lders had been facile with words prior to his enlistment.Specifically,teachers and parents had used words, passionately at times, to persuade him and other young men to enlistinthe war effort. After relating the tale of a teacher who exhorted his students to enlist, Baumer statesthat"teachers always carry their feelings ready in their waistcoat pockets, and trot them out by the hour"(Remarque,All Quiet I. 15). Baumer admits that he, and others, were fooled by this rhetorical trickery. Parents,too, were notaverse to using words to shame their sons into enlisting. "At that time even ones parents were readywith theword coward" (Remarque, All Quiet I. 15). Remembering those days, Baumer asserts that, as a result ofhis warexperiences, he has learned how shallow the use of these words was.Indeed, early in his enlistment, Baumer comprehends that although authorityfigures taught that duty to ones country is the greatest thing, we already knew that death-throes are stronger. But for all that, we were no mutineers, no deserters, no cowardsthey were very free with these expressions. We loved our country as much as they; we went courageously into every action; but also we distinguished the false from true, we had suddenly learned to see. (Remarque, All Quiet I. 17)What Baumer and his comrades have learned is that the words and expressions used by the pillars ofsociety donot reflect the reality of war and of ones participation in it. As the novel progresses, Baumer himselfuses wordsin a similarly false fashion.A number of instances of Baumers own misuse of language occur during an important episode in the novelaperiod of leave when he visits his home town. This leave is disastrous for Baumer because he realizesthat he cannot communicate with the people on the home front because of his military experiences and their limited,ornonexistent, understanding of the war.When he first enters his house, for example, Bau...
