Kemmerich's Boots In All Quiet On The Western Front

The novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, shows tremendous amount of symbolism, and the main symbol would be the importance of Kemmerich's boots. In the battlefield, the boots were considered one of the most prized possession one could ever own amongst the soldiers. The boots also represented how the soldiers in the battlegrounds were extremely poor and in despair from the war itself. The author, Remarque, depicts as if the boots are more valuable and longer-lasting than lives on the battlefield. Everyone envied Kemmerich of his boots. They were the fanciest of any boots any soldier had ever seen before. During wartime, the soldiers such as Muller or Paul owned nothing valuable, making them worthless. Money or gold were useless on the
war grounds, since there was nowhere to spend them on. Boots, however, could be used all the time, and the soldiers always wished to have the best boots. The soldiers were willing to give up anything to wear the boots. The boots gave a sense to the owner that by having possession of the boots, he felt like he was the richest man on earth. With the boots, the owner was able to withstand the grief of the war with the joy of wearing the priceless boots. In this novel, boots are seemed as more valuable and longer-lasting than the lives of the soldiers. Kemmerich first owned the boots, but he was later died from his amputated thigh. Soon after his death, Muller received the boots, and he ended up getting shot to death while wearing the boots. Paul then inherits the boots, then which he dies as well. The soldiers held jealousy and greed towards the boots, which was ultimately the cause of their deaths. It is not a coincidence or a curse that the deaths of the soldiers were chronological with the order of each of them wearing the boots. They wanted the boots so much that they valued them more than their lives, which was their ultimate sin. By taking possession of the boots, they lost their concern to staying alive. To sum it up, for these soldiers, if they were given the question of life or boots, they would choose boots over their lives. In conclusion, the boots are seen as a higher importance than that of the solders' lives. They show how much despair and grief there were during the war. It was not a curse of the boots or a plain coincidence that killed the soldiers, but it was their jealousy and greed for the boots that ultimately cost their lives.