All Quiet on the Western Front

Study Guide

Chapter 1
1. Why do the men receive double rations? Because the cook made enough for 150 people and only 80 people are left alive.
2. What makes the men happy and satisfied? (in the story) the double rations that they receive, sleep, reading mail and playing cards (more cigarettes more chew, more everyting)
3. How do Kropp, Paul and Muller enjoy the afternoon? They sat in outhouses and play cards in a grassy meadow and smoked. (arrange the outhouses in a triangle)
4. Why did the boys enlist in the army? Kantorek, their school teacher pressured them to.
5. Who was Joseph Behm and what happened to him? First to die and last to enlist.
6. What do the men now think of Kantorek and others who hold his same beliefs? They lost trust in him and hate him.
7. Describe Kemmerich. Kemmerich is a stubborn man who had his foot amputated and doesn’t look like he’ll live for long.
8. What is shown in the scene with the orderly? That the regular soldiers weren’t treated as well as officers.

Chapter 2

1. What did Paul often do in the evenings before the war? Wrote poems and stories

2. How do Paul and the other young men differ from the older soldiers? They have nothing to look back on.

3. What did the men learn as new recruits? How to receive orders no matter what it is.

4. What were they forced to do in the training camp? Clean the mess hall, make the corporal’s bed, pollish his boots.

5. What does death look like in Franz Kemmerich? Like his skeleton is poking through his skin.

6. What is the doctor’s and the orderly’s attitude toward Kemmerich’s death? That it didn’t really matter.

7. Why does Paul run away from the hospital? What does he feel? He runs away because his friend is about to die and he knows he is, also feels bad for taking the boots.

Chapter 3
1. Kropp calls the new reinforcements infants.
2. What is Katczinsky’s talent? He has a sixth sense about trading.
3. What type of food does Kat find in this chapter? Beef and beans.
4. What is Kropp’s idea of how wars should be fought? Like a popular festival with entrance tickets and bands, like a bullfight. Then in the arena are the generals and ministers of the two countries and dressed in bathing suits with clubs and can just go at it among themselves.
5. Why does Tjaden hate Himmelstoss? Because of the way he was educated by Himmelstoss in the barracks.
6. Describe the way that the soldiers "jump" Himmelstoss. Took a bed cover and threw it over his head
7. “ Revenge is black pudding.”

Chapter 4
1. How does the arrival at the front affect the soldier’s physical appearance?
2. What symbolism does the earth have for the soldiers?
3. What allows the men to survive?
4. What must be done on a wiring fatigue?
5. What does the cry of the horses represent?
6. What is ironic about using the cemetery for cover?
7. What do Kat and Paul nearly do to the recruit with the hip wound? Why?
8. Why does Paul say the rain falls in their hearts?

Chapter 5
1. How do the men kill lice?
2. What does Himmelstoss expect from the group of men?
3. Why does Himmelstoss want to have Tjaden court-maritalled?
4. What is the status of Paul’s class (in the war)?
5. What does school have to do with the boy’s lives now?
6. What will the men’s lives be like when they return to society?
7. How does Kropp make Himmelstoss angry?
8. What types of arrest are used in the German army?
9. What is the similarity between Kat and Paul’s goose escapade and the war?
10. Why do they save the goose feathers?
11. What is ever-present in the men’s lives?
12. What special feeling does Paul have for Kat? (don’t be silly)

Chapter 6
1. How efficient is the German army?
2. What are the men awaiting?
3. How does Chance rule their lives?
4. Why do they call the rats "corpse-rats"?
5. How do the men end the rat attacks?
6. What foreshadows a rough battle for the men?
7. Why do the men use spades rather than bayonets?
8. How does the bombardment wear on the men?
9. Describe the recruit’s fit.
10. How are the attackers described?
11. Why does Paul hesitate before throwing the grenade?
12. How do the men react after waiting days for this attack?
13. How de the men react to the wounded?
14. What do the men take from the French before returning to their lines?
15. What are Paul’s memories while he stands sentry duty?
16. How have Paul’s feelings toward his memories changed?
17. Why do the soldiers search so thoroughly for a wounded man?
18. What happens to the dead?
19. Why do the soldiers search for driving bands and parachutes?
20. How has nature reacted to the war?
21. Why are the reinforcements killed so rapidly?
22. What happens to Himmelstoss during the attack?
23. How well do the new recruits learn front-line warfare?
24. What is the result after days of fighting?





