of his mother, the Russians, and other scenes whirl in his head as he sweats out of fear. He battles between the conflicting desires to move away and to stay in the hollow. He crawls halfway out and hears German voices behind him. He is reassured and feels less lonely; they are his "comrades" and are "nearer than lovers."

Paul crawls back, but he gets lost. A bombardment begins and he crawls into a water-filled hole. He pretends to be dead under the muddy water, and holds his knife in case someone comes. The Germans fire back and soon repel the enemy. As Paul hears footsteps around his hole, a body falls in. Paul strikes at the body, and the man convulses and becomes limp. When he gurgles, Paul viciously wants to quiet him by stabbing him and stuffing his mouth with earth, but he soon regains control. Paul wants to leave, but the machine-gunfire makes that impossible. He waits with the gurgling body.

By morning, Paul looks at the man in the hole with him. Paul tries to convince himself the man is dead, but the body moves slightly and opens its eyes at Paul in fear. Paul strokes the man's forehead and scoops up some muddy water for him to drink. Paul cuts the man's shirt with his knife and bandages him. By noon the man is still dying, and Paul is starving. This is the first time Paul has killed a man in hand-to-hand combat, and he suffers along with the dying man. Finally, he dies in the afternoon. Paul props him up and wonders about the man's wife. He thinks about fate; if Paul had crawled back to his trench correctly, the man would still be alive.

Paul speaks to the dead man, apologizing for and justifying his actions, asking for forgiveness. He promises to write his wife, and he finds his wallet in the man's tunic. Inside are small photos of a woman and a little girl and letters in French. Paul knows he will not send them a letter, but he vows to live for the sake of the man and his family. He locates the man's name (Gérard Duval), profession (compositor, or printer), and address, and writes them down.

As night draws near, Paul stops thinking about the dead man. He crawls toward his trench and is welcomed back by his friends. He tells the story, but omits the man he killed. The next morning, he tells them, and they reassure him that it was his only choice. They watch a sniper shoot enemies and celebrate his accuracy.

Analysis:

The men exercise simple logic in their debate about the war: what is this war for, and who benefits from it? World War I was one of the murkier large-scale wars, instigated by land disputes and a number of complicated treaties. Accordingly, it is much harder, even in hindsight, to discern which side was "in the right"; unlike World War II, with its relatively clear moral divisions, the Great War defied obvious comprehension and analysis. In the face of this confusing battle, the soldiers use common sense; there is no primary reason for the war, and no one particularly benefits.

Paul's leave has softened him in this chapter. He is no longer a soldier who unthinkingly prepares to die, but is torn between giving his life up for his fellow soldiers and protecting himself. However, the bond between soldiers is too great, and Paul feels more of an attachment to them than he does to anyone else.

This attachment again transcends national boundaries, as one might expect in an episode that largely takes place in no-man's-land, that unoccupied space between each enemy trench. His compassion for the dying Frenchman is greater than that for the Russian prisoners, and approaches an almost pathological level. Paul believes his life is intertwined with the Frenchman's, and he even vows, at one point, to become a printer as well. Ironically, Paul reacts more strongly here than he did with his mother as she lay dying at home. Perhaps it is because Paul has directly killed this man, but maybe this situation awakens dormant feelings he held toward his mother that he could not express.

Paul also thinks about fate and chance again, considering the possibilities that might have allowed the Frenchman to live. But just as the origins of the war are impossible to untangle, he recognizes it is useless to retrace steps in battle; war makes the choices, not men.

Chapter 10 Summary:

Paul and his friends have been assigned to guard an abandoned village and watch over a supply dump. They make the most of the village's possessions, decorating and stocking with food the concrete cellar in which they shelter. One night, they invite some fellow military men for a feast of pork in a village house. They start a fire in the fireplace, but the smoke from the chimney alerts observation balloons. Shells drop on the house, and the men retreat to their cellar and finish their meal. By night, the town is devastated. The men happily spend nearly two weeks there, relaxing as the shells continue to destroy the village; all the soldiers need to protect is the supply dump. Finally, they receive orders to go back, but they take much booty from the village with them.

