Summary of Chapter Three of All Quiet on the Western Front

     Chapter three of All Quiet on the Western Front begins with new recruits piling into the war camp. Now with the younger “infants” as referred to by Kropp, make Paul and his friends feel like seasoned veterans. Kat then gives some of the new soldier’s beans he got from the cook. He then tells the new soldier that if he wants more food from Kat he needs to bring him tobacco. Kat then goes on to express the idea that if everyone in the army was given equal pay the war would end shortly. Paul and his friends then go on to make fun of their old drill sergeant Himmelstoss and talk about humanity and its beast nature. They toss around the idea that if a man is pushed far enough he will become an animal, no longer civilized.

              They then go on to say that the army is just a man in power over another man. Kat feels commanders have too much power in war.  Himmelstoss is a postman back home yet in time of war the power gets to him making him a relentless jerk. The men in conversation, Haie, Paul, Kropp, and Tjaden have a grudge against Kimmelstoss and so plan some vengeance on him. One night they all get together and corner Himmelstoss covering his head with bed blankets and start to beat him. They take his pants off and whip him. After this they all ran away and Himmelstoss never found out who were apart of the attack on him.

                This is the first chapter of the novel to begin to develop characters. Because of this I began to develop a sense of empathy for the characters eventual deaths. Kat is also seen as a hero type bribing for extra food and plotting against Himmelstoss. He is a tragic character being he is eventually killed. He is symbolic of a free spirit. He is a self-aware person despite being changed by war. He is characterized as resistant to being dehumanized through the war effort. He is raising questions for why the men are fighting and offers solutions for these problems. Then the beating at the end of Himmelstoss suggests that these men although disgusted by this mistreatment by their superiors, are also capable of terrible things such as beating Himmelstoss. This chapter’s essence shows these men slowly breaking down. Slowly becoming dehumanized.