Chapter 1

Reading Check

1. Paul Bäumer

2. Kemmerich

Short Answer

1. Kantorek is the soldiers’ old teacher. He encouraged his young students to enlist in the war, and the young soldiers feel betrayed and resentful.

2. The soldiers discuss Kemmerich’s boots and who will get them if/when he dies of his injuries.

Chapter 2

Reading Check

1. A writer

2. Corporal Himmelstoss

Short Answer

1. He says that, as young men, they have not “taken root,” so the war has swept them away. By contrast, the war is more like an interruption to the older men, who are able to envision a life after it.

Chapter 3

Reading Check

1. Himmelstoss

Short Answer

1. He admires his “sixth sense,” his intelligence, and his inventiveness.

2. Himmelstoss punished Tjaden for wetting his bed by bunking him with another recruit who also wet his bed, and whoever was on the bottom bunk had “a vile time.”

Chapter 4

Reading Check

1. Muller

2. The searchlights

Short Answer

1. Detering is a farmer and has an affection for horses. He cannot bear to see and hear their suffering.

Chapter 5

Reading Check

1. Albert Kropp

2. Roasting a goose

Short Answer

1. His wife is left to look after the farm on her own, and it is almost harvesting season. Two of his horses have already been taken for the war effort.