The men are sent to help evacuate a village. On their way in, they pass by the fleeing inhabitants. Shells soon drop and knock down Paul and Kropp; Kropp is hit in the knee. They find cover in a muddy ditch, and Paul leads Kropp to a dug-out, where he bandages him. Paul is also wounded, and he gets the attention of a passing ambulance wagon. They are brought to a dressing station. Kropp says that if his leg is amputated, he will commit suicide.

At night, Kropp and Paul are brought to the "chopping-block"; Paul is afraid the knife-happy surgeons will amputate them. When the surgeon examines his leg wound, Paul squirms, and the surgeon orders chloroform to sedate him. Wary he will be operated on while under, Paul promises to keep still. The surgeon removes a piece of shell and says Paul can leave tomorrow. Paul later bribes the army medical sergeant-major to keep him and Kropp together. Later, Paul and Kropp wait for the train in the rain, lamenting their bad luck. The sergeant-major makes sure they are put in the same car, along with red-cross nurses. Paul feels bad about dirtying the clean sheets in his bunk bed with his filthy, lice-ridden shirt. After a few days, Paul learns that Kropp's fever will force him to get off at the next station. Paul fakes a fever and gets sent off with Kropp.

Paul and Kropp share a room in a Catholic Hospital. Though the hospitals are known for their good treatment and food, Paul and Kropp are not examined because the hospital is so crowded. In the morning, the sisters' prayers in the hallway wake them through the open door. They patients yell at them to close the door, and only when Paul throws a bottle into the hallway do they. The men, and especially Paul, avoid punishment, as one of the patients with a "shooting license"--a certificate that says he is periodically not responsible for his actions--takes credit for the thrown bottle.

One of the wounded men in Paul's room thinks he is hemorrhaging, but the night sister does not come when they call for her. Paul finally rings the bell again and she comes, but the damage is done, and the man is soon taken away to the "Dying Room," where dying men are placed. Paul watches more men being taken away to the Dying Room, sometimes under the pretense of their going somewhere else. Paul is operated on and learns that his bones will not fuse. Two wounded soldiers, who also have flat feet, arrive, but a wise fellow patient warns them not to undergo an operation for their feet; they will be crippled for life. Nevertheless, the surgeon bullies them into having the surgery. Kropp's leg is amputated at the thigh. He rarely speaks now, once mentioning he will shoot himself. More men die, although one man returns from the Dying Room, an unprecedented event. Paul is given crutches and he hobbles around the hospital, observing the particular wounds the patients have. He reflects on the number of wounded in the war, and on of the "abyss of sorrow" war has created for his generation. He wonders what will happen to them all after the war.

The oldest man in the room, Lewandowski, has recently recovered from a ten-month-old abdominal wound. He has learned his wife, whom he has not seen for two years, will visit him from Poland. However, Lewandowski cannot get permission to go out with her when she comes to resume their marital relations. The men vow to help him, and when she arrives, they stall the sisters, stand guard, tend to the couple's infant, turn around, and make noises to cover the sounds of Lewandowski and his wife. After, his wife distributes sausage to the happy men, who now call her "Mother."

After a few weeks, Paul is able to move his leg again. Kropp's stump has healed, and he is almost ready for an artificial limb, though he is even more solemn than before. Paul goes on convalescent leave, and his mother, sicker than before, does not want to let him go again. Paul is recalled to his regiment.

Analysis

This chapter strikes at a new target in the novel's de-romanticization of war: Remarque bursts whatever bubble his readers may have regarding convalescence and war hospitals. While anytime a war novel uses a hospital for a setting it is, by definition, acknowledging that war wounds, maims, and kills, frequently literature skips over the gorier aspects of war's effects. Often, a soldier bravely winces while a beautiful nurse tends to his wounds and, even more often, falls in love with his stoic manliness.

