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He learns the sound of each type of shell; he dives for cover or grabs

his gas mask at the right instant. In one battle, he gently comforts

an embarrassed rookie who has soiled his underpants, and later soberly

contemplates shooting the same man to spare him an agonizing death

after his hip has been shattered.

Cool as he is in battle, though, Paul has a hard time making sense

of it all. He keeps recalling Behm, the first of his class to die, and

when a second- Kemmerich- dies, he rages inwardly at the senseless

slaughter of scrawny schoolboys. The callous attitude of commanders

and orderlies toward an individual death saddens and disillusions him.

His elders were wrong- there is nothing glorious about war- but he has

no new values to replace the patriotic myths they taught him.

At first his companions seem shallow to him- immediately

forgetting the dead and turning their total attention to stockpiling

the cigarets and food originally meant for the deceased soldier- and

he is at pains to tell us why this callousness is necessary.

Gradually, though, he comes to accept their approach: that poetry

and philosophy and civilian paper-pushing jobs alike, all are

utterly pointless in the midst of so much carnage. All you have is the

moment at hand, and getting from it all the physical comfort you can

is a worthwhile goal. There is another important element, too, to

being with your comrades, as going on leave proves to Paul: no

civilian understands you the way these men do, and nothing from your

former life sustains you the way their friendship does. These values

come together for Paul the evening he joins an older friend,

Katczinsky, on a goose-hunting raid. They spend the night roasting the

goose before eating it, and each time that Paul awakens for his turn

at the basting, he feels Katczinsky's presence like a cloak of

comfort. At other times, panicked and alone in the dark of the

trenches, all it takes to steady his nerves is the sound of his

friends' voices. If he awakens from a nightmare, the mere sound of

their breathing strengthens him: he is not alone.

Paul gradually comes to realize that the enemy is no different

from himself or from one of his friends. The Frenchman he kills in the

trenches, Duval, looks like the kind of man whose friendship he

would have enjoyed. The Russian prisoners he guards have the same

feelings and desires and needs as he. He comes to see war as the

ultimate horror. It's bad enough that it pits man against man. But

even animals and trees and flowers and butterflies are innocently

caught up in the carnage inflicted by Man, the great Destroyer.

As his friends are killed one by one, Paul can only cling to his

newfound beliefs in the brotherhood of all men and the value of the

spark of life within each individual. At the end, alone, he has only

the blind hope that his own mysterious inner spark will somehow

survive and guide him after the war. Otherwise, he sees no

meaningful future.

-

KANTOREK

Kantorek is a provincial schoolmaster, an energetic little man

with a face like a shrew. His whole life centers on the Prussian

myth of Destiny: he believes with all his heart that war will bring

his country greatness. He sees Paul and his schoolmates not as growing

boys but as Iron Youth whose finest destiny lies in serving their

Fatherland. His romantic notions change only when he is called up as a

reservist and placed under the command of a former pupil named

Mittelstaedt. He is a poor excuse of a soldier who shrinks emotionally

when Mittelstaedt taunts him with his own former slogans. But even

then, we never quite know him as a real human being. He is instead a

pathetic illustration of all those elders whose values the young

soldier comes to reject.

-

CORPORAL HIMMELSTOSS

For most of the novel Himmelstoss is the stereotypical military

man who becomes a tyrant in his own small sphere on the basis of a

little rank. He sports a waxed mustache and is, like Kantorek,

physically undersized. A mail carrier in civilian life, he lets

power go to his head. As the corporal in charge of basic training

for recruits, he becomes a sadistic drillmaster known as the Terror of

Klosterberg. He takes a special dislike to Paul and his friends, being

sensitive enough to detect their quiet defiance, and earns the beating

they give him one night after trapping him in a bedsheet. Later

Himmelstoss is himself assigned to the front, to Paul's company.

Before his first battle, he is the same pompous strutter as always,

but during the siege he falls into momentary shell shock. Paul snaps

him out of it and Himmelstoss fights bravely, together with his former

recruits, even rescuing a friend of Paul. He emerges from battle so

changed that he uses his influence to slip Paul's group extra rations.

