The atmosphere of the final chapters grows more desperate. The German army and its soldiers, such as Kat and Paul, appear to be totally resigned to the futility of their situation. The Western Front is collapsing and many of the soldiers, represented by Detering and Berger, dissolve into madness. The past three years of their lives have been nothing but death, gas, horror, mud, rats, brutal scenes, shelling, desperation, and madness. Remarque constantly shells the reader with all of these things, as well as with the hopelessness and futility of war in general.
Paul alone, out of his original group of seven classmates, has survived, and now even his remaining support, Kat, is taken away from him. The only thing helping Paul survive was the brotherhood and comradeship of his friends. Now not even that is possible, and the loss of Kat is so great that Paul (or Remarque) cannot begin to describe it. When the orderly asks Paul if they are related, he says, “No, we are not related. No, we are not related.” We see the bitter irony in his reply, because much earlier Paul said of their tie, “I belong to them and they to me; we all share the same fear and the same life, we are nearer than lovers, in a simpler, a harder way. . . .”
