20th Century Health

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hXVXE1F57CKvWNyHFROHqusKx1qwt0_BC-kvoR4WuaM/present#slide=id.p13

Paul Baumer

Paul Baumer is the narrator of the story and also the main character. He shows how the war can change a person. He started off a young man going into war, enlisting at the age of nineteen. War was thought to be prideful and patriotic, but Paul and the others, young and old, would soon realize the harsh realities and effects that war has on a human being. Paul and the other schoolmates that enlisted with him were all persuaded to join by their school master Kantorek, who viewed war as very patriotic and a great way to support the German war effort was to join.

                Paul recounts his experiences throughout the novel. And at the end he has lost hope for his generation. He feels that they have been stripped from their youth. When it’s time for him and the others of his age to return back to civilian life he doesn’t know what they are going to do. Many of his fellow soldiers had occupations outside of the war, leaving them with something to go back to. Paul and the others witnessed many deaths throughout the war but one of the hardest for Paul was when his friend Kat died. Kat had become a father figure to Paul and Paul a “son like” figure to Kat. At the end of the novel Paul carries a wounded Kat back to the hospital only for him to die before they arrive.

                Paul was the only survivor out of the group of classmates that went to war together.  While on his leave from the war, after inhaling poison gas, Paul goes back home and is forced to enter back into civilian life. He feels like he doesn’t have much of future, none of the ‘towns’ people believe the truths of war and what he has gone through and eventually he ends up back at the war front. Paul died on an October day described as “quiet and still on the whole front.” When Paul was found and turned over it was said that “his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come.”

Five Talking Points

TALKING POINTS

• A harsh war
• Friends can help you get through many things including war
• The loss of a friend/s through an already tragic time
• The transformation into "civilian life" from "war life
• How war changes people