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All Quiet on the Western Front is a story of the destructiveness of modern warare. Not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. A group of young schoolboys, innocent and full of life are thrown into the midst of a beast.Thier struggle with others to find meaning in life despite the mind numbing horror and death exploding them raises several interesting points in the human psyche and effects of warfare. Those points in turn lead to a number of questions, and in reading the gruesome terror of the front lines, the questions reviel themselves simply as, why? One of the major themes of All Quiet on the Western Front is how war brings forth a certain primitive saveragy that often lies dorment in many people. Once the protective barriers of society begin to break down, moral and ethical standards dissolve. The actions people take in this state give a true reflection of who they really are. Opinions and personallity all are cleary revield without the filter of civilization and consequences of society. Himmelstoss undergoes such a change. Once an harmless postman before the war, he evolves into the "terror of Klosterberg," the most feared disciplinarian in the training camps. With society (and in effect who he was as d