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Dangerous Pressure
Kantorek is very patriotic teacher and manged to convince most of the boys to enlist before the required time except Joseph Behm. Eventually, Joseph caves in and ends up being the first to die. His horrid death crushes the world of lies created by the adults in their lives. -
Attack on Himmelstoss
At the training camp, Paul and his some of his classmates have to put up with Himmelstoss, a terror and annoyance. His methods are cruel and ineffective and causes everyone to hate him. Paul and his friends want to get revenge on him before they leave. However the ambush brings them down to their tormentor's level and they become just as cruel with little justification. This shows an almost endless cycle of cruelty inherited from the older generation.inherited from the older generation. -
Kemmerich's Tears
Kemmerich is wounded and must go to the hospital It's very crowded so the doctors and nurses don't have time to have sympathy. His condition worsens and his friends know he will die soon. The soldiers are numbed from emotion, they think mostly about who will get his boots. When he nears death he cries and cannot be comforted. His death has no glory and his corpse is taken away immediately. Life is cheap during war. -
Shelter in Death
During an attack Paul hides in a graveyard. The dead are all around him. Even though he hasn't died yet, he's as good as dead at the front just like every other soldier. -
Dying Cry
Out in no man's land there is a cry of anguish. It drags on for days and torments the men. Some try to find him but his voice seems to be everywhere. His agony is a good example of the horrors of war. It also seems to foreshadow the German defeat, long and painful with an inevitable end. -
Heartless
While resting from the front, Paul and his fellow men spot some lovely French girls. At first the girls don't pay the soldiers much mind but once food is involved, they're interested. Paul has his eyes on a brunette in a more emotional longing way than desire. He hopes to regain his innocence by being with her but he is taken advantage of. When he tells her that he's going home for a while, she loses interest. -
Empty Home
Home doesn't feel like home. Paul has changed too much. His old room full of things that used to interest him are strange in his eyes. At home he is also overcome with suppressed emotions. But he can't afford to feel anything. That's the war's effect on s soldier. -
Avenging Joseph Behm
After Paul visits home, he must report back to the barracks. His old classmate, Mittelstaedt is a training officer over Kantorek's, their teacher's group. He makes the old man suffer for making Joseph Behm enlist so early, he could've had three more months in his life. This again shows how cruelty can be inherited. -
A Comrade's Song
At the training camp, there are Russian prisoners. They are so pitiful, eating out of the garbage, and Paul sees that they are just as misfortunate as he is. Their suffering is the same and the only reason they must fight each other is because a higher authority decided it. One Russian learns that Paul plays the piano and brings out his violin to perform for Paul. The music fills the air and speaks without words that the two could be friends in different settings. -
Unimpressed
Paul returns to the front and his company is visited by the Kaiser. The soldiers are cleaned up and given new clothes and discover that the Kaiser is just unimpressive. In a way it proves that Patriotism is small and unimportant. When the Kaiser leaves, the clothes are taken back, war takes away whatever nice things people have. -
Gerard Duval
Paul get's lost in no man's land. While he's hiding, a French soldier comes to his hiding place and in a panic Paul stabs the man. He dies slowly and Paul is forced to watch him die. His old sensitive self tries to make his enemy comfortable. Paul learns his name, profession and his family. "Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours and that we have the same fear of death and the same dying and the agony?" Chapter 9 -
Brief Silver Lining
Paul and his comrades go to a village and find a surplus of food. They feast like kings which is the silver lining of their mission to guard a supply dump. But the celebrations are short lived, the enemy sees the smoke from cooking and attacks. Reality hits hard, that's why soldiers need to disconnect themselves from everything. -
Happy Family
Paul and Albert are injured and work their way to the same hospital. Lewandowski, an older man who shares the large room with Paul, is VERY excited that his wife is coming to visit. Everything is carefully arranged so he can be intimate with his wife that he hasn't seen for two years. Afterward, everyone in the room feels like a family. That kind of love is what Paul hoped for from the French girl, but she only wanted a dramatic affair with a brave soldier. -
Dead Friendships
Paul and all his comrades have become so close. It's amazing that most of them have survived so far! Sadly, one by one they get killed off, even after all this time. Kat and Paul are the only ones left, and Kat is wounded looking for food. Paul takes the time and energy to carry his last friend to the dressing station. Once there he realizes that Kat is already dead. Part of Paul dies with him, he's left alone. -
Paul's Death
Paul's death is full of Irony. Dying on a rather uneventful day and though he was killed that day the report states, "All quiet on the western front." Human life is cheap. But Paul's death is welcomed, he's at peace.
