All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front is a great war novel wrote by Erich Remarque which tells a story of the effects of soldiers not only in and during the war, but also the psychological  aspect of what they experience durning and after the war.  Throughout the novel we see Paul as an emotional character who expresses to us as readers many of the thoughts that he experiences.  The author shows us how hard that war can be for a man.  Throughout the book, we have an inside look of the characters emotions.  While Paul was in the hole hiding after he had stabbed another soldier to protect himself we seen how hard it was on him.  We saw the thoughts he had about this man and not only now but how he would deal with what he had done in the future.  He wanted to help save him even though he was an enemy, and as he sat their Paul thought about this dying man's family, wife, and felt guilt inside him.  Through this scene the author  shows how hard it is on the soldiers to fulfill what they are in the army to do: which is to kill the enemy.  The author shows us all aspects of war from the loss of close friends during the war to going on leave and not having the feeling of belonging while he was at home, to the return and end of the war.  At the end of the war Paul died and this moment is a peaceful time for him.  The whole purpose of this book in my opinion is that war is a very traumatic, everlasting event that replays over and over in a persons mind who has experienced war.  The author is trying to show us that the effects of the war experience changes a person completely, and as Paul shows us through how hard the war was on him, that dying was the least of your worries and it was almost a good thing.