Academic English II – All Quiet on the Western Front – Final Review Guide

Character List

 Paul Baumer – the sensitive narrator of the novel who is deeply affected by the traumatic events of World War I; he dies in October of 1918, one month before the end of the war

 Albert Kropp – one of Paul’s closest friends, his interest in analyzing the war leads to many of the most critical insights about the absurdities of war

Hans Muller – hard-headed and practical, Muller is curious about everyone’s plans after the war; he dies after being shot point-blank in the stomach; Paul will get the boots he had worn that once belonged to Kemmerich

Tjaden – a wiry young soldier with a voracious appetite; he holds a grudge against Corporal Himmelstoss – calls him a “dirty hound” at one point and find himself charged with insubordination

 Haie Westhus – a gigantic, burly fellow, Westhus was a peat digger before the war; he plans to continue serving in the army after the war, because he thought peat-digging was so unpleasant; eventually dies of a fatal injury to his back

 Detering – a peasant farmer with a wife and kids at home; always dreaming about getting home to the harvest; eventually goes AWOL  in search of home after smelling some cherry blossoms

Leer – a lusty bearded member of the second company and the first to lose his virginity, Leer is somewhat of a minor character in the story; he bleeds to death near the end of the novel when his hip is shattered by a piece of scrap metal that initially strikes Bertink

Ginger – the red-haired cook; he tries to control the rations that the men receive, but the other soldiers have little respect for him and mock him.

Joseph Behm* – a classmate of Paul’s; one of the first of the second company to die.

Franz Kemmerich* – a fellow soldier and classmate of Paul’s who develops a gangrene infection in his foot (from a minor injury) and dies an agonizing death; Paul later lies to his mother about this.

Stanilaus Katczinsky – at 40 years of age, the oldest member of the second company; a very resourceful soldier with an uncanny knack for finding food and predicting attacks; bleeds to death near the end of the novel from wounds to his leg and head.

Kantorek – Paul’s high school instructor who encourages his student to enlist in the military; is later conscripted and is tormented/taunted by his former student, Mittelstaedt.

Corporal Himmelstoss – a former postal worker and Paul’s drill instructor during basic training; he is later called up to the front; Tjaden dislikes him intensely at first but gradually learns to tolerate him

Gerard Duval – French soldier that Paul injures during hand-to-hand combat; he later dies from stab wounds despite Paul’s attempts to revive him

 Mrs. Baumer (Paul’s Mother) – a kind, demure woman who has been in poor health for many years; although not demonstrative with her affections, she loves her son deeply and tries to hide the fact that she has cancer.

Mr. Baumer (Paul’s Father) – initially somewhat of a non-sympathetic character in the story; he annoys Paul with requests for amusing or grisly “war stories” about life at the front; later we learn that his wife’s illnesses have cuased him financial stress for several years; he is poor, but works hard to make ends meet.

Mittelstaedt – a training officer that Paul meets up with when he returns home the first time; Mittelstaedt delights in tormenting and taunting his new recruit, Kantorek, who has been conscripted into the army

Josef – the man with the shooting licence in the hospital; he appears somewhat eccentric, but knows a lot about hospital life because he has been there so long.

Curly-haired Peter & Franz Wachter – two patients in the hospital ward who are sent to the “Death Room”; only Peter returns to tell of it.

 Lewandowski- a older soldier from Poland who is reunited with his wife and child while in the hospital; the other soldiers facilitate a “re-kindling of affection” between him and his spouse

 Bertink – Second Company’s Company Commander, Bertink is a brave and loyal soldier who dies from wounds to the chest and face after popping out of a bunker near the end of the novel

Plot Details Summary – with emphasis on changes to Paul Baumer’s Psyche 

Early death of the reluctant young recruit, Joseph Behm (chapter 1 – page 11)

Kemmerich’s death from gangrene infection (chapters 1-2 – pages 14-18, 27-33)

Memories of basic training under Corporal Himmelstoss – rebelling against authrority – the latrine bucket incident – (chapter 2 – pages 23-27; chapter 3, pages 42-43, 45-46)

Memories of ambushing Himmelstoss – Kropp, Tjaden and Paul give him a sound thrashing (chapter 3 -pages 47-50)

Bombardment in the Cemetery – dead corpses, coffins, and dirt piling on top of him (chapter 4, pages 66-71)

Paul and Kat encounter the young recruit with the shattered hip – writhing in pain – and taken away on a stretcher before he can be put “out of his misery.” (chapter 4 – pages 71-73)

Important Conversation: Muller’s curiosity about everyone’s future plans after the war (chapter 5 – page 76-80)

