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David Effiong
April 27th, 2015
Period 2
Mrs. Wells
All Quiet on the Western Front Essay
Pauls attitude changes from the things he faced during the war dramatically between
the beginnings of the book to the end where he dies. On chapter 7, page 144 it says, out of
the 150 people, only 32 were left. The front is a large symbol of death, from the fact that
every time they came back from the front members of the company would end up dying.
Having the people he joined the war with die in front of his eyes or die in general made him
lose hope in the outcome of the war and Pauls attitude seemed to change even more and
more, and once he had finally lost everything, he didnt have any reason to want to live
anymore. On chapter 5, page 80, Paul considers shooting a dog and was completely stuck in
his tracks. He is considerate of doing something that with his mentality, he wouldnt have
considered doing it at the beginning of the book with the way his personality was. This was
one of the earlier examples of how the war was affecting his anxiety and his mind, and he
naturally had to fall under its spell.

At the beginning of the book, Paul puts off an observer kind of attitude. On chapter 1
page 3 it says, Tjaden, a skinny locksmith of our own age, the biggest eater of the
company. Paul clearly portrays the look of Tjaden for the readers to use imagination to vision
his traits and physical appearance. Paul is vividly descriptive, mentioning his profession in the
group and his personal traits too. On chapter 1 page 3 and finally, Stanislaus Katczinsky,
the leader of our group, shrewd, cunning, and hard-bitten, forty years of age, with a face of
soil, blue eyes, bent shoulders, and a remarkable nose for dirty weather, good food, and soft

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jobs. Paul is very descriptive and shows us imagery of Katczinskys personal appearance, his
personality style and his age too and Pauls descriptive ways lets readers feel the reality of the
scene, and helps get a better clue of the surrounding and characters. Pauls explanation of
Katczinsky also tells you a little of his personality, which is being a good observer.
Pauls actual personality is highly influenced by the way war forced him to feel. In the
book, Paul began to disconnect his mind from feelings in order to keep himself sane, which
led to him not feeling much pity for his dead comrades. Paul lost connection between his real
personality and covered up personality to keep him considerate of good outcome from the
war. The anxiety that came with being in the war at the time forced him to change his
personality to stay strong throughout the war. In the book, Paul failed to feel at home when he
returned to meet his mother, and said he would rather return back to the front to assist in the
war. Paul is so driven by war that he didnt consider his mother who was suffering of cancer
in his ideas to go back. Paul had felt better fighting in the war than he felt when he was back
at home with his family.
Paul shows some forms of his small attachment he still has to emotion. In the book,
Paul mentioned going through emotion when Kemmerich died. Unlike other soldiers, Paul
didnt lose all of his connections to feelings and become completely heartless toward the face
of war. All though the war came with so many more pain other than physical (especially
mental) Paul still showed his normal personality from time to time. In the book, Paul
mentions his emotions after Katczinsky had died. Just like when Kemmerich died, Paul still
kept his real feeling strong, all though he didnt talk much about war or his attitude/feelings
toward it. Pauls show of emotion gives sight that he is still very much a normal person
despite all the horror going on around him.

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In the end, Paul dies and was considered to be relieved of by his death. On chapter 12
page 296 it says his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had
come. Paul wasnt worried by his death because for him that meant all his problems came to
an end. All the people who had been closest to him had died, and his sanity was at its brink,
which gave him a calm death because he had no more worries. On chapter 12, page 295 it
says Let the months and years come, the can take nothing from me they can take nothing
more. I am so alone and so without hope, that I can confront them myself. Paul has lost
everything dearest to him, and seen the deepest tragedies of war, so everything that was
meaningful to him before the war lost all of its meaning. His mind was completely engulfed
by the tragedies that happened and he lost all reason to keep pushing on or to strive to live.
In the beginning of the book, Paul was a brave and willing person to join the war. Paul
was very observant at the beginning, but the anxiety that came with the war was a lot of
pressure for him to deal with, and it caused him to not be able to show his original emotions
and feelings. The war completely changed his lifestyle, and he started to care more about his
friends and companions at the war than being around his mother back at his home town to
take care of when she had cancer. Once he finally lost everything that he had any emotional
connection to, he completely gave up and lost heart for the will to even go on. Paul portrays
his mental connection to the war throughout the entire book, and how it affected his
affectionate sensitive style to a driven, and emotionless attitude, all though sometimes he
would show it.