The protagonist seems real and believable

The detail Paul gives is amazing. He doesn’t show a lot of emotion and some would think that makes his character fake because the reader cannot relate to him. However, I think he is numbed by the horrors of war and therefore cannot show emotion or else he would become aware of reality and lose his sanity. I don’t know how I would feel in his situation, but I can only imagine that I would try to do the same.

It was also more believable because Paul dies at the end. He came unbelievably close to dying so often that it would have surprised me if he lived past the war. Although it is surprising still when he dies, against all odds, on a day when there is no action on the Front; it is completely quiet. This doesn’t make his character seem unreal however; it is just the author showing irony.

Knowing that Remarque was a German soldier during the First World War, I think that he used a lot of his own experiences, feelings, and memories to create his protagonist. The things that Paul talks about, sees and feels are actually, in my opinion, all the things that Remarque experienced. It seems that way anyhow.