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All Quiet On The Western Front Character Analysis Essay

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When Paul returns home in chapter 7 of All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, things appear different than when he left them. Although the surroundings are familiar, Paul himself has changed, and this change has affected his manner of viewing the world around him. He also finds that he can no longer fit in or connect with the world and people around him because of how alien they feel to him. Paul’s change in character has changed the way he views the world because he no longer feels like he fits in with the people at home, he feels uncomfortable with his surroundings wherever he goes, and he can no longer connect to the world around him, the world he grew up in and once knew. His discomfort and disconnection from everything is outrightly stated by Paul himself …show more content…

181). Also, when Kemmerich’s mother asks him to swear he is truthful, he secretly thinks “I would swear to anything. But she seems to believe me… I have to tell how it happened, so I invent a story and I almost believe it myself,” (p. 181). He doesn’t seem remorseful about lying to the mother of his close friend, nor has he even tried to appear remorseful about the death of his close friend, not even when talking to said friend’s mother. Had he had a close friend die before the war, it is certain that he would not lie to their mother about how it happened, nor would he not show any emotion, so this interaction displays how his ability to display emotion has been impeded. In addition, the entire situation that Paul goes through when his father “drags [him] along to a table with a lot of others.”(p. 166) He sees that they don’t understand what war is like at all, as when “a head-master shakes hands with [him] and says: ‘So you come from the front? What is the spirit like out there? Excellent, eh? Excellent?’” (p.

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