Paul does allow that some of the nurses in the Catholic Hospital are cheerful and help the men recover emotionally, but his depiction of the medical staff is mostly negative. Some of the nurses lie to men who are destined for the Dying Room, and their reluctance to immediately help contributes to the death of the hemorrhaging man. But the nurses pale in comparison to the sadistic surgeons. Paul believes the doctor who removes his piece of shell is deliberately "tormenting" him, and he and the others are worried about the surgeons' penchant for unnecessary amputations.

Though Paul is injured, he is still far better off than Kropp. Kropp's suicidal depression over his amputation does not seem likely to go away in time; he has permanently become a "cripple," and the war has forever scarred his body and psyche. To a lesser degree, all the soldiers are scarred by the war, and Paul wonders again in this chapter what will happen to his generation after the war. Kropp's amputation also underscores another idea Paul has previously meditated upon: chance. He and Paul were both in the same area when the shells hit them; Kropp happened to get hit above the knee, whereas Paul took a smaller piece in the sturdier thigh. A few inches of arbitrary distance have decided the rest of their lives for them.

Once again, the only good that comes from war is the camaraderie of the soldiers. The soldiers revel in their cellar hideout; it's the closest thing they have to a real home anymore. They bond even more in the hospital. When Paul throws the bottle at the nuns, it is reminiscent of a Catholic school prank (that another soldier takes the blame makes it even more prankish; he is literally licensed to do unpredictable things, and the soldiers are eager to exploit this for future mischief). However, the ultimate bonding moment comes when the soldiers help Lewandowski with his conjugal visit. They become like a family, taking care of the couple's infant while they do their business, even later calling Lewandowski's wife "Mother."

Earlier in the chapter, we see another instance of pragmatism that could appear to be ruthlessness when the soldiers use and later cart off the village's possessions and food. Remarque even allows some dark humor here with the sight of the soldiers running through a shell bombardment with a suckling pig. As we have seen before, the men are simply being realistic; the townspeople are not using their possessions anymore (and they may never even get the chance again if the town is razed).

Nevertheless, Paul remains a hardened soldier after having gone through and seen these horrific effects of war. Referring to his difficult parting with Kropp, he says "a man gets used to that sort of thing in the army." He has said this about a number of emotionally devastating events, and it makes sense why his description of his dying mother warrants only a brief paragraph at the end of the chapter: he has lost his ability to feel deeply.

Chapter 11 Summary:

It is no longer winter but now spring, though Paul and the soldiers, worn down, have stopped counting the weeks. The men have lost their original distinctions and have blended in with each other. Paul believes they have done this as a means of self-preservation--from insanity, desertion, and death. They remain hardened and closed off, but occasionally a dangerous "flame of grievous and terrible yearning flares up" and prove to the men that their behavior is "artificial."

Paul tells a story about Detering. Returning from the front in the morning, the men saw a cherry tree. That night, Detering disappeared and came back with some of the cherry branches. In the middle of the night, Paul heard Detering packing. Detering said he had a cherry orchard at home, and two mornings later, he was gone. A week later the military police caught him, and the men have heard nothing of him since.

Paul describes how Müller was shot point-blank in the stomach. Before he died, Müller gave Paul his boots--originally Kemmerich's. Paul has promised to give them to Tjaden next. The men are starving, and so much "substitute stuff" has been mixed in with their food that they are constantly ill. Their depleted weaponry is falling apart. The men regale each other with stories of injustice in the army. Tanks have become brutal machines of war. Paul sees no possibilities for the men other than "Trenches, hospitals, the common grave."

During an attack, the company's commander and Leer die. The summer of 1918 further devastates the Germans, who are aware they are losing the war. Paul reflects repeatedly on the summer's rumors of an armistice. The opposition's sheer numbers, not its quality of soldiers, has crushed the Germans. Rain has soaked the men in the past weeks; now they deal with the oppressive heat. Kat is heavily wounded in the leg one day, and Paul carries him back to the dressing station. On the way, they stop for a drink and a cigarette and promise to stay in touch after Kat is sent away for his injury. Paul delivers Kat back, but he has died on the way--part of the shell hit his head, as well.

