All Quiet On The Western Front Book Reports

Social Studies Summer Assignment: Book Report

All Quiet on the Western Front, a dramatic and tragic novel written by Erich Maria Remarque in 1929. The book takes place in Germany during the start of World War I. It it narrated by a young 19 year old German named Paul Baumer that is in the battlefields. The book tells the story of Paul Baumer who was urged on to join the German Army with help from Austria during their battle with almost the rest of the world. Remarque introduces Paul Baumer and a few of his friends that were also forced to join the battle with him: Leer, Muller, Tjaden, Albert Kropp and a number of others. Muller, an 18 year old is a classmate of Paul’s that was forced to join the battle too. Kropp, another friend of Paul’s,

They are treated very poorly in the front, with little food or water to survive and deal with the continuous French Army’s threats. Many of the soldiers are killed during wartime, so new recruits are replaced. When Paul and his friends are brought to the front again, they experience bombardment from the French enemies. The story includes some gory war details of shelling and firing. For example, “It is just as much a matter of chance that I am still alive as that I might have been hit. In a bombproof dug-out I may be smashed to atoms and in the open may survive ten hours' bombardment unscathed. No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck”(Ch.6). At the bombardment, a companion of Paul’s named Haie Westhus dies after being hit on the back. After the raging war details are over, a total of 32 soldiers remain alive out of the starting

They are in trouble because the English are surrounding them. But, the German counter-attack comes and the guys make it out safely. The reader then finds out that another friend of his, named Muller dies because of a shot in the stomach. And Paul’s dear friend, Kat also dies because he was hurt in the shin, and was wounded on the back of his head which brought him to death. Poor Paul goes through all this hardship as to see so many of his friends that he went to school with die on the battlefield. He complains about how it is pointless to be fighting in a battle like this. Paul believes that his hopes of having a good future is destroyed because of his lifetime in war. After two weeks of continuous rest, he talks about how the life of soldiers will never be correctly understood with clear thought and misery. The story of Paul Baumer ends with a 3rd person narrator stating that Paul has died in October 1918 on a very quiet day with not much fighting. So the story concludes with a statement from the frontline army: All is quiet on the Western