All Quiet on the Western Front Reading Questions

 

Chapter 1:

 

1.             Where are the men “at rest”?

            pp 1-3:  5 miles behind the front

2.             Why is there such an abundance of rations?

            80 men injured or killed

3.             Why do the men feel hostile toward Ginger?

            He refuses to split the extra rations between Paul and his fellow surviving soldiers.

4.             What is unusual about the latrine facilities?

            No doors/20 men sit side by side/no privacy

5.             What has changed about these men?

            No longer care about privacy/just glad they have somewhere to go instead of the woods/forest

6.             Who is Kantorek?

Paul’s teacher who encouraged him and his fellow classmates to join the army/glorified/romanticized the war.

7.             Why does Muller wish Kantorek were there?

            Sarcasm, so “he” could experience what they have experienced/real war

8.             What different attitudes about war were held by the “poor and simple” and those “better off”?

            p 11

9.             What is the double horror of Behm’s death?

Behm was shot in the eye/they left him for dead/later they see him trying to crawl back to safety from “no man’s land” just before he is shot in the head and killed.

10.          What is Muller’s plan for Kemmerich’s boots? Do you think this is cruel?

            Take them for himself.  Kemmerich is not dead yet.  Yes and no.  Emotion vs. Reason

11.          Why is Kantorek wrong in referring to these young men as “Iron Youth”?

They are anything but made of iron.  They are no longer “young.”

12.          Why is Paul bitter in his feelings toward Kantorek?

Chapter 2:

1.         What did Paul often do in the evenings before the war? Write and read poetry

2.         How do Paul and the other young men differ from the older soldiers?  Do not have lives to go back to.

3.         What did the men learn as new recruits?  They learned that everything they learned in school is irrelevant 4.  What were they forced to do in training camp?  Drill, drill, and drill.  In the rain and snow.

5.         Describe Corporal Himmelstoss.  postman in civilian life, known as “the Terror of Klosterberg,”

6.         How did the men finally get Himmelstoss to leave them alone?  Beat him senseless.

7.         What attributes did the men gain from the training? via their experience with Himmelstoss, they are hardened and ready for war.

8.         What is the doctor’s and orderly’s attitude toward Kemmerich’s death?  Indifferent

 

Chapter 3:

1. Why is it ironic that Paul and his comrades refer to themselves as "stone-age veterans" when they compare themselves to the new recruits?  Paul and his comrades have only served in the war a short time themselves; however, the war affects them so much it has robbed them of their youth.

2. Describe Katczinsky. What is his special talent? See pp. 37-40.  He is quite a skilled and resourceful scavenger. pp. 40 and 41. 

3. What is Kat's philosophy of war? What is Kropp's philosophy of war?

Kat:  if the powers that be treated everyone equally, the war would end much more quickly.  Kropp:  Should be treated as a sports festival wherein the warring countries have their leaders fight one another instead of involving a multitude of their countrymen (“the wrong people”). 

4. *Why does the author expand and discuss these philosophies? “The people who make declarations of war are never the people who have to do the dirty work of fighting it.  Kat's ironic statement, refers to this reality.  He is in essence saying that if the people who started wars - the politicians and world leaders - were forced to experience the hardships the front-line men endure (‘the same grub and the same pay’), they would think twice before committing themselves and their countries to this absurdity.  Kropp expands on this idea, proposing that "a declaration of war should be a kind of popular festival with entrance-tickets and bands, like a bull fight.  Then in the arena the ministers and generals of the two countries, dressed in bathing-drawers and armed with clubs, can have it out among themselves.  Whoever survives, his country wins". The ridiculousness of modern warfare is only too clear to the fighting men.  All agree that an arrangement such as that suggested by Kropp would be "much simpler and more just than (the present) arrangement, where the wrong people do the fighting.’”

 

* "All Quiet on the Western Front Group." enotes.com (2009): n. pag. Web. 29 Sep 2009.

5. What is Kropp’s philosophy concerning power given to insignificant men? Kropp: When insignificant people gain power they abuse it; they become mere shadows of their former themselves.  Kat: “ ‘It goes to the head of them all, you see.  And the more insignificant the man has been in civil life the worse it takes him’” (44-45).

