12 Years a Slave

Characters (edit]

• Paul Bäumer: The narrator and protagonist of the story, Paul is a thoughtful and sensitive young man who serves as the reader's guide through the horrors of war. He is nineteen years old and joined the army straight out of school along with his classmates. Paul undergoes a profound transformation as he experiences the dehumanizing effects of war and grapples with the trauma of killing. His internal monologues reveal his growing disillusionment, his longing for peace, and his struggle to retain his humanity.
• Albert Kropp: Kropp is in Paul's class at school and is described as the clearest thinker of the group as well as the smallest. Kropp is wounded towards the end of the novel and undergoes a leg

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

ERICH MARIA REMARQUE

Cover of the first English-language edition. The design is based upon a German war bonds poster by Fritz Erler.

amputation. Both he and Bäumer end

up spending time in a Catholic hospital together, Bäumer suffering from shrapnel wounds to the leg and arm.

• Haie Westhus: Haie is tall and strong with a good sense of humor, and a peat-digger by profession. His size and behavior make him seem older than Paul, yet he is the same age as Paul and his school-friends, who are roughly 19 at the start of the book. During combat, he is fatally injured in his back (Chapter 6).
• Friedrich Müller: Müller is one of Bäumer's classmates, and is 19 when he also volunteers to join the German army. He is killed later after being shot point-blank in the stomach with a flare gun.
• Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky: Katczinsky, a recalled reserve militiaman, was a cobbler in civilian life. He is older than Paul Bumer and his comrades, about 40 years old, and serves as their leadership figure.
• Tjaden: One of Bäumer's non-schoolmate friends. Before the war, Tjaden was a locksmith and a big eater with a grudge against the former postman-turned-corporal Himmelstoß.
• Himmelstoß: Sergeant der Reserve Himmelstoß was a village postman before being mobilised for the war and securing a position as a Sergeant in the Landwehr (Reserves of persons 28-39). Himmelstoß is a power-hungry martinet with a special contempt for Paul and his friends, because they knew him as their local postman.