All Quiet on the Western Front - Chapter 4

All Quiet on the Western Front Chapter 4

Summary:

The chapter starts out with the company being assigned to spread more barbed wire fences across the front.  The company is dropped off in the evening and not to be picked up until the following morning.  While they are putting up more barbed wire fencing, Kat is instructing to all of the new soldiers how to decipher between the different kinds of shells and how to take cover from them.  Kat predicts that there will be a bombardment tonight due to the fact that the English started shelling an hour earlier than usual.  Once they finish putting up the fence and are laying around trying to sleep waiting for the trucks to come pick them up, they realize that Kat’s prediction was right, and shells start falling in every location.  The company seeks cover to hide from the shells.  The trucks finally make it to pick them up, but when they are on their way back a few shells land really close to them and they are forced to take cover in a cemetery.  They are all instructed to put their gas masks on to protect themselves from the gas bombs being dropped.  One soldier who Paul had helped out earlier has taken a hit to his hip, and it is very clear that he will die from this wound.  Kat and Paul contemplate shooting him so that the pain from his wound doesn’t make him suffer for longer than he has to, but other soldiers come by so they decide not to.

Substantial Meaning:

This chapter kind of sets the tone for the rest of the book, as a company they are forced to endure, even with loss of life among the company.  One of the more important pieces of text from the chapter though is a small aside that Paul has with the reader.  In this he talks about how important the earth is with the soldier.  He says that the earth is there for him every time he drops to the ground for cover and that every time he asks for shelter he receives it.  Another important idea that Paul talks about is how at the front, the soldiers turn into “Human Animals” where instincts rule their actions.  He says that they are a saving grace for the ones who obey them without hesitation.  In many instances, the soldiers dropped to the ground to avoid a shell that they weren’t even aware was coming, they just did it on instincts.  What Paul says he is extremely important as to showing how the war affects the soldiers.  At the front, the ones who survive are the ones who do not act on emotion, but on instincts instead.  This tears the soldiers into two directions at once, because how could one ignore all the sources of emotion that are around them such as death and injury? The effects of this are seen throughout the rest of the book.