“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived through it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its stupidity” (Eisenhower 1). These are the words written by Dwight Eisenhower, a five-star general in the United States Army and veteran soldier of World War II. Eisenhower reveals how, although he didn't die in World War II, he never actually survived; the horrific events he endures form memories that remain with him throughout his life. Eisenhower's inner feelings portray the thoughts of the fictional character Paul Baumer, the protagonist of All Quiet on the Western Front. Isolation is one of the main reasons why soldiers kept their hearts closed during the First World War. Through the eyes of Paul Baumer, Erich Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front, illustrates that, in addition to isolation from others, soldiers during World War I experience isolation from their families and even from themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Isolation from others is the most common form of isolation described in the novel and occurs during World War I. Soldiers train to be detached killing machines, with no sympathy for either comrades or enemies. After stabbing a French artilleryman, Paul Baumer is forced to watch the enemy soldier die next to him. Baumer talks to the man and in doing so gains sympathy for him. When the gunner ends up dying, Baumer is filled with dismay. “I am not talking about the dead printer” (Remarque 228). Baumer does not tell his comrades about the encounter with the enemy soldier, since he knows that he will be ridiculed and punished for sympathizing with the enemy. Soldiers are told not to trust anyone. The First World War ruined soldiers by making them lose the ability to love. Another side effect that soldiers experience at war is loneliness and the feeling that no one can relate to them. Toward the end of the novel, Baumer says, “Let the months and years come, they can bear nothing more. I am so alone and so hopeless that I can face them without fear” (Remarque 295). War, especially World War I, desensitizes soldiers to the world around them. When his last companion "Kat" dies, Baumer feels as if there is no one left who can identify with him. Furthermore, being isolated from someone close to you like your family is much worse than being isolated from non-family members. Soldiers returning home from war are bound to experience isolation from their families. They feel like no one can relate to them except the other soldiers. Therefore, when soldiers are removed from the front, they have no one to relate to. Normal citizens are unable to understand the horrors of war. In the seventh chapter of the novel, Paul Baumer obtains temporary permission from the front to return "home"; However, Baumer hints that he can't feel at home. “I take a deep breath and say to myself, 'You're home, you're home.' But the sense of strangeness does not abandon me, I cannot feel at ease among these things” (Remarque 160). Even though Baumer spent his entire childhood in a house he calls “home” and with people he calls “family,” the house seems unfamiliar and the people seem strangers. Later in the chapter, Baumer says, “There's my mother, there's my sister... but I'm not myself there. There is a distance, a veil between us” (Remarque 160). War creates a permanent barrier between soldiers and the rest of society, represented in Baumer's microcosm and his own.