Paul Baumer
The Main Character is Paul Baumer, he is not famous in any way for anything. He is a regular guy that joined the military. he likes to write and tell stories. He's been to school and he likes to read books, but he is too young to have had any major life experiences before enlisting in the war. He's your typical teenage boy – excited for his future, but still naïve to certain things in life. That is, until the war changes everything and makes him an expert in death. In many ways, Paul is ordinary, and that's why it's so easy to relate to him.
Family
Paul has a complex relationship with his mom. He appears early as a kind of momma's boy. He is completely devoted to her, and when he is near her, he crumbles emotionally. He is reminded of how much she has sacrificed just so that he might live a full and healthy life. His mother is sick with cancer, so Paul can't seem to escape Death. Home, to him, brings just as much heartbreak as the front lines do. Paul prays to his mother in some form along the way, almost crying out for her help as he feels himself emotionally changed from naïve boy into hardened soldier.
Paul has a complex relationship with his mom. He appears early as a kind of momma's boy. He is, if anything, completely devoted to her, and when he is near her, he crumbles emotionally. He is reminded of how much she has sacrificed just so that he might live a full and healthy life. His mother is sick with cancer, so Paul can't seem to escape Death, even when on leave at home. Home, to him, brings just as much heartbreak as the front lines do. Paul prays to his mother in some form along the way, almost crying out for her help as he feels himself emotionally changed from naïve boy into hardened soldier. Her sickness indicates to him that there is no peace for him on earth.
Paul fights battles, plays pranks, gets injured, goes home, makes friends, loses loved ones, leads men, and eventually dies a death that is painted as relief.
Dreams
Paul learns early on that he is part of a ruined generation, or a lost generation. As a young man in his late teens, he begins the war with a lot to live for. All he knows are his schoolbooks, his family, his hometown, and his love of writing. He has a lot to learn and a lot to see of the world. War scares paul desire and hunger for knowledge away. As a soldier Paul learns how to kill and, more importantly, how not to be killed. (ducking for bombs) Where once he may have wanted to grow up to be a writer, to date lots of girls, or to travel the world. Now he doesn’t know what he would do.
