The Importance of Life Revealed in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueErich Maria Remarque's classic war novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, deals with the many ways in which the First World War affected people's lives, both the lives of soldiers on the front line and those of people on the home front. One of the most profound effects the war had was the way it made soldiers view human life. Constant killing and dying became part of a soldier's daily life, and soldiers fighting on all fronts of the war became accustomed to it. The atrocities and frequent deaths that the soldiers had to deal with desensitized them to the reality of the large numbers of people dying every day. The novel's protagonist, Paul Bäumer, and his friends experience firsthand the devaluation of human life and from these experiences they become stronger and learn to live as if every day were their last. The killing and death of World War I depicted in The novel desensitizes Bäumer to the reality that death is now a regular and driving force in his life and that every human life is no longer sacred and precious. Bäumer feels great emotion and sadness when one of his childhood friends, Kemmerich, dies at the beginning of the war. Bäumer expresses his emotional desperation after Kemmerich's death, stating: "I become weak, suddenly I can't do anything else. I won't insult anymore, it's senseless, I might fall and never get up again" (Remarque 32). Since this is one of the first deaths Bäumer witnesses personally, and since Bäumer and Kemmerich were childhood friends, the emotional impact is even greater. However, not all of his companions' deaths affect him so powerfully. The fight reaches the point where Bäumer... in the center of the card... him. Death, which he once suffered from, is now an everyday occurrence and seems commonplace to him. The life he once took for granted is now valued beyond belief and holding on to it becomes his greatest concern. These effects are not limited to Paul Bäumer alone, but extend to all the millions of people involved, directly or indirectly, in the war. The First World War had a far-reaching impact. It not only affects those fighting on the front lines, but also those who support soldiers and help produce ammunition and supplies on the home front. Bäumer and millions of other people involved in World War I learn the difficult lesson that life's most difficult experiences, or in this case death, are what make us stronger and what drive us to survive. Works Cited Remarque, Erich Maria. All quiet on the Western Front. New York: Balantine Books, 1928.