All Quiet on the Western Front

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1929

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapters 11-12

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

The beginning of the novel describes a company of German troops at the frontlines of World War I who were engaging in trench warfare and are relieved for the time being. Ironically, the novel’s opening scene shows the men in relative comfort as they are fed and content for the moment. The narrator, Paul Baumer, devotes much of the beginning of this chapter to describing fellow soldiers in his company. These include Tjaden, Muller, Kropp, and Katczinsky (Kat). The characteristics of the men are generally revealed indirectly through dialogue, although Paul provides some narrative descriptions.

The first part of this chapter chronicles life away from the front and the kinds of activities the men engage in while not at the front. Their primary concern is the amount and quality of food, both of which are lacking. In the relative security away from the front, the concerns of the men are presented as almost trivial, especially in light of what’s to come in this novel.

The chapter’s second part is a tangent into the past and how the men were recruited. Paul mentions Kantorek, their teacher, and how he enthusiastically encouraged the young men to embrace the war effort underway in Germany at the time. The irony here is that the likes of Kantorek, those who are quickest to advocate for war, are usually the ones who do not have to actually fight it. Paul then describes the devastating condition of the dying Kemmerich. The man was mortally wounded in combat and had his foot amputated. As he lies dying, others in the company strategize on how to claim the man’s boots. The scene with Kemmerich is a stark rebuke of the illusions people like Kantorek have of war.

Chapter 1 Analysis

Erich Maria Remarque begins this novel with an unexpected tone; instead of immediately immersing the reader into the full gravity of all that happens in the novel, Remarque eases into the action. It is not a shock to the senses. Instead, through his first-person narrator, Paul Baumer, Remarque focuses on the men of the company, their habits, views, and concerns, which it turns out have much to do with food, sleep, and comfort. The cynicism of the men is also apparent in the opening chapter. As an example, Paul’s good friend Katczinski comments, “it would not be such a bad war if only one could get a little more sleep” (2). The irony of the comment reveals an outlook on life that is stripped of future anxieties. In a sense, the men know they are doomed, and their survival depends on keeping their thoughts occupied on present situations.

Chapter 1 also establishes a degree of dark humor. Again, the irony evident in the company’s dialogues reflects the absurdity of their situation. When the cook, who has prepared food for 150 men, finds out that there are only 80 remaining, Albert Kropp tersely responds, “Then for once we’ll have enough. Come on, begin!” (3). Paul also describes how the men no longer bother with the “trifling immodesties” of how to use the latrine (5). Their minds and their thoughts have been conditioned, and in a sense warped, by the realities of trench warfare. Their main occupation is survival and modest comfort in its barest forms.

Chapter 1 also establishes a broader political statement. World War I, and wars in general, are fought by the common man at the behest of those who do not fight the actual war. It is clearly evident that for Paul and others in his company, men like Kantorek the schoolmaster and Himmelstoss the corporal, represent hypocrisy and deceit. Paul says, “There were thousands of Kantoreks, all of whom were convinced that they were acting for the best—in a way that cost them nothing” (7), and the contempt for these types of men is illustrated consistently throughout the novel. Through his narrator’s commentary, Remarque has created a binary between those who send people to fight and those who die fighting. The former are deceitful; the latter know the truth.