Chapter 1:
- Where are the men “at rest”?
- Why is there such an abundance of rations?
- Why do the men feel hostile toward Ginger?
- What is unusual about the latrine facilities?
- What has changed about these men?
- Who is Kantorek?
- Why does Muller wish Kantorek were there?
- What different attitudes about war were held by the “poor and simple” and those “better off”?
- What is the double horror of Behm’s death?
- What is Muller’s plan for Kemmerich’s boots? Do you think this is cruel?
- Why is Kantorek wrong in referring to these young men as “Iron Youth”?
- Why is Paul bitter in his feelings word Kantorek?
Chapter 2:
- What did Paul often do in the evenings before the war?
- How do Paul and the other young men differ from the older soldiers?
- What did the men learn as new recruits?
- What were they forced to do in training camp?
- Describe Corporal Himmelstoss.
- How did the men finally get Himmelstoss to leave them alone?
- What attributes did the men gain from the training?
- What does death look like in Franz Kemmerich?
- What is the doctor’s and orderly’s attitude toward Kemmerich’s death?
- Why does Paul run away from the hospital? What does he feel?
AQWF Reading Questions Chapters 3 and 4
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?
2. Describe Katczinsky. What is his special talent?
3. What is Kat's philosophy of war? What is Kropp's philosophy of war?
4. Why does the author expand and discuss these philosophies?
5. What is Kropp's philosophy concerning power given to insignificant men?
Chapter 4
1. What symbolism does the earth have for the soldiers?
2. What allows the men to survive?
3. What does the cry of the wounded horses represent?
4. What is ironic about using the cemetery for cover?
5. What do Kat and Paul nearly do to the recruit with the hip wound? Why?
6. Why does Paul say the rain falls in their hearts?
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
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
- What does Himmelstoss expect from the group of men? Why does he want to have Tjaden court-martialed?
- What is the status of Paul’s class? What does their past schooling have to do with their lives now?
- What will the men’s lives be like when they return to society?
- What is the similarity between Kat and Paul’s goose escapade and the war?
- What is ever-present in the men’s lives?
- What special feeling does Paul have for Kat?
Chapter 6
- What are the men waiting for at this time? How does Chance rule their lives?
- What foreshadows a rough battle for the men?
- How does the bombardment wear on the men? Describe the recruit’s fit.
- Why does Paul hesitate before throwing the grenade at the enemy?
- How do the men react after waiting days for this attack? How do they react to the wounded soldiers?
- As Paul stands on sentry duty, what does he think about? How have his feelings towards his memories changed?
- How has nature reacted to the war?
- Why are the reinforcements killed so rapidly?
- What is the result after days of fighting?
Chapter 7
1. How do Himmelstoss and the men reconcile?
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?
3. What does Paul say will happen with memories of the front after the war?
4. Why is Paul unhappy after the evening with the women?
5. Why does Paul cry when he arrives home? Why does he feel strange in his own home?
6. Why does Paul lie to his mother about the reality of war?
7. Why do the major and Paul conflict? Why does Paul change into civilian clothes?
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?
9. What is leave to Paul?
10. What does Paul tell Kermmerich’s mother about her son’s death? Why can’t he understand her anguish?
11. Why does Paul regret coming home on leave?
Chapter 8
1. What does Paul think of the Russian prisoners?
2. How do many of the Germans treat the Russians? How do they trade with them?
3. How do the Russians differ from the Germans?
4. Why does Paul not feel more sympathetic toward the Russian prisoners? Why are these men his enemies?
5. What is Paul’s sole aim?
Chapter 9
- How does Paul feel when he finds his friends?
- According to the men, why does war exist?
- What is the difference between the volunteers and the drafted soldiers? Why, do you suppose, is there a difference?
- Why is Paul afraid while on patrol? What does friendship mean to him?
- What new fear holds Paul as he tries to get back to his friends?
- What does Paul do when the French soldier stumbles into his shell hole? Why doesn’t Paul then leave?
- Why does Paul think he must bandage the Frenchman’s wounds? What does this hand-to-hand killing do to Paul?
- What does he say and realize in his madness? What does he promise when he is calmer?
- What does Paul think about his experience after he is safe?
Chapter 10
- Where are the men stationed? Why do they set up an idyll of eating and sleeping?
- How do they guard the supplies? What do they take back to the front with them?
- What happens to Paul when the bombing begins? How are Paul and Kropp able to save themselves?
- How do Kropp and Paul manage to stay together?
- Why are the hospital patients angry at being awakened in the morning? How do the men get the door shut?
- What is the Dying Room?
- What happens to Albert?
- What does Paul think of the world as he views the wounded? How does he view himself and his generation?
Chapter 11
- How do the men see the war now? What are their lives and thoughts like?
- What brotherhood do the men feel?
- What is life to them? How are they like a flame?
- What does Detering do?
- What is happening to the German lines?
- What is the summer of 1918 like? Are the Germans losing?
- What is Paul’s reaction to Kat’s injury? Why do Paul and Kat exchange addresses?
- Why does Paul repeat to himself twice that he and Kat are not related?
Chapter 12
- What does Paul want after the armistice?
- What are the fates of the various generations?
- Why is the novel entitled All Quiet on the Western Front?
- Why does the book describe Paul’s face as calm at the end?
