Characters & Roles
This is the protagonist and narrator of the story.
Who is Paul Bäumer?
The dangerous, shell-pocked land between opposing trenches.
What is "No Man's Land?"
This is the term for the generation of young people whose lives were destroyed by the war's violence and disillusionment.
What is the Lost Generation?
This begins the group's first significant disillusionment with war?
What is the brutal training under Himmelstoss?
This is what the doctor in the hospital tell Paul about Albert Kropp's injury.
What is "that his leg will have to be amputated"?
This is the resourceful older soldier known for his ability to find food.
Who is Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky?
This is the recurring symbol of the boots in the film represents.
What is the exchangeability and cheapness of human life?
This is the deep bond and loyalty among the soldiers referred to as.
What is "Comradeship"?
This ultimately happens to Kemmerich, the classmate who is wounded early in the film.
What is "he dies after his leg is amputated"?
This is the final, tragic irony of Paul Bäumer's death.
What is "he dies just before the armistice (peace) is signed"?
This was Corporal Himmelstoss's occupation before the war.
What is a postman?
This is symbolized by the constant presence of rats and lice in the trenches.
What is that "they had to live like animals"?
This was Professor Kantorek's primary motivation for the students to enlist.
What is Nationalist and patriotic duty?
This explains why Paul feels alienated when he returns home on leave.
What is "He realizes civilians cannot understand his experiences at the front"?
This is why the soldiers, including Paul, dislike the Kaiser when he visits the front.
What is "He seems unimpressive and out of touch with their reality"?
This is the schoolmaster whose patriotic speeches convinced the boys to enlist.
Who is Professor Kantorek?
This is where Paul and Albert Kropp end up together after being wounded?
What is a Catholic hospital?
This is the primary message conveyed by the film's depiction of life in the trenches.
What is "War is brutal, monotonous, and terrifying"?
This is the significance of Paul seeing the photograph of the family of the French soldier he killed.
What is "This makes Paul realize his enemy is a person just like him"?
This is the last of the original group of school friends to die.
Who is Paul Bäumer?
This is the French printer with a wife and child that Paul kills in the shell hole.
Who is Gérard Duval?
Paul observes this in the field shortly before his death.
What is a bird?
This is the author of the novel on which the 1979 film adaptation is based.
Who is Erich Maria Remarque?
This is how is Katczinsky ultimately killed.
What is "he is hit in the head by shrapnel while Paul carries him"?
This is the meaning of the title, All Quiet on the Western Front, in the context of the film's ending.
What is "It is an ironic military report indicating no major action, even as a soldier dies"?