Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 11th grade February 2008

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All Quiet On The Western Front, written by Erich Maria Remarque, takes place in France during World War I. Paul Baumer, the narrator, was a young man who was fighting for his country, Germany. Paul was only 18 years old when the book first begins. Remarque starts the story with Paul and all of the soldiers in his company just finished with heavy front line fighting against the English and the French. He goes on in the story to explain the life of a soldier in World War I. Sometimes it was scary, funny, sad, boring, dirty, upsetting, life-threatening, but throughout ones company there was a special togetherness between the men in that company.

Paul was a young man just out of school when he enlisted to fight for "the Fatherland," Germany. One of his good childhood friends, Franz Kemmerich, volunteers with him to become a soldier and becomes Paul's first experience with death when he dies from a leg amputation early in the war.

Paul sat by him and watched him slowly pass away and realizes that war is real and brutal.

Paul finds comfort with the other men in his company including Albert Kropp, Muller, and Tjaden; but the most important fellow soldier was Kat. He was a veteran soldier who knew how to survive in a war and with loss. He gave lots of advice and support to Paul during these rough times.

The setting of this story takes place in France and Germany during the years 1916-1918. Remarque, the author was a veteran soldier in World War I, and he had experienced all of what Paul goes through.

He vividly illustrates life in the trenches. I could picture the dirt, the mud, the earth, the rats. I could imagine the shells going over my...