All Quiet on the Western Front

In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque focuses each chapter on a different idea. This helps to show many parts of war and the life a soldier. The constant changing of topic helps the reader to grasp the constant changing and unexpected events in war. A major focus of the novel is how characters change when they are in the army. Remarque writes about their loss of innocence and the way power can corrupt a person. The soldiers are never the same after everything they go through and witness. The value of life goes down and people begin to develop animal instincts. Survival becomes their only priority. The soldier find out that war is traumatic and life-changing. People die and even the ones who survive can end up having their lives destroyed. When Paul dies, it is implied that he was "glad the end had come." He knew he could never have gone back to the life he had before the war.