Quote 10
Perhaps it is our inner and most secret life that shivers and falls on guard. (4.21)
Even though Kat only supposes that there will soon be a bombardment, the soldiers are unnerved. What is this "inner and most secret life" to which Paul refers? Perhaps he is simply referring to the men's collected fears.
Quote 11
"Then you can look out from the window across the fields to the two trees on the horizon. It is the loveliest time of the year now, when the corn ripens; at evening the fields in the sunlight look like mother-of-pearl. And the lane of poplars by the Klosterbach, where we used to catch sticklebacks! You can build an aquarium again and keep fish in it, and you can go out without asking anyone, you can even play the piano if you want to." (2.41)
Paul tries to lure Kemmerich with visions of life beyond the war, all of which have something to do with nature. To us, there's something startling about the idea of an aquarium with fish in it, especially in the context of WWI. Perhaps it is simply that aquariums are so peaceful and contained, or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that, with the exception of a river or two, there are no bodies of water in the world of this novel.
Quote 12
Their stillness is the reason why these memories of former times do not awaken desire so much as the sorrow – a strange, inapprehensible melancholy. Once we had such desires – but they return not. They are past, they belong to another world that is gone from us. (6.100)
The soldiers are losing their dreams and hopes, and their memories only make them sadder. But why? What are the "desires" that Paul refers to in this passage?