Chapter 7
1. How do Himmelstoss and the men reconcile?Himmelstoss realizes that they all could die at the front. When he replaces the cook, he gives the men extra rations and easy cookhouse duty (138).
2. Why do the soldiers forget about the front-line fighting when they are behind the lines?
3. Why do the men only rest behind the front?
4. What does Paul say will happen with memories of the front after the war?
5. Why are the men interested in the theater poster?
6. How does Paul feel when he has nothing to remind him of being a soldier?
7. Why is Paul unhappy after the evening with the women?
8. Why is beer more than just a drink?
9. How does the Frenchwoman react to Paul’s leave?
10. How does the red-cross sister act toward Paul?
11. Why does Paul cry when he arrives home?
12. Why does Paul feel strange in his own home?
13. Why does Paul lie to his mother about the reality of war?
14. Why do the major and Paul conflict?
15. Why does Paul change into civilian clothes?
16. Why can’t Paul talk to his father about the war?
17. What is the headmaster’s opinion of the war?
18. What does Paul realize about the people around him?
19. What happens when Paul tries to retrieve his familiarity with his books?
20. How does Mittelstaedt treat Kantorek?
21. What is leave to Paul?
22. What does Paul tell Kemmerich’s mother about her son’s death?
23. Why can’t Paul understand Mrs. Kemmerich’s anguish?
24. What does Paul wish for as his mother speaks to him on his last night home?
25. Why does Paul regret coming home on leave?

Chapter 8
1. What does Paul observe during training drills?
2. What does Paul think of the Russians?
3. How do many of the Germans treat the Russians? How do they trade with them?
4. How do the Russians differ from the Germans?
5. Why does Paul not feel more sympathetic toward the Russian prisoners?
6. Why are these men enemies?
7. What is Paul’s sole aim?
8. Why doesn’t Paul’s father ask the surgeon about the cost of the operation?

Chapter 9
1. What is a flying division?
2. How does Paul feel when he finds his friends?
3. How does the army prepare for the Kaiser’s visit?
4. According to the men, why does war exist?
5. What is the difference between the volunteers and the drafted soldiers?
6. What do trench mortars do to soldiers?
7. Why is Paul afraid on patrol?
8. What does friendship mean to Paul?
9. How is Paul’s fear different as he tries to get back to his friends?
10. What is the new fear that holds Paul?
11. What does Paul do when the French soldier stumbles into his shell hole?
12. Why doesn’t Paul leave the shell hole after he has stabbed the Frenchman?
13. How does Paul react to the dying Frenchman?
14. How does the Frenchman look at Paul?
15. What does Paul do for the Frenchman?
16. Why does Paul think he must bandage the wounds?
17. What does this hand-to-hand killing do to Paul?
18. What does Paul say and realize in his madness?
19. What does Paul promise when he is calmer?
20. What does Paul think of this experience after he is safe?
21. How does Sergeant Oellrich react to killing?

Chapter 10
1. Where are the men stationed?
2. Why do they set up an idyll of eating and sleeping?
3. How do the men get caught under fire and bombing?
4. How do the men guard the supplies?
5. How do the men react to all the luxury?
6. What do the men take back to the front with them?
7. What happens to Paul when the bombing begins?
8. How are Paul and Kropp able to save themselve?
9. What does Kropp decide about his wounded leg?
10. How does Paul react in surgery?
11. How do Kropp and Paul manage to stay together?
12. Why doesn’t Paul want to get into bed?
13. How does Paul get off the train with Albert?
14. Why are the hospital patients angry at being awakened in the morning?
15. How do the men get the doors shut?
16. Why does Josef Hamacher claim he threw the bottle?
17. What is the dying room?
18. What does Josef warn the boys with flat feet against?
19. What happens to Albert?
20. What does Paul think of the world as he views the wounded?
21. How does Paul view himself and his generation?
22. Where does Paul go from the hospital?

Chapter 11
1. How do the men see the war now?
2. What are the men’s lives and thoughts like?
3. What brotherhood do the men feel?
4. What is life (to them)?
5. How are men like a flame?
6. What does Detering do?
7. What is happening to the German lines?
8. How does Bertinck save his men?
9. What is the summer of 1918 like?
10. Are the Germans beaten?
11. What is Paul’s reaction to Kat’s injury?
12. Why do Paul and Kat exchange addresses?
13. Why does Paul repeat to himself twice that he and Kat are not related?

Chapter 12
1. What does Paul want after the armistice?
2. What are the fates of the various generations?
3. Why is the book titled All Quiet on the Western Front?
4. Why does the book describe Paul’s face as calm?