Dehumanization In Night, Maus And The Metamorphosis

Would you live life differently if you knew you were going to die tomorrow? I would guess most people, including myself, would. There are numerous people in the world not happy about what they are doing and neglect to change it. This apathetic complacency thrusts them back from their goals. The psychological result of the human minds’ instinct to preserve itself results in dehumanization and alienation, which is well described in the novels Night, Maus and The Metamorphosis. Night by Ellie Wiesel discusses the theme of dehumanization in World War II by telling the story about the atrocities about the boy and his father along with other Jews in the Nazi Concentration Camp. Maus, a graphic novel is also a good representation of dehumanization

In Night, the Jews were not able to keep any objects that were valuable to them. “Anyone who still owns gold, silver, or watches must hand them over now. Anyone who will be found to have kept any of these will be shot on the spot” (Wiesel 24). The Jews no longer had the right to keep their house, gold, jewelry, or any objects with him. They had to give all their valuables to the Germans, because the Germans were holding full control over them by torturing them and taking them to camps. Spiegelman in his graphical book Maus describes Vladek’s experience in World War II and other Jews whose possessions were seized by the Nazis. While traveling to Czechoslovakia, Vladek noticed all the Jews were excited and frightened from the Nazi atrocities. “One fellow told us of his cousin what was living in Germany...he had to sell his business to a German and run out from the country without even the money” (Spiegelman 33). It reflects the symbol of dehumanization, which started before the war in 1938 and after the war Germans kept on taking all the valuables from Jews and made them prisoners to work for them. In the Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, it is possible to view the dehumanization of Gregor Samsa that is caused by the loss of being independent. He is stripped of his possessions, which were the only memories of his human form. “They were clearing out his room, taking from him everything that he loved” (Kafka 32). After Gregor’s Metamorphosis, his room and the furniture were the only items giving him some human feelings. Being deprived of his possessions leads Gregor to dehumanization and act like a large dung