Plot Summary (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes
Plot summary
Introduction: Paul Bäumer and enlistment
The story is told through the eyes of Paul Bäumer, a nineteen-year-old German soldier fighting on the Western Front during the First World War. Paul and several of his school friends enlisted voluntarily after being inspired by the passionate patriotic speeches of their teacher, Kantorek. However, their idealistic view of war is quickly shattered during ten weeks of harsh training under Corporal Himmelstoss, a petty and cruel instructor.
Through brutal treatment at the hands of Himmelstoss and the unimaginable horrors they witness at the front, Paul and his comrades come to realise that the patriotic values that inspired their enlistment are hollow and meaningless. This represents one of the novel's central themes: the destruction of idealism through the reality of war.
They no longer view war as glorious or honourable, and instead live in perpetual physical fear.
Early experiences at the front
When Paul's company is granted a brief rest period after two weeks of intense fighting, the devastating impact of war becomes clear. Only eighty men from the original company of 150 return alive. The cook initially refuses to distribute the food rations intended for the dead soldiers, but eventually agrees. The survivors enjoy an unusually large meal as a result.
During this time, Paul and his friends visit Kemmerich, a former classmate who has recently had his leg amputated after contracting gangrene. Kemmerich is slowly dying, and Müller, another former classmate, wants Kemmerich's boots for himself. Paul does not judge Müller for this seemingly insensitive desire.
Like the other soldiers, Müller has learned to disconnect emotionally. War, Paul reflects, forces individuals to separate themselves from feelings such as grief, sympathy and fear in order to survive. This emotional numbness becomes a crucial survival mechanism throughout the novel.
Shortly after this encounter, Paul returns to Kemmerich's bedside just as the young man dies. Fulfilling Kemmerich's final request, Paul takes the boots to Müller.
Life with the company
A group of new recruits arrives to reinforce the depleted company. Paul's friend Kat impresses everyone by producing a beef and bean stew, demonstrating his resourcefulness. Kat suggests that if all the men in an army were paid the same wage, regardless of rank, and the officers were made to endure the same conditions as ordinary soldiers, there would be no wars.
The soldiers immediately find themselves given the same food again. Kropp, another of Paul's former classmates, argues that there should be no armies at all. He believes that if a nation's leaders have disagreements, they should resolve them through physical combat rather than sending ordinary people to fight.
The soldiers' philosophical discussions reveal their growing understanding of war's absurdity. They question why insignificant people become powerful and arrogant during wartime, and why ordinary citizens must fight wars on behalf of political leaders who remain safe from danger.
Tjaden, a member of Paul's company, announces that the cruel Corporal Himmelstoss has arrived to fight at the front.
The barbed wire mission
At night, the men undertake a harrowing mission to lay barbed wire at the front line. Under heavy artillery fire, they take shelter in a graveyard. The force of the shelling is so intense that buried corpses emerge from their graves as groups of living soldiers fall dead around them. After this traumatic event, the surviving soldiers return to their camp.
There, they kill lice and contemplate what they will do when the war ends. Some have tentative plans, but all seem to feel that the war will continue indefinitely. Paul fears that even if the war were to end, he would not know what to do with himself. Himmelstoss arrives at the front, and when the men encounter him, Tjaden insults him. The men's lieutenant punishes them lightly but also lectures Himmelstoss about the futility of saluting at the front. Paul and Kat find a house with a goose inside and roast it for supper, enjoying a rare good meal.
Major battle and its aftermath
The company becomes caught in an intense and bloody battle with a charging group of Allied infantrymen. Men are blown apart, limbs are severed from bodies, and giant rats feed on the dead and wounded.
Paul feels that he must become animalistic in battle, relying only on his instincts to survive. This dehumanization represents the complete transformation from the idealistic young man who enlisted to a soldier reduced to pure survival instinct.
After the fighting, only thirty-two of the original eighty men remain alive. The men are given a short rest period at a field depot. Paul and some of his friends go for a swim, which leads to a meeting with a group of French girls. Paul desperately wishes to recapture his lost innocence with a girl, but he feels that it is impossible to do so.
Paul's leave
Paul receives seventeen days of leave and returns home to see his family. He feels awkward and oppressed in his hometown, unable to discuss his traumatic experiences with anyone. He discovers that his mother is dying of cancer and that Kantorek has been conscripted as a soldier. From this news, he derives a certain cold satisfaction.
Paul's alienation from civilian life demonstrates how profoundly war has changed him. The gap between his experiences at the front and the ignorance of those at home creates an unbridgeable divide. Even in his own family's house, Paul feels like a stranger.
Paul visits Kemmerich's mother and tells her, untruthfully, that her son's death was instantaneous and painless. At the end of his leave, Paul spends time at a training camp near a group of Russian prisoners of war. Paul feels that the Russians are people just like him, not subhuman enemies. He wonders how war can turn people who have no personal grievance against one another into enemies.
Return to the company
Paul is sent back to his company and reunited with his friends. The kaiser, the German emperor, pays a visit to the front. The men are disappointed to see that he is merely a short man with a weak voice.
In battle, Paul becomes separated from his company and is forced to hide in a shell hole. A French soldier jumps into the shell hole with him, and Paul instinctively stabs the man.
As the French soldier dies a slow and painful death, Paul is overcome with remorse for having hurt him. He feels guilt that this enemy soldier is no enemy at all but rather a victim of war just like himself. Paul looks through the soldier's belongings and discovers that his name was Gérard Duval and that Duval had a wife and child at home.
This encounter represents a crucial turning point in Paul's understanding of war's fundamental inhumanity. The enemy is revealed to be simply another human being with loved ones and dreams.
When Paul returns to his company, he recounts the incident to his friends, who try to console him.
Easy assignment and wounding
Paul and his friends are given a relatively easy assignment. For three weeks, they guard a supply depot away from the fighting. When the next battle occurs, Paul and Kropp are both wounded and forced to bribe a sergeant-major with cigars in order to be placed on the same hospital train.
At the hospital, Paul undergoes surgery. Kropp's leg is amputated, and he becomes extremely depressed. After his surgery, Paul is granted a short period of leave at home before returning to his company.
The final phase
As the German army begins to crumble under the relentless pressure of the Allied forces, Paul's friends are killed in combat one by one. Detering, one of Paul's close friends, attempts to desert but is caught and court-martialled. Kat is killed when a piece of shrapnel slices through his head whilst Paul is carrying him to safety.
By the autumn of 1918, Paul reflects that if the war were to end, he would be ruined for peacetime. All he knows is war. This reflection captures the tragedy of the "lost generation" - young men so damaged by their experiences that they cannot imagine returning to normal life.
In October 1918, on a day with very little fighting, Paul is killed. The army report for that day states simply: All quiet on the Western Front. Paul's corpse wears a calm expression, as though relieved that the end has finally come.
Key Points to Remember:
- The novel follows Paul Bäumer's journey from idealistic volunteer to disillusioned soldier, showing how war destroys innocence and humanity.
- Key turning points include the brutal training, Kemmerich's death, the killing of the French soldier, and the gradual loss of all Paul's friends.
- The title comes from the final army report on the day of Paul's death, highlighting the irony that his death is considered insignificant.
- The narrative demonstrates the futility of war by showing how ordinary people become enemies despite having no personal grievances.
- Paul's death in October 1918, just weeks before the war's end, emphasises the senseless waste of young lives and the tragedy of the lost generation.