Paul's Facade in All Quiet on the Western Front In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul Baumer paints a vivid picture of the horrors of war. Many of these horrors are purely physical, such as the constant shelling and gunfire whizzing overhead. But along with these physical horrors come mental and emotional ones. Chief among these is the "war mentality" that the soldier must acquire to survive war. The essence of this mentality is the total contempt for human life and, with it, for human beliefs and customs. War requires the suspension of these standard human beliefs and customs. Paul outwardly appears to have acquired this "war mentality", but does not internalize it and therefore ultimately dies. For the most part, Paul, at least outwardly, appears to have adopted the war mentality. His actions are very much that of the typical soldier. For example, Paul, like all other soldiers, will do anything to get food. He is used to doing his business in the open air: "Here in the open air, however, work is absolutely a pleasure. I no longer understand why we would have always had to shy away from these things before. In fact they are just as natural as eating and drinking » (8). Above all, he puts his survival above social customs: "We have lost the meaning of other considerations, because they are artificial. Only facts are real and important to us. And good boots are in short supply" (21). For Paul, as for most soldiers, the rules of normal, polite society simply do not apply at the front. In the time between Paul's volunteering for the war and the beginning of the book, Paul has changed. Despite all the physical evidence, he is an ordinary infantryman. Paul wanted to get out of the war tranquility and dies perhaps on the most peaceful day of the entire war. Society wants the soldiers to believe that war is glorious. Society wants soldiers to believe that war is an adventure cause is the only cause, that our people are the only people. But there are many enemies, many causes and many peoples. According to Paul, all these causes are equally ignoble, and none of these enemies are worthy of being slaughtered en masse. For Paolo, as for many people, past, present and future, war is simply unacceptable and nothing can repair the damage it causes..