How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from All Quiet on the Western Front.
Quote #7
TJADEN: Well, how do they start a war?
ALBERT: Well, one country offends another.
TJADEN: How could one country offend another? You mean there's a mountain over in Germany gets mad at a field over in France?
[Laughing]
ALBERT: Well, stupid, one people offends another.
TJADEN: Oh, if that's it I shouldn't be here at all. I don't feel offended.
Tjaden may be making a joke, but, like all good comedians, he has a point behind the humor. War requires people to sacrifice themselves for abstract concepts like "the people" or "the state." But Germany and the Germanic people don't exist outside the world of the mind. Don't believe us? Just go back a couple centuries and asks the Goths what they think about Germany. Best bring a battle-axe with you.
Quote #8
PAUL: Only, you're better off than I am. You're through. They can't do any more to you now. Oh, God, why did they do this to us? We only wanted to live, you and I. Why should they send us out to fight each other? If we threw away these rifles and these uniforms, you could be my brother, just like Kat and Albert. You'll have to forgive me, comrade. I'll do all I can. I'll write to your parents. I'll write to…
The French soldier's death is a very personal one for Paul—he must stay behind and witness the full pain and suffering his actions have brought. Here, the tragedy of an individual's suffering is on full display, countering Kantorek's statement from earlier that "few losses" would be acceptable. Clearly a few loses are a few too many if such suffering can be avoided.
Quote #9
KAT: Well, kid, now we're gonna be separated.
PAUL: Maybe we can do something together later on when the war is over.
KAT: Yes, kid.
PAUL: You give me your address; I'll give you mine.
[Explosion.]
PAUL: You can't get both of us in one day! We'll surely see each other again, Kat. Remember that day when you brought the whole pig into the factory? And that day in the woods when you taught us how to dodge shells? And my first bombardment? How I cried. I was a young recruit then.
Of course, Kat does die, and we see that the great misfortune of Paul's time in the war isn't that he dies. Rather, it's that the war takes everything from him. The war steals Paul's dreams, his innocence, and his home. Lastly, it takes Kat away from him, Paul's one hope for having a life and connections beyond the war.