Chapter 4

p. 55-56 “his only friend, brother, mother … stifles his cries of terror …

All Quiet on the Western Front

 Reading Questions-Chapters 4 and 5

Chapter 4

1. What symbolism does the earth have for the soldiers?

p. 55-56 “his only friend, brother, mother … stifles his cries of terror …

2. What allows the men to survive?  Instinct to survive
3. What does the cry of the wounded horses represent? Moaning of the soldiers/the world
4. What is ironic about using the cemetery for cover? Men die on top of and inside old graves/RIP?  Place of eternal rest/peace but no peace
5. What do Kat and Paul nearly do to the recruit with the hip wound?  Why? Shoot him/ put him out of his misery.
6. Why does Paul say the rain falls in their hearts?   p.74 (care so passionately/into their very souls/ their hearts mourn

Chapter 5

1. What does Himmelstoss expect from the group of men?  Why does he want to have Tjaden court-martialed?  Respect/on the other hand defiance.  p. 82 defies him/openly disrespects him
2. What is the status of Paul’s class?  What does their past schooling have to do with their lives now? 20 -  4 wounded- 1 in mad house/ 3 lieutenants-----p. 85 their schooling (useless)
3. What will the men’s lives be like when they return to society?  p. 85-88
4. What is the similarity between Kat and Paul’s goose escapade and the war? Have a goal/difficult to attain  (surviving and/or ending the war
5. What is ever-present in the men’s lives?  Hunger, death, war, etc.
6. What special feeling does Paul have for Kat?  p. 94-97

 

All Quiet on the Western Front-Chapter 6 -Reading Questions Answers

Chapter 6

1. What are the men waiting for at this time?  How does Chance rule their lives? Offensive (engaging the enemy) English Artillery; p 101
2. What foreshadows a rough battle for the men?  Edamer cheese/ p103
3. How does the bombardment wear on the men?  Describe the recruit’s fit. p 104-110
4. Why does Paul hesitate before throwing the grenade at the enemy? p 113
5. How do the men react after waiting days for this attack?  How do they react to the wounded soldiers? p 113
6. As Paul stands on sentry duty, what does he think about?  How have his feelings towards his memories changed? pp119-121
7. How has nature reacted to the war? p 127
8. Why are the reinforcements killed so rapidly? p 129
9. What is the result after days of fighting? Only 32 men left.

 

Chapter 7

1. How do Himmelstoss and the men reconcile?   Gives them more food
2. Why do the soldiers forget about the front-line fighting when they are behind the lines?  Why do they only rest when they are behind the front?  pp138-139
3. What does Paul say will happen with memories of the front after the war?  Never go away; forever changed
4. Why is Paul unhappy after the evening with the women?  Can’t reclaim his innocence
5. Why does Paul cry when he arrives home?  Why does he feel strange in his own home?  p 157
6. Why does Paul lie to his mother about the reality of war?  She has cancer; p 162
7. Why do the major and Paul conflict?  Why does Paul change into civilian clothes? p 162-163
8. Why can’t Paul talk to his father and the other older men about the war?  What does he realize about the people around him and their knowledge of the war?   pp 165-168
9. What is leave to Paul?  p 179
10. What does Paul tell Kemmerich’s mother about her son’s death?  Why can’t he understand her anguish? p 180-181
11.  Why does Paul regret coming home on leave? pp 172-173

Chapter 8

1. What does Paul think of the Russian prisoners?  p 189-190; should be treated as humans and given productive tasks/jobs 
2. How do many of the Germans treat the Russians?  How do they trade with them? pp 190-191; ignore and/or abuse them; take advantage of them
3. How do the Russians differ from the Germans?   p 192; adversity unites them; “more human and brotherly with one another,”
4. Why does Paul not feel more sympathetic toward the Russian prisoners?  Why are these men his enemies? p193-194; “I know nothing of them except that they are prisoners …” and “their apostles’ beards and childlike faces”
5. What is Paul’s sole aim?  p194; to remember but suppress his humanity (his fear is that if he sees the enemy as human he will not continue to survive; physically and/or psychologically). 

