Gerard Duval In All Quiet On The Western Front

War, the waging of armed conflict against an enemy, (as described in the dictionary), made the world a time of major destruction from 1914 to 1918. World War 1, aka The Great War, was a time of bloody battles. The problem being, those that were killed were never really recognized beyond having fought for their country. One of the most memorable characters in the story All Quiet On the Western Front is a French soldier named Gerard Duval, because he symbolizes the millions of good people that lost their lives during the Great War.

All soldiers in the war were trained not to care about anything but war itself, and to only pay attention to the main objective they must complete. The French solider Gerard Duval was a looking glass for Paul. Gerard Duval was a key part of the story, he allowed Paul to witness the terrors of the war first hand. Before Paul had his encounter with Gerard, he was basically making opinions based on things he saw, and heard. This man helped Paul see the darker side of the war he found himself in.
Every day of the war, thousands of men and women died; whether they were participating or not. The soldiers in the war were trained to not pay attention to the horrible things happening right under their noses. The first hand account that Gerard provided Paul was very key in the change of Paul’s perspective on the war as a whole. This made him feel extremely emotional for the time he spent in the shot hole after Paul had killed Gerard. If Gerard had not fallen into the hole, and Paul hadn’t stabbed him 4 times in the chest, Paul’s outlook on the war would have been exactly the same as it was before; he would have been one of the carless men running around with a