The Ending

The ending for All Quiet on the Western Front was extremely sad. To see a group of eager young students die one by one in the war was quite devastating. Especially the last scene where paul would reach for the butterfly and then gets shot.  This scene was quite symbolic. Usually butterflies would be symbolized as hope or the unreachable. Unfortunately the butterfly was unreachable to Paul as he reached for the last beautiful thing he would see in his life. It was also sad to see that Paul was a completely different person when he returned home. Nothing would satisfy him. Not even his mom or sister. Thus he had to return to the warfront for it is the only place where he would feel "home." The Death of Kat was also quite symbolic. For Paul was carrying him on his back to escape from the bomber. Little did Paul know that he was dead. He carried Kat similar to on how he carried the dead pig in the beginning of the film. Shows that all corpses are the same no matter what. Even if its a human corpse.