All Quiet On The Western Front

Have you ever felt like you could not deal with one more pressure in life? The tension is endless in war, especially in the book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. The main character Paul Baumer had to overcome the hardship of his mother suffering from cancer, and himself going to war. Though he is not a main character in the novel, Kantorek shows the readers how tough it is in World War I and how much every soldier needs to go through. Another character in the book that goes through a lot of tension would be Corporal Himmelstoss. Himmelstoss is extremely cruel to his recruits, forcing them to obey dangerous orders. Tension affects the way a person feels, acts, and grows and it leaves a person struggling with self-doubt and sanity.

Throughout the novel, Paul's personality changes with the way the war forces him to act and feel. His memories of the time before the war show that he was once a very different man from the soldier he becomes after he goes to war. Paul is a compassionate man before the war and he loved his family. He also enjoyed writing poetry. At one point in the novel Paul is forced to overcome one more stress in his life. Paul's mother has cancer and was not going to make it for much longer. Because of the horror of the war and the tension it pursues, Paul and the other soldiers learn to ignore their feelings, keeping stoic to get through and survive.

Within this novel, Kantorek shows the readers how tough it is for soldiers in World War I. Kantorek is the teacher who filled his students heads with strong information about the war. Kantorek displays patriotism and nationalism to his students and that shows the tension that soldiers have to go through. Kantorek would be described as energetic and uncompromising. As soldiers, Paul and his friends quickly learn to see through Kantorek's speeches and grow to despise him, especially after the death of Joseph Behm. Kantorek is eventually drafted and makes an insufficient soldier. By Kantorek being a horrible soldier it shows how much you have to go through and that your ability is weakened with stress.

The theme of this book would be that war changes people for the worse, and that even the nicest person could become evil. A good example of this theme would be with