he will never be the same person who enlisted in the army. His pre-war life contains a boy who is now dead to him. While home on leave Paul says I used to live in this room before I was a soldier (170). He has changed so much since he enlisted that he hardly recognizes who he was before. Paul used to care about school, women, and the future. Now all he cares about is staying alive. The soldiers have become numb to death after seeing it so often. After Paul kills Gerard Duval his comrades remark he [doesnt] need to lose sleep over it (229). They see men living with their skulls blown open; [they] see soldiers run with their two feet cut off. [They] see men without mouths, without jaws, without faces (134). Paul wants to return to his carefree, beautiful (172) youth, as do the rest of his generation. Another effect the war had on Pauls generation was comradeship. The soldiers felt an incredible closeness with each other because they have gone through the horrors of war together. To Paul, his comrades are more to [him] than life (212). They are the strongest, most comforting thing there is anywhere (212). Paul belong[s] to them and they to [him] (212). [They] all have the same fear and the same life (212). Paul and his comrades have an intense friendship that is strengthened by their relentless suffering and terror. They share so much in common that they are like brothers.Through All Quiet on the Western Front Remarque shows how World War I affected the Lost Generation. Paul Baumer and his friends suffered greatly in a senseless war. They cannot live a normal life when their first calling was killing. These men were the victims, but also the killers. Their war experiences brought the soldiers closer together, but separated them from the rest of the population. The young men also lost their innocence from constant exposure to the brutalities of war....
