All Quiet on the Western Front

Dialectical Journals

Posted Notes

Characters:

Paul Baumer: narrator, 19 when he enlists, loses idealism in basic training, values friendship

Stanislaus Katczinsky (Kat): 40 years old, cobbler in civilian life, shrewd and resourceful, talent for finding food, Paul’s best friend

Albert Kropp: clear thinker, Paul’s classmate, cheerful, but has outburst of despair

Tjaden: locksmith, skinny, but gluttonous appetite

Haie Westhus: Peat digger, prefers peacetime army to digging peat, Kat’s right hand man

Muller: Paul’s classmate, still carries textbooks

Leer: Paul’s classmate, wears a beard, obsessed with math and women

Franz Kemmerich: grew up with Paul, dies after leg is amputated, leaves boots to Muller

Corporal Himmelstoss (“little man”; Napoleonic complex): postman in civilian life, sadistic drillmaster, “Terror of Kosteberg,” craves power

Kantorek: stern little man, schoolmaster who persuades Paul and classmates to enlist, represents older generation belief in warfare as legitimate expression of patriotism

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Point of View – 1^st person (I)

                        -only know what Paul is thinking

Themes: Destructiveness of war, the lost generation

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Kantorek – direct characterization, Paul describes Kantorek, “Won’t you join up Comrades?”, persuading, manipulating

            -not to be blamed for what Paul considers a mistake (misguided), middle class

Kat – thoughtful, intelligent

-Lost generation – loss of faith in society and its values
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Theme: Shared Humanity

-Ironic – War is impersonal

            - Killing is impersonal

Juxtaposition (irony) – Paul (disconsolate) with Gerald Duval

                        -Snipers – Oellrich (game)
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May 4^th

Kantorek – direct characterization, Paul describes Kantorek, “Won’t you join up Comrades?”, persuading, manipulating

            -not to be blamed for what Paul considers a mistake (misguided), middle class

Kat – thoughtful, intelligent

-Lost generation – loss of faith in society and its values

Theme: The Lost Generation p 12-13.  How does passage “For us lads of eighteen…” reinforce theme?

It reinforces theme by showing how Paul’s generation had been betrayed by the older generation that they trusted and their disillusionment with society.

Character: Paul p 19-20, It is strange….

Alienated from his old life, knows that he will be unable to return to it after the war.  Now an adult, but with no previous adult life to return to.  No longer believes he has any future after the war.

Character: Himmelstoss p 22 By threes and fours… being strict with recruits

Large ego, small man, senses a “quiet defiance” among Paul and his classmates.  Sadistic and continuously punishes recruits.  Represents the older generation that do not understand what they are sending children off to do.

Character/theme: Kemmerich p 28-29 He is not the first… let him not die

Kemmerich is only a child of 18 and does not deserve the gruesome death that he has to suffer.  Used to wear a brown coat with a belt and shiny sleeves, could do the giant’s turn on the horizontal bar, couldn’t stand cigarettes, skin was very white.  The orderlies steal his belongings while he is ill, a symbol of how the older generation is stealing something from the younger one.