Analysis:

Paul's refrain of "Summer of 1918"--he begins four paragraphs in a row with the phrase--is a good example of how Remarque mixes beauty and horror in his poetic prose. "Summer of 1918" could be used in a very different context--to describe budding love, for instance. In fact, Paul begins the refrain in the manner of a love or nature poem, detailing "the red poppies in the meadows round our billetsŠthe stars and the flowing waters, dreams and long sleep--O Life, life, life!" But he quickly turns to talk of trench survivalist tactics--"the blanched faces lie in the dirt and the hands clutch at the one thought: No! No! Not now!"--and to the "tormenting" rumors of a possible armistice.

Kat's death seems like the most traumatic one Paul has witnessed--not least because, as Paul thinks, Kat is his last remaining friend. When the orderly asks Paul if he and Kat are related, Paul twice says to himself "No, we are not related," but it is clear their bond goes beyond relations. Indeed, Paul has expressed little pain at the thought of his mother's dying, and we never find out if and when she has died.

Remarque provides his final analysis of the soldiers' camaraderie. He reminds us that their bonding is crucial because it helps the men fend off the ravages of war, and Paul reinforces the idea that such intimacy is possible especially because the men have become alike. Though the military has worked hard to de-individualize the men for its own agenda, at least there is one positive side effect.

Müller's death and transfer of Kemmerich's boots develops the boots' deathly associations--Paul is already making plans for who shall get them next, as if his death is an inevitability. Not only is the physical material of the boots more permanent than the bodies of the soldiers, but in practical terms, it is more valuable.

Detering's burning desire to leave for home is an expression of what all the men repress, the need to escape from their "artificial" stoicism. However, there is a reason he is the only one who leaves; he is one of the few young men with a real home and profession. If the others had more compelling reasons to return home, they would probably have deserted long ago.

Chapter 12 Summary:

By autumn, only six others besides Paul from his class are left. They hope for an armistice to bring peace. Paul has two weeks' rest for having swallowed some gas. He thinks even with peace, the soldiers will be hopeless and aimless. He feels the older generation will not understand his generation's chaos. Paul decides that since he has already lost so much in the war, he cannot lose anymore. He is unsure if he has fully subdued all the life within him, but feels it will "seek its own way out" somehow.

In third-person narration, we learn that Paul died in October, 1918, on a day otherwise so calm that the army report merely stated "All quite on the Western Front." Paul's face seemed calm, "as though almost glad the end had come."

Analysis:

Paul delivers his final thoughts on the war, focusing on the theme of inter-generational conflict Remarque has threaded throughout the novel: his generation's alienation and aimlessness and its feelings of betrayal at the hands of the older generation.

But Paul sounds a quiet note of optimism at the end. He seems to have a dualistic approach to Janis Joplin's chestnut "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." Paul has lost everything, and is now apathetic to further destruction, for war can take nothing else from him. On the other hand, maybe this loss has granted him some freedom to care about and love life again. Perhaps it is not personal freedom--Paul implies that the "will that is within me" is against his capacity to love--but some kind of universal freedom that throbs within all humanity. This freedom may allow life to flourish even in the most hardened soldier's heart.

But it is not meant to be; Paul dies, and the novel's title takes on a chilling tone. Even on its quiet days, war can be loud to some. Nevertheless, Paul gets his wish, freed from the brutality of war and returned to the earth, the one safe, permanent thing he knows. The war ended officially on November 11, 1918, but it is clear that Paul is better off having died beforehand. Though Paul was ruined for life after the war, Remarque was able to translate his war experiences into one of the most stirring anti-war novels of all time. Although the narrator of the last two paragraphs is anonymous, the reader gets the sense that Remarque is finally allowing himself into the narration. All Quiet on the Western Front is at once a condemnation of nationalism and violence, an examination of alienation and aimlessness, and an ode to the intimate bonds between soldiers in times of horror.

• Biography of Erich Remarque
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