All around the world there are heroes. Every country has there own Superman, there own Odysseus, there own Achilles, and maybe even there own Bork. But only in the world of fiction do these characters come out to play. In the nonfiction world we also have heroes, but not people who have magical powers, and not people who can soar like a bullet by them selves, without an Airplane. But then there are also heroes who are warriors who kick butt forr their cities and countries. But the heroes that really exist to us in this life time are the ones who fight for their country, those who save people from Men who are monsters, saving people from falling buildings, and this goes all the way down to a man or even a kid saving the little cat out of the tree. But in "All Quiet on the Western Front" our hero is a war hero. A man who put himself on the line and made a sacrifice, a sacrifice to leave home and fight for his country. And then risking him to feel totally uncomfortable when he comes back on a break, so uncomfortable that he can't wait to jump back right into the war.
The comparison of Odysseus and Paul or Achilles and Paul is quite absurd. For when it comes to Odysseus and Achilles they get a lot of help from gods and have a lot of connections. But Paul was simply a teenager who just started going through war. Poor Paul was barely 19 and was right in the middle of one of the biggest wars in history.
Odysseus and Achilles both went through big wars but Odysseus and Achilles were both experienced and ready for battle, Paul on the other hand was not. Paul was a romantic, who was a teenager, going through a war after just hearing about war and no experience. Paul signed up for the war for one reason and that was because his teacher Kandorek, who was fascinated with war, persuaded his hole class to join the war. And even the ones who didn't really want to go even ended up going. Comparing to Odysseus who was one of the first Greek mythic heroes known for his brain as well as his muscle.