1. All Quiet on the Western Front:
Ending the Great War

2. He fell in October 1918 on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front. He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come.

3. How is this last scene ironic?
It is virtually a calm day on the front. However, this is the day that Paul died.
Although devastating to Paul’s family and friends, overall the political statement is that “only” a few died.
He is killed on a quiet day, not in a hail of gunfire as would be expected.
His expression is calm, not in pain or fear as would be expected.
He seems to be glad that the end is come although we can assume that a young man would not want to die.

4. YOUR TASK: Brainstorm as many ways as possible that the novel could have ended which would also have been an example of situational irony without changing the fact that Paul dies.
An example may be:
He is killed by friendly fire.
He is killed by a close friend.
He is killed while cleaning his gun.
He dies of natural causes.
He dies while trying to help an enemy soldier.
He is killed in action after the war has already been declared over.

5. 1930 film adaptation

6. One director’s interpretation
As Paul gazed through a hole in the bunker, he fought sleep and depression. He could only think of the friends he had lost and how much he wanted this war to be over. Suddenly, among the rocks and gray sandbags, he spotted a rare sign of a former, normal life—a butterfly. As he reached to touch it, a sniper saw his quick movement. Without any warning, only one shot rang out, taking the life of this young soldier, one who had only begun to live life himself.
Based on this last scene, what could we re-title the text?
“Im Westen nichts neues”
[German translation: In the West, nothing new].

7. 1979 film adaptation

8. Your Assignment
1. Rewrite the ending of the novel, following Remarque’s style. Your ending should be 5-6 sentences long. It should be creative, yet serious. You can’t change the fact that Paul died, but you can add information as to how. You must also maintain the sense of situational irony.
2. Choose a new title for the novel, and weave it into the ending as Remarque did. You may do this in one of two ways:
• Choose a title and work it into the ending.
• Write the ending and then extract a title from what you have written.