One of the most striking moments for me in these first few chapters is Paul’s struggle to imagine a future for himself after the war. Echoing what many of my classmates have already noted, this seems to connect to the themes of youth and innocence, and how, under the persuasive authority of adults, young men are drawn into the war and marked by its horror, destruction, and violence. Unlike some of the older men at the front—those with families waiting for them and careers to return to—the younger soldiers have no prior life to reclaim. Their time to create one has already been taken from them, leaving the battlefield as the only adult life they have truly known. It honestly saddens me how the war imprints on them so young, and how uncertain Paul is about how to navigate it.
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It really does imprint on them. Not to spoil much (idk which chapters you are referring to) in chapter 6 he talks about that. I am looking closely at his reflections on page 136 for me, I am using a different version though so it would probably be closer to 100-110 for others. He talks about how disconnected from their parents’ world and his own youth he is, and how even if the good times were to return to them, they would be like a photo of a dead comerade, identical features but a memory of what is long gone. I feel like Paul also considers there that even if their environment goes back to how it was, the soldiers themselves have changed too much to even recognize it.