Name All Quiet on the Western Front READING GUIDE
Chapter topics / PG #’s / DESCRIPTION / summary, etc.Chapter 1
The four friends
Kantorek / actions
Feelings about their teachers / war
Kemmerich / boots
“The Iron Youth”
Chapter 2
Poetry
Idealism of youth to realism of war
Himmelstoss
Kemmerich last conversation / boots
Chapter 3
Kat / food
Power / men’s change
Himmelstoss / Tjaden training
The boys’ revenge
Chapter 4
Earth / soldier connection
Instinct
Paul / new recruit
Detering / horses
Hiding place / irony?
Gas attack
The decision about the hit new recruit
“monotonously” –why repeated (meaning?)
Chapter 5
Peacetime conversation
Haie’s response to peacetime
Himmelstoss confrontation / results
Questions about post- war life
Himmelstoss confrontation / result
Paul / Kat “brothers”
Chap. 6
coffins
Paul’s lucky moment
Trench life
Recruits experiences / emotions
“wild beasts”
Battle w/French @ frontline
“I believe we are lost”
meaning
More recruits…age? Their fates / reason?
Himm. “wound”
How many left now?
Chap. 7
Himmelstoss
French ladies encounter / interactions
Paul’s leave / activities / emotions?
Paul visit w/ mother
Paul / the Major
Paul / dad interactions
Feelings of belonging at home
Treatment of Kantorek
Talk w/ Kemm. Mother
Talk w/ his mom
Chap. 8
Russian prisoners
Paul’s realization / Russ. Prisoners
Paul’s gifts to prisoners
Chap. 9
The cause of war conversation
Purpose of new outfits?
Paul’s visit to no man’s land
Paul’s first hand to hand combat
Actions / emotions after this event
Paul’s guilt / actions he contemplates
“Paul—quiet” –your inference of meaning?
Chap. 10
the feast / the bombing
Albert / Kropp injuries
Fresh sheets / Paul’s feelings—why?
Faking a fever—why?
The Dying Room—who goes?
Albert’s progress
Peter’s return
“A hospital alone shows what war is.”
(explain)
Bandages: paper vs. cloth (why?)
Chap. 11
Coins metaphor—explain meaning
The transformation that has taken place in them
Detering’s actions
The irony of his consequences
Muller’s boots—the symbolism behind them
Summer 1918
Kat’s fall / Paul’s actions
Kat’s fate / Paul’s reation
Chap. 12
“We will not be able to find out way any more.” Why?
“I can confront them without fear.” Why?
Switch in point of view—from 1st to 3rd
Purpose?
Paul’s fallen expression
Look up situational irony: how is this ending an example of it?