All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel set in World War I, centers around the changes wrought by the war on one young German soldier. During his time in the war, Remarque's protagonist, Paul Baumer, changes from a rather innocent
Romantic to a hardened and somewhat caustic veteran. More importantly, during the course of this metamorphosis, Baumer disaffiliates himself from those societal icons--parents, elders, school, religion--that had been the foundation of his pre-enlistment days. This rejection comes about as a result of
Baumer's realization that the pre-enlistment society simply d…
