Kantorek's Influence on the Characters in All Quiet on the Western Front

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Kantorek, the former school master of many of the novel's characters, is described as “a stern little man”, and although his physical presence is of little consequence to the novel’s development his actions influence many of the characters in their thoughts and actions. His fiery and impassioned speeches to his class influenced all of them to join the army, leading to their inevitable dooms. The ideas he preached on nationalism and one’s duty to his country were a glorious mask for the true, atrocious nature of war. The doom of innumerable men in the “great” war.

The whole of Paul Bäumer’s class joined the army voluntarily due to Kantorek’s rhetoric on nationalism. National pride is portrayed as outdated and only useful for national leaders seeking to control the populace. Yet it become rather crass when it drives men and countries blindly forward to death and ruin. It is this very same force that is drove Kantorek’s students to join the army, and for that they abhorred him. The other characters’ quickly learned how pointless pride was on the battlefield and in the trenches. Paul f...

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