Krouse is similar to Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front. With less than month left in the war, Baumer is killed but Remarque knows that Baumer could no longer cope with the post war. Baumer would only find peace in death. Jack Krouse is no different than Baumer for he could no longer adjust to civilian life. The war has wounded both men beyond repair. As for Melcher, he finally finds out the fate of his fellow soldiers. He finds those that he left behind have all died on the front. For a solder like Melcher, this was the unkindest blow for as he was recuperating, his fellow band of brothers were being killed. He was in the secluded safety of a hospital in Japan with a ticket stateside. He dreams of his friends in their last days and a little guilt of begin a survivor kicks in.
Carl Melcher has the homecoming that Paul Baumer never had as he recovers from his wounds at home. For Melcher, his war is over as his next duty will be stateside but as he sadly concludes as he listen to latest hit on the radio, “They were playing some new song I ‘d never heard before. It had a pretty good beat, and I knew I could dance to it. But not there, not with those people. There was something about them.” He will soon begin the hard adjustment back into civilian life.
Paul Clayton is the strongest writing about Melcher last days in Japan and moving on to America. We see how Melcher's Vietnam tour has affected him. Melcher has seen friends died and a love affair disintegrate. There are times that Melcher feels that being alone is better than having friends since friendship and love does not seem to last. For Melcher, his biggest difficulty will be to discover friendship and love. Remarque spares his main protongest the misery of trying to adjust to a post-war Germany.
In Remarque's Germany, chaos ruled. After the war, Germany was left prostrated and defeated. In 1917, Germany had knocked Russia out of the war and prepared to do the same against the Allies on the Western front. Over the 12 months, Germany failed to knock the Allies out and in the end, it was Germany who sued for peace.
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