In Chapter 1 of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul Baumer describes his friends from school with whom he enlisted and the soldiers whom he met in the Second Company. Paul selects one overwhelming detail to characterize each man: Detering has a longing for his farm and wife, Tjaden has the biggest appetite in the group yet remains the skinniest of the men, and Muller has his head full of physics. Since this description comes at the very beginning of the book, the reader carries this view of the characters throughout the reading. Indirectly, Paul's description of the characters suggests that he is observant of his surroundings and is attempting to assess the types of men who have signed up for the war. Paul realizes that he is among men from all corners of life, but that they now share the collective burden of fighting in the war.
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