American Literature

Erich Maria Remarque in the very beginning of his book All Quiet on the Western Front writes,
This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.

This summarizes or gives the best picture of the hero or the protagonist of the story. Paul Bauman is a young lad who, like people of his age, is unaware of what to expect from life. At a very young age, he has to face the ills of war and it shatters him both mentally and spiritually. He is a character who doesnt demand awe for his valor but sympathy for his crushed innocence and youth.

    Paul is an average man. He doesnt possess hero-like qualities which a setting like this demands. His innocence is well-rooted in these lines,
For us lads of eighteen they ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity . . . to the future . . . in our hearts we trusted them.

He complains here about the tyrannies of the older generation who trick the younger generation into joining the war and thus shattering their youth. Paul has a certain wisdom which makes him a hero of a different stature. He has the guts to narrate the truth and present it with facts that are spine-chilling. He says,
The wisest were just the poor and simple people. They knew the war to be a misfortune, whereas those who were better off, and should have been able to see more clearly what the consequences would be, were beside themselves with joy.

Paul again, has a complexity adhered to his character. He yearns for his family but his family is not perfect at all.  A critic rightly notes, Paul prays to his mother in some form along the way, almost crying out for her help as he feels himself emotionally changed from nave boy into hardened soldier. Her sickness indicates to him that there is no peace for him on earth. His father is also a profane character who is more interested in showing off Paul to his friends then actually valuing his son. This further deepens Pauls sorrows as he detests the tales and horrors of the war and abhors narrating stories about dead men as that demeans their honor, according to him. These qualities in Paul make him an emotionally strong man who is facing every challenge, even if it is wearing him down.
Paul very strongly challenges the thought of Iron youth and responds, Youth We are none of us more than twenty years old. But young That is long ago. We are old folk. These lines show his strength of character to challenge the very concept of youth in German at that time. He challenges the very belief that every youth should surrender him towards nationalism and patriotism.

Pauls quest can be well traced in his words, Let the months and years come, they can take nothing from me, they can take nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear. A young man thrown in the hands of war seeks nothing else but peace and his long lost youth. All he receives at the end is death. These words tell us his journey best.

All quiet on the Western Front. He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come.