Chapter 9

1. How does Paul feel when he finds his friends? pp 200-201; elated/very happy (safe) and guilty for going home.
2. According to the men, why does war exist? p 203-207; someone offends another; 
3. What is the difference between the volunteers and the drafted soldiers?  Why, do you suppose, is there a difference? Matter of choice; p 206
4. Why is Paul afraid while on patrol?  What does friendship mean to him?   Bomb lands close to him; p212
5. What new fear holds Paul as he tries to get back to his friends? p212 (bottom)-213
6. What does Paul do when the French soldier stumbles into his shell hole?  Why doesn’t Paul then leave? p216; still too dangerous; perhaps out of guilt or empathy.
7. Why does Paul think he must bandage the Frenchman’s wounds?  What does this hand-to-hand killing do to Paul?  p220; 216-225
8. What does he say and realize in his madness?  What does he promise when he is calmer? p 223 and or 226
9. What does Paul think about his experience after he is safe? p-228- 229

Chapter 10

1. Where are the men stationed?  Why do they set up an idle of eating and sleeping?  Abandoned village that was heavily bombed and watch the supply dump
2. How do they guard the supplies?  What do they take back to the front with them? p 231;
3. What happens to Paul when the bombing begins?  How are Paul and Kropp able to save themselves?  he drops to one knee with the pan and pancakes; p 238-239
4. How do Kropp and Paul manage to stay together?  Both injured and sent to a hospital where Paul bribes the sergeant-major with cigars  p242
5. Why are the hospital patients angry at being awakened in the morning?  How do the men get the door shut?  Nun’s praying (morning devotions); throws a bottle
6. What is the Dying Room?  pp258-259
7. What happens to Albert?  Leg is amputated from the thigh down.
8. What does Paul think of the world as he views the wounded?  How does he view himself and his generation? pp263-264

AQWF Chapter 11 and 12

1. How do the men see the war now?  What are their lives and thoughts like?

War: “like a cancer and tuberculosis, like influenza and dysentery” (271).

Lives and thoughts:  like “clay, they are molded with the changes of the days; when they are resting they are good; under fire, they are dead”(271). 

2. What brotherhood do the men feel?

Brotherhood:  “something of a good fellowship of the folk-song, of the feeling of solidarity of convicts, and pf the desperate loyalty to another of men condemned to death …”(272).

3. What is life to them?  How are they like a flame?

Life : “ limited to what is necessary…preservation of existence”(272).

Flame: “poorly sheltered by frail walls against the storm of dissolution and madness, in which we flicker and sometimes go out” 275).

4. What does Detering do? Detering sees a cherry tree blossoming one day. He takes a branch from the tree with him, reminding himself of his orchard at home.  He deserts the army a few days later.However, he tries to rreturn to his home instead of escaping to Holland; captured and tried as a deserter.  
5. What is happening to the German lines? Slowly retreating
6. What is the summer of 1918 like?  Are the Germans losing?  Fighting is the worst it has ever been; Yes, they are losing and more and more soldiers are willing to fight on the front lines.
7. What is Paul’s reaction to Kat’s injury?  Why do Paul and Kat exchange addresses?  Complete devotion/loyalty to Kat and he is in denial to an extent.  Paul and Kat’s exchange of addresses is related to Paul’s denial (and Kat’s).  Paul attempts to give Kat hope for survival.     
8. Why does Paul repeat to himself twice that he and Kat are not related?  To lessen the blow of his loss.  Although the logic is flawed, if Kat is not a relative, Paul’s pain and loss should be diminished.

Chapter 12

1. What does Paul want after the armistice? Paul of course wants to go home; however, he knows he will not return to the normal life he left behind.  The memories will haunt him always.
2. What are the fates of the various generations? p294,  
3. Why is the book titled All Quiet on the Western Front? The irony that the very day Paul dies, the war ends.
4. Why does the book describe Paul’s face as calm at the end? However, he does finally find peace.