-

STANISLAUS KATCZINSKY

Katczinsky, known as Kat, is a 40-year-old, down-to-earth soldier

with bent shoulders, blue eyes, and a scraggly mustache. In civilian

life he was a cobbler or shoemaker, but he knew a little about all

trades. In war he becomes the leader of Paul's group, a welcome

substitute for all those older men whose twisted values brought on the

war. Despite their differences in age and experience, he forms an

especially warm friendship with Paul. Sharp, tough, and resourceful,

Kat is unequaled at finding excellent food in the most unlikely

places. He is shrewd and cunning- the embodiment of the practical

man who can turn his inventive imagination to use in any situation. In

the summer of 1918, when Paul is carrying Kat to an aid station for

treatment of a shin wound, they recall how Kat once similarly

rescued Paul. They reach the station but Kat is dead- killed on Paul's

back by a stray splinter to his head. This loss of the last of his

friends drains Paul of his one remaining source of comfort at the

front.

-

FRANZ KEMMERICH

The second of Paul's classmates to be killed, Kemmerich dies in

great pain after a leg amputation. He had been excellent at

gymnastics, but even after a year at the front he is still a slender

boy. His nearness to death makes his face look childlike again. His

dreams of a simple, peaceful life of forestry work die with him, and

Paul trembles with rage at the wastefulness of war. All supplies being

scarce at the front, Kemmerich's well-made leather boots are a prize

passed on first to Muller and later to Paul. Since they originally

came from a downed English flier, the boots become a tangible symbol

both of brotherhood and of death as they move from man to man.

-

MULLER

Another volunteer and classmate of Paul, Muller still dreams of

passing school examinations. Even during bombardment he mutters

propositions in physics. Muller, with his protruding teeth and booming

laugh, is a practical man, coarsened by the war. He eats all that is

available in anticipation of lean times and asks for Kemmerich's boots

even before the unfortunate soldier realizes he is dying. (Muller is

indeed the first to inherit the boots and later gives them to Paul

before dying of a stomach wound.) His transforming a comrade's death

into a chance for good boots is one of the first shocking instances we

see of what war does to men.

-

LEER

Also a volunteer and one of Paul's classmates, Leer shows an

interesting mixture of a keen interest in mathematics and an obsession

with women. Bearded and battle-hardened, he appears to be at least

40 years old. He claims the blond as his own when he, Paul, and

Kropp visit the three French girls. He collapses of a hip wound in the

summer of 1918 and bleeds to death within two minutes. Paul thinks,

regretfully, what little use his math is now.

-

TJADEN

Tjaden is a former locksmith with a sharp, thin appearance and an

enormous appetite. He is Paul's age, though not one of his classmates.

When we first meet him, he is ready to pick a fight with the cook

who does not want to serve 80 men the food prepared for twice as many.

Because of a bladder problem, Tjaden was considered lazy by

Himmelstoss, who persecuted him in basic training. He is bolder at the

front, however. He is a fine enough companion in fighting and

joking, but Paul and Leer and Kropp dump him when they visit the

French girls.

-

DETERING

Detering is a one-dimensional stereotype of the simple, peace-loving

peasant. He constantly dreams of his home, his wife, and his farm, and

cares little for philosophy or military doctrine. In the spring of

1918, surrounded by battlefield carnage, he is driven nearly mad by

the sight of cherry blossoms. They unlock his memories of growing

things and, losing all caution, he deserts. He is caught and court

martialed.

-

ALBERT KROPP

A classmate, volunteer, and special friend of Paul, Kropp is a small

man. Since he is regarded as the best thinker in the class, no one

is surprised that he is the first to make lance-corporal. In group

discussions he is the one who offers profound solutions and

comments. It is Kropp, for instance, who suggests turning war into a

public festival, with the generals fighting it out in an arena while

the common people sit and watch. It is also Kropp who sums up their

youth, their disillusionment, and their lack of training for the

future by observing, "The war has ruined us for everything." With Paul

he is sent to a Catholic hospital behind the lines because of wounds

suffered during the evacuation of a village. Scheduled to receive an

artificial limb after a leg amputation, he withdraws into long periods

of sober silence.

-

HAIE WESTHUS

Westhus is a 19-year-old peat digger with hands so huge that in

one he can conceal a loaf of bread. He operates as Katczinsky's

executive on foraging expeditions, and, on the whole, prefers army

life to cutting sod. The army gives him food and a place to sleep, and

in peacetime would offer what he considers nice, clean work. He is the

one member of Paul's group who plans to reenlist after the war but

dies of a back wound after being rescued by Himmelstoss.

-

MINOR CHARACTERS

-

BULCKE

The fat First Company cook, he is willing to trundle his pots

right up to the front lines for his men. He provides a contrast with

Ginger.

-

GINGER

The red-headed Second Company cook is more concerned with his

personal safety and regulations than with feeding the men. His

pettiness contrasts with Bulcke's courage and generosity.