The Major Role of Minor Characters in "All Quiet on the West
"It is so unfortunate that Field Marshals, like myself, get all the credit for the planning of a battle. Part of that credit belongs to the lower ranking generals, who advise us, and to the colonels, majors and captains who advise them. With out these lower ranking officers, a Field Marshal would be completely irrelevant to this or any war." German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel wrote this in a letter to his wife on September 16, 1942 (Liddell -Hart 291). Rommel's views on lower ranking officers can easily be applied to the minor characters in Erich Maria Remarque's novel "All Quiet on the Western Front." Were it not for the minor characters in the novel, Paul Baumer's character would be as irrelevant as a Field Marshal without any advisers. The minor characters play a crucial role in the novel, but three above all. Corporal Himmelstoss plays an important role in forwarding the plot, Gerard Duvall aids in characterization and Kantorek helps establish a theme of the novel.Himmelstoss, who was a postman before the war, becomes a corporal when the war starts, and is made a training officer at the army barracks at Klosterberg. In this position, Himmelstoss had too much power over the lives of his men, and he allowed it to corr
That was Joseph Behm, a plump, homely fellow. Himmelstoss is especially abusive to Paul Baumer's class. These speeches and lectures work on all but one of the students, Joseph Behm, who was over weight, did not want to sign up, but eventually relented, "There was, indeed, one of us who hesitated and did not want to fall in line. My field dressing covers them, the blood runs out under it, I press it tighter; there; he groans. But he did allow himself to be persuaded; otherwise he would have been ostracized. Soon the silence is more unbearable than the groans. After his death, Paul feels guilt and remorse, "I breathe freely again. As a result of the constant drills Himmelstoss had Paul and his classmates perform in the muddy field, the soldiers were better prepared for the front, as amongst other things, learned how to fall to the ground and get back up again with out thinking, which proves later on in the novel to be a very essential skill at the front. Gerard Duvall, the French soldier whom Paul kills in chapter nine, brings out two important traits in Paul. In conclusion, minor characters play a major role in Erich Remarque's novel "All Quiet in the Western Front", the most important of which are Himmelstoss, who aides in plot development, Gerard Duvall, who helped in characterization, and finally Kantorek who represents the nationalistic generation who sends Paul and his class off to war. The second trait that Gerard Duvall illustrates is Paul's humanity.
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