Trauma Response In Tadeusz Borowski's This Way For The Gas

Surviving such a horrific environment requires that the narrator of This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, rely on either the fight, flight, or freeze trauma response. He is unable to fight such a substantial threat or flee such a well-guarded camp. Therefore, freezing, or detaching from his current situation, is his only hope. Freezing is a common response, when faced with insurmountable fear or trauma, even in society today. Through his unconscious detachment, the narrator creates an emotional barricade between himself and the horrors of the camp. Tadeusz Borowski uses the narrator’s unemotional tone and descriptions to illustrate the freeze trauma response.
The withdrawn and emotionless writing style, utilized by Borowski, reflects

Whenever placed in a morally compromising position, he detaches from the situation by viewing the victims as less than human. Forced to carry the corpses of crushed infants out of the cattle cars, he refers to the innocent victims as chickens. Referring to other dead bodies as mounds of meat, also helps him escape his current reality. By removing the human aspect, the narrator is better equipped to handle horror of his assigned task. Without this detachment, he would shut down, overcome by disgust and descend into madness. His fellow prisoners, particularly the Greeks, take on animal traits as well. He criticizes the way they scramble for food, comparing them to insects and pigs. This detachment from reality allows him to forget momentarily that the food he hoards for his own survival could keep others alive as well. Many Americans practice a similar form of detachment in their avoidance of refugees. Afraid that they or their loved ones could be in danger if refugees are allowed to stay in the United States, they do what they feel is necessary to survive. In an attempt to overcome the perceived threat, they detach themselves. The need to survive takes overtakes their brains and citizens turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. Frightened, they perpetuate the idea that American lives are worth more than those overseas. Rather than seeing everyone as part of the human race, they see people either American or not. They view refugees as beneath them and concern themselves only with the needs of their