All Quiet On The Western Front

Homework Questions for “All Quiet On The Western Front”

Question 1: There are many dissimilarities between the hospital experiences of Paul Baümer and Franz Kemmerick and those of the characters in the texts written by Vera Brittain and Eva Dobell. Firstly, a comparison can be made between the attitudes of the patients of the hospitals concerned. In the film All Quiet On The Western Front, Paul and Franz are affected by the hospital and their conditions in a very negative way. For example, when Franz’s friends visited him, it was noticeable since the very start of the visit that Franz was trembling and very scared. He started to freak out a bit when he realizes his watch was stolen, but his friends get him to temporarily calm down. However, …show more content…
This quote can be used to analyze the leadership qualities displayed by Himmelstoss and Katczinsky. Katczinsky is a soldier who is respected for his ability to provide his comrades with food and for his experience in the war. He is incontestably the true leader of the group of soldiers (even though he is not a sergeant and does not occupy a position of high authority) due to the fact that he shares his experience with the other soldiers and tries his best to ensure that his counterparts stay alive (ex: When he warns the soldiers to never risk their lives going after a corpse again). He also does his best to support the others in the army (ex: When he assures Behn that it was alright for him to be scared, when he tries to help Paul get over his first kill, etc.). This is how he earns his group’s respect and attention, and at the end of the day, having people’s genuine respect is something which is difficult to achieve. Those who do achieve it are true leaders in society, and they are the ones who are truly able to unite individuals and make everyone look after the interest of the common. However, Himelstoss is the complete opposite of Katczinsky. This power-hungry individual abuses his position of authority, and this can be noticed several times throughout the movie when he demands the soldiers stand straight whenever he appears to them. He also yells at them for no good reason …show more content…
It is a strong bond between some in the movie, yet weaker between others. In the army, there is little privacy or individual space (ex: In the trenches), and so the so the soldiers are quick to form friendships and bonds between one another. In the movie, Paul and Kat become quite close, with both of them telling each other how much they’ve missed the other during Paul’s leave. There are also several other scenes (ex: The scene with the soldiers laughing together and calling out at the women) which show that the soldiers were able to true friendships with one another. It can also be noticed how the effects of the war did in some case bring friends together (ex: When the group of friends visited Franz while he was injured, Paul and Katz binding while talking about Paul’s first kill, etc.), even though the war is expected to only rupture relationships. On the other hand, a quite different situation can be observed with the classmates. Even though they got close with the other soldiers, it is noticeable that the boys who were cheering together in their classroom weren’t the same with each other after joining the war. As the devastating effects of the war started to weigh down of them, they did in drift apart a bit. For example, this can be seen when Muller seemed to care more about a pair of leather boots then his dying friend, and when the other boys failed to see that Franz was going to

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