A Look at the Top Five Saddest Moments in Erich Maria Remarque’s novel: All Quiet of the Western Front
World War One was one of the most devastating wars in human history. Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel based on his experience as a German soldier in The Great War focuses on the human condition and portrays a realistic account of life as a soldier. The novel is a masterpiece, and is one of the most celebrated novels about the period. In the opening of the novel, Remarque writes that this novel is “neither a confession nor an accusation, and least of all an adventure”. Due to the accurate portrayal of the war experience, an experience so beyond the realm of understanding for the ordinary person, there are many moments which may require a tissue.
The novel tracks the experiences of narrator Paul Baumer and his friends who enrolled together fresh from school they attended together in a small town in Germany. Together they encounter the horrors of war including starvation, trench life, and above all: death. Remarque accurately portrays issues that would be accounted for in a soldier's life. Be warned, the novel is graphic, but only in an attempt to demonstrate how the men who fought could never really come home and adjust to civilian life. Continue reading for the top five tear-jerking moments from the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front.
5. Albert Kropp’s injury
In Chapter 10 we learn that Albert Kropp’s injury at the front resulted in the doctors amputating his leg at the thigh. At two points in this chapter, Paul reminds the reader that Kropp would like to commit suicide rather than live with one leg. By the end of the chapter, Paul says that Kropp’s stump is doing well, but he still doesn’t speak much and would have already killed himself with his pistol if Paul was not with him.
This is one of the moments which is not only sad but is also frustrating. On the one hand, it is incredibly sad that Kropp feels as though he does not believe that his life is worth living without his leg. This likely plays into some sort of norm about masculinity from the time period but even so, Paul tells Kropp that prosthetic limbs are advancing and Kropp does not care. It is also sad because you realize the trauma that the Front has inflicted on soldiers like Kropp who no longer speaks. On the other hand, this moment is extremely frustrating because at the beginning of the book, the reader’s first experience with death was Paul’s good friend Kemmerich who died following a bad reaction to an amputation. This comparison is hard not to draw but even so, it is frustrating that Kropp is not thankful for his life knowing that Kemmerich died from a very similar injury. This moment is one where you may need a tissue, and then rip it to shreds moments later.
4. When the horses are crying out from being injured at the Front
In the midst of a war, one would think about humans dying, but in a world prior to mass machinery, one may not remember to place animals at the front as the means for transportation. Of course, animals were present during World War One, and like all other aspects of war, this is not one that Remarque left out. Beginning in Chapter 4 following the bombardment, Paul’s narrative says that they can hear cries and Katczinsky tells the men, and us as the reader, that it is not men but horses who were wounded by the shelling. Of course, Remarque, in all his efforts at being thorough and conveying the human condition exceedingly well, doesn’t stop there; instead, Deterring, a farmer who is “very fond of horses” (63) is intensely bothered by the crying and a page and a half is devoted to his reaction. Deterring tries to shoot aimlessly in the direction of the crying but is stopped by his friends. Instead, nearing the end of this horrifying description Paul’s narrative says, “Then single shots crack out. The black heap convulses and then sinks down” (64).
There is something about the death of animals, and a gruesome death as described through Paul’s narrative, that is especially disturbing. Although one should expect death within a book about the First World War, I think that we have removed the prospect of animals suffering for the deeds of humans from this equation. Unfortunately, however, this passage shows that not even animals could escape the tyranny of man and instead we are left with a disturbing image of a horse with a broken back from the shelling dragging itself around by its front legs. Truly a horrifying moment that any animal lover, or person with compassion, will require a tissue for.
3. The Epilogue
It is in the epilogue where the reader learns that Paul has fallen, making all of the schoolboys who were featured in the novel dead (with the exception of Tjaden who we are told ended up with mental illness and Albert Kropp who we are not told whether he lived with his amputated leg or committed suicide). Paul is the narrator for all parts of the novel, except the epilogue, and this creates sympathy in the reader for the plight of Paul and his friends. By the end of the novel, after everyone has left him, the reader roots for Paul to survive the war. By the time you finish Chapter 12, you think that Paul was in the clear, only to have your hope ripped to shreds when you least expect: the epilogue.
The epilogue is only two sentences, each being considered its own paragraph. It is written in past tense and tells the reader that Paul died in October 1918 when the Front had little activity. While the reader does not learn how Paul dies, it simply says that “his face had an expression of calm” (296). That really is the crux of this entire story: that the life of the soldier is one which is condemned to death. Since it is written in past tense, whereas the rest of the novel is written in the present, it can be assumed that it was deliberately designed so for the impact of making Paul fall, deliberately, less than one month before peace on 11 November 1918. Moreover, Paul dies on a “quiet” day, which adds more insult to injury. Finally, the last line of the novel which mentions his calm expression “as though almost glad the end had come” (296) really is the tear-jerking moment where the reader learns that Paul is happy for death. Despite rooting for the character who ends up dying, the reader is shattered when they learn that Paul is happy for death. Despite knowing how tortured he and the rest of the soldiers are from experiencing the atrocities of war, it is in this moment that the reader realizes that if Paul had survived, he really wouldn’t have lived.
2. Katzcinsky’s Death
While one expects death in a novel about war, this is not a normal, run-of-the-mill description of death; instead, this is the death of Paul’s last remaining friend at the front. Kat dies at the end of Chapter 11 following a gruesome injury and Paul carrying him to the medical personnel. Kat is shot during battle and Paul says that the wound goes to the bone. Despite the injury, Paul tells Kat that he is “saved” because “‘Who knows how long this mess will go on yet!’” (287). After carrying Kat, the orderlies inform Paul that his final friend at the Front is dead for which Paul replies that he “fainted” (290). The chapter ends with Paul’s narrative saying “Then I know nothing more” (291).
While this is not the reader’s first experience with death, this one hits home because Kat is a character which the reader knows Paul has grown close to, and that the reader has grown close to. Kat’s death is also not quick like Haie or Muller; instead, it is drawn out over pages as Paul literally carries his friend, trying to save him. Additionally, whereas Paul’s ‘normal’ reaction to death, with the exception of Kemmerich, was nonchalant since death is a part of war, this is a moment where the reader sees Paul’s human emotions and how the death of his friends affect him. It is at this moment when the reader feels as though no one is safe, not even Paul, as he enters the final chapter of the novel.
1. Kemmerich’s Death
Kemmerich’s death is special. This is the first time we, as the reader, are exposed to death, and it is someone who Paul is close friends with. This death is described, in detail, including the colour of his skin, the sweating, and even his nails. The utilitarian aspect of death is also highlighted through Kemmerich’s death as Muller gets a new pair of boots once Kemmerich dies. The aftermath of Kemmerich’s death is also revealing about the characters as Paul is in a fit of rage and has to write Kemmerich’s mother a letter to tell her that her son died after she asked Paul to look after Kemmerich.
The totality of the experience, spanning over Chapters 1 and 2 is heart-wrenching as we watch Paul lose his close friend from school. This is at number 1 because this death is the longest and is the first death, we as the reader, experience. What’s more is that it is also incredibly gruesome as we learn that Kemmerich is dying from an injury requiring amputation. This death is even more upsetting as Paul has to write Kemmerich’s mother to tell her that her son has died. Not only did Paul fail in his impossible mission to protect Kemmerich at war, but he also has to ruin a mother’s hopes and dreams. This death sets the tone for the rest of the novel: that death is a part of war, is inescapable, and is gruesome.
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