In the book “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Remarque, the author uses nature, and comradeship, to describe what the characters are going through. Erich uses nature in several ways, such as describing how the soldiers are facing terrible hardships, also it reflects on their sadness, and provides a contrast to the unnatural world of war. The author also uses the theme Comradeship through all the horrifying pictures of death and inhumanity, he talks about when Paul and his friends pick on Himmelstoss and beat him. We think it’s funny because Himmelstoss deserves it for being rude to them, and Paul and his friends are just giving him what he deserves. As we start going farther into the book, we start to realize that beating on someone isn’t funny anymore. We read the how the soldiers feel after assaulting and killing other people, it gives us a disturbing thought about war.
Erich shows the theme Nature in many parts of the book. In chapter 2, when Kemmerich dies Paul takes his identification tags and walks outside. He then says “I breathe as deep as I can, and feel the breeze in my face, warm and soft as never before." (Remarque 33) This is one of many times, when nature has helped the men go through bad experiences, and help them move on. Nature also reflects the terrible sadness of the lost generation. In Chapter 4, Paul's company sustains heavy losses and a recruit is wounded so badly Paul and Kat consider killing him to end his suffering. The Lorries and medics arrive too quickly, and they are forced to rethink their decision. Paul watches the rain fall and says: "It falls on our heads and on the heads of the dead, up in the line, on the body of the little recruit with the wound that is so much too big for his hip; it falls on Kemmerich grave; it falls in our hearts." (Remarque The cleansing rain falls upon the hopelessness of Paul's life and the lives of those around him. Throughout Remarque's book, we also see a