Tjaden denounces Himmelstoss – defiance of authority – everyone equal at the front (chapter 5, pages 81-83)

Paul, Kropp and Muller remember all the “useless knowledge” they learned from Kantorek back in high school (chapter 5, pages 84-87)

Paul’s meditation on the role of Chance in human affairs – remembers the two dugouts that were hit by shells seemingly at random – he could have been killed in both locations, but he got lucky (chapter 6 – page 101)

Paul and Kat have to beat a shell-shocked new recruit into submission before he tries to “escape” into No Man’s Land (chapter 6 – pages 109-111)

Paul watches as the French troops get gunned down one by one  (chapter 6 – pages 112-113)

Paul and the  other soldiers are forced to listen to an anonymous soldier’s death cries for three days although they’re unable to locate him (chapter 6 –pages 124-125)

Paul gets mad at Himmelstoss pretending to be wounded – Haie Westhus receives a fatal injury to his back (chapter 7 – pages 131-132, 134)

Paul forgives Himmelstoss for previous offenses – learns to accept him as a fellow soldier (chapter 7, pages 137)

The Girl in the Theater Poster – Pauls Romantic Fantasies – (chapter 7, pages 141)

Paul’s Sexual Awakening/Brief Encounter with a young French woman (chapter 7 – pages 144-153)

Paul’s Return Home (chapter 7 – pages 154-157)

Finds his mother sick in bed – later learns of her cancer (ch 7, pages 157-162)

Forgets to salute the Major (ch 7, pages 162-163)

Problems re-connecting with his father and telling him what the front is really like (ch 7, page 165)

Alienation from his home – feeling restless in his “old room” – his inability to go back to his previous carefree life (ch 7, pages 170-173)

Observing former classmate Mittelstaedt bossing around former teacher, Kantorek as punishment for goading Joseph Behm into combat (ch 7, pages 173-179)

Encounter with Russian Prisoners of War (POWs) –  sympathetic observations of the Russians and their comradeship – Paul notices how they are admirable and sociable– not savages (chapter 8, pages 189-194)

Meeting the Kaiser + Subsequent Conversation about leaders of nations and how wars get started(chapter 9, pages 202-207)

Blood and Gore on the Battlefield – Paul see mangled bodies and body parts in the trees

(chapter 9, pages 207-209)

Hand-to-Hand Combat – Paul impulsively stabs a French Soldier (Gerard Duval) and then tries to resuscitate him without success (chapter 9, pages 216-225)

Westhus dies from his severe back injury (chapter 10 – page 231)

After selecting a dug-out to use as a make-shift shelter, Paul and Kat go out foraging for food. They have a feast of suckling pigs and potato-cakes (chapter 10 – pages 232-238)

Paul and Kropp both are wounded in the leg after being asked to evacuate a village. (chapter 10 – pages 240-241)

Kropp resolves to kill himself if the doctors should happen to amputate his leg. Paul, meanwhile, struggles during surgery as the surgeon removes bits of scrap-metal from his leg. (242-247)

Paul is taken to a Catholic hospital run by nuns. The soldiers become cranky when the nuns offer their “morning prayers.” (250-252)

Curly-haired Peter and Franz Wachter get sent to the Death Room – Only Peter returns (chapter 10 – pages 254-257, 261-262)

Kropp has leg amputated – languishes in hospital – loses his will to live – later gets sent to an institute for fitting artificial limbs (chapter 10 – page 260, 268)

Lewandowski from Poland reunites with his wife and baby – the soldiers “stand guard” at the hospital (watching out for the nuns) as husband and wife get “reacquainted”  (chapter 10 – pages 264-268)

Paul gets sent home one more time before being sent up again to the front (chapter 10– pages 268-269)

Detering goes AWOL – longing from the cherry blossoms of home (chapter 11 – page 275-277)

Muller dies – shot point blank in the stomach – Paul acquires Muller’s boots that once had belonged to Kemmerich  – Tjaden (still alive) will get them next. (chapter 11 – page 279)

Bertink pops out of a bunker and gets shot in the chest – soon after he receives a shell fragment smashes away his chin (chapter 11 – page 284)

Leer bleeds to death after his hip is torn open by the same shell fragment that kills Bertink (chapter 11 –page 284)

Katzcinsky gets wounded in the leg (and head) and bleeds out – dies (chapter 11– page 287-288, 290-291)

It is autumn, 1918. Paul is given 14 days rest after suffering from a “mild” mustard gas attack. He knows that the war will be ending soon (“the armistice is coming”), but his emotions are spent (chapter 12, pages 293-294)

Paul dies in October of 1918 – one month before the war’s end (chapter 12/Epilogue – page 296)