Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel set
             in World War I, centers around the changes brought by
             the war onto one young German soldier. During his time
             in the war, Remarque's protagonist, Paul Baumer,
             changes from a rather innocent romantic young man to a
             hardened and somewhat caustic veteran. The story also
             focuses on the lives of Baumer's comrades. They all
             begin by patriotically marching off to join the army.
             However, their visions of the glories of war are soon
             swept away with horror as true friends die in the
             battlefield. The soldiers go in fresh from school,
             knowing nothing except the environment of hopeful
             youth. At nineteen and twenty, they come to a
             premature and distorted maturity with the war...their
             only home. Throughout the length of the novel, Paul
             learns of the hardship war brings. He learns the
             destructiveness of war.
             During the course of his experience with war, Baumer
             disaffiliates himself from those societal icons--parents,
             elders, school, and religion--that had been the
             foundation of his pre-enlistment days, in order to
             mature. His new society, then, becomes the company,
             his fellow trench soldiers. They are a group who
             understands the truth as Baumer has experienced it. A
             period of leave when he visits his hometown is
             disastrous for Baumer because he realizes that he can
             not communicate with the people on the home front. His
             military experiences and the home front settlers'
             limited, or nonexistent, understanding of the war do not
             allow for a di...