"All Is Quiet on the Western Front" is truly a work of art. It holds so much symbolism, beauty, and truth. Definitely my favorite theme of the movie was family. This theme comes up when the movie shows you how a person is completely changed with the constant threat of death and the certainty in your mind that you are next to die. You can no longer look with loving eyes at your family or in Paul's case, his sister and mother, and know that there is this darkness lurks beneath all things. Your family could never understand, so your family becomes the men that sat right beside you in the darkness; in the trenches and understand your pain, your fear, and your joy. This is seen with Paul's and Katczinsky's relationship towards the end of the movie. When he died on Paul's back I thought it was symbolic for how all the men in war carry this heavy burden around wherever they go in war.
I also found the ending scene another example of dehumanization in that Paul does not die in a hellish firefight and he doesn't go out with guns blazing. Paul dies from reaching for the only beauty he appreciates in the entire war, a butterfly.
Further explication and expansion on the scene with Kat on Paul's back. We never explored that in detail in any of the many classes that I've watched this film in. Very good.
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