All Quiet on the Western Front is based on the book written by Erich Maria Remarque. It tells the story of a German schoolboy named Paul Baumer who dreamed of someday having heroic glory while serving in the military along with some of his childhood classmates. They told stories and dreamed of battles where together, they were the heroes who won the fights , saved lives and became famous. The story begins with a childhood fantasy and ends with Paul and his friends facing the real horror of actual war as a soldier. Their journey is a coming of age tale that tells of the ugliness of war and calls attention to the moral, spiritual, emotional, and physical damage suffered by the young soldiers. .
Paul is a 19-year-old volunteer in the German army during World War I. He and his classmates join fresh out of high school into military service, believing in what their devoted schoolmaster named Kantorek drilled into them as being the right thing to do for their country. Not all of them wanted to enlist, but they felt they had to in order to save face with their friends and classmates. After enlisting, they were sent to boot camp, where their life was still a young, inexperienced boy's laughter and games. "Where are all the medals?" they thought. "Just wait a month and I"ll win my medals," thought some of the others. They really didn't know what they were saying because they were about to go from boy's to men on the battle field. .
While at war, these boys began to realize that their dreams and beliefs were no close to reality. They realized that the schoolteacher they believed, Kantorek who had pushed them to join, could not be trusted. They thought because of him, no older man in authority could be trusted. During boot camp, they lost all respect for authority after having to face Corporal Himmelstoss. Corporal Himmelstoss treat them all poorly and used disciplinary tactics against them that finally made all their dreams disappear along with their respect for authority.
