Paper instructions:
Writing Assignment : All Quiet on the Western Front
Instructions:
Assignment:
Explain, in your own words, whose story the author wishes to tell & why–that is your opening paragraph. Then, using
examples from the book to support your answers, address the following questions. Although these questions are in list form,
your responses need to be in paragraphs to form a short essay format.
1. Why do Paul Baumer and his classmates join the army? What arguments are made by their teachers and other like him to
convince these young men to enlist?
2. What is daily life like for the soldiers in the novel? According to the novel, how does war empower petty, power-
hungry men? (Think especially about Himmelstoss.)
3. What is Paul like as a character? Does the brutality of war completely strip away his humanity, or does he hold on to
parts of his old self? Why do Paul and his friends fear the end of the war as much as they fear the war itself?
4. Before WWI, wars were generally viewed as heroic and noble endeavors. What is the alternative view of the nature of
war presented in this book? Give examples of the new technological and military innovations that make this war even deadlier
than previous ones had been.
5. Why do you think that this book was banned in Germany, and in many other parts of Europe, in the 1930s?