Forgiving In The Sunflower By Simon Wiesenthal

467 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theory of forgiveness

Some people may argue that forgiving is a responsibility that others should have. Forgiving is a hard process that may make people go through a lot of stress and pain, but forgiving is also time consuming. People who are hurt by others don’t always have the responsibility to forgive others.
People don’t have the responsibility to forgive others. According to Simon Wiesenthal’s short story book the Sunflower Synopsis states that “... I know that what I am asking is almost too much for you, but without your answer I cannot die in peace. Simon left the room without a word.” This shows that instead of Simon forgiving the man for the terrible decisions that the man had made in his past he chose to walk away. This also shows that it was a tough decision for Simon to make. …show more content…

For instance, Eva Kor said that “My forgiveness...has nothing to do with the perpetrator, has nothing to do with any religion, it is my act of self-healing, self-liberation, and self-empowerment, she says I had no power over my life up to the time that I discovered that I could forgive, and I still do not understand why people think it’s wrong.” This shows that Eva Kor had taken a long time of healing to learn how to forgive. It also shows that not even her religion controlled over her forgiving others it was all her. She had to learn how to forgive in order for her to forgive others. Some people may argue that others have to forgive someone for something that they did. According to the arguer he states,from Simon Wiesenthal’s story The Sunflower, that “...I know that what I am asking is almost too much for you, but without your answer I cannot die in peace. Simon left the room without a word.” The arguer states that,”Simon should’ve forgiven him instead of walking out on him.” Some people may agree with the arguer, but Simon was put into the spotlight and didn’t really know what to do

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of After The Sunflower By Simon Balic

    419 Words  | 1 Pages

    He should not have forgiven him because, “One soldier got up from the bench and looked at us as if we were animals in a zoo” (Wiesenthal 20). “Rectifying a misdeed is a matter to be settled between the perpetrator and this victim” (Wiesenthal 54). This shows only a small portion of what the Jewish people were treated as during this time. They were treated like animals, yet they are completely human. Also, an approximate eleven million people were killed during the Holocaust. Six million were Polish citizens, three million  were Polish Jews, and another three million were Polish Christians. A single person who was not  affected by the soldiers decisions cannot represent the eleven million people who were affected.  In order to achieve actual “forgiveness” he would need to speak to every single person who was

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Simon Wiesenthal's The Sunflower

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Simon Wiesenthal’s book The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness spoke to me about the question of forgiveness and repentance. Simon Wiesenthal was a Holocaust prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. He experienced many brutal and uneasy experiences that no human being should experience in their lifetime and bear to live with it. Death, suffering, and despair were common to Simon Wiesenthal that he questioned his own religious faith because he asks why would his God allow the Holocaust happen to his people to be slaughter and not do anything to save them. During Simon Wiesenthal time as a Jewish Holocaust, Simon was invited to a military hospital where a dying Nazi SS officer wanted to have a conversation. The Nazi SS officer told Simon his story of his life and confesses to Simon of his horrific war crimes. Ultimately, the SS officer wanted forgiveness for what he done to Simon’s Jewish people. Simon Wiesenthal could not respond to his request, because he did not know what to do with a war criminal that participate in mass genocide to Simon’s people. Simon Wiesenthal lives throughout his life on asking the same crucial question, “What would I have done?” (Wiesenthal 98). If the readers would be on the exact situation as Simon was

    Read More

  • Forgiveness in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    As strong, independent, self-driven individuals, it is not surprising that Chris McCandless and Lily Owens constantly clashed with their parents. In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into the Wild, Chris was a twenty-four-year-old man that decided to escape the materialistic world of his time for a life based on the simplistic beauty of nature. He graduated at the top of his class at Emory University and grew up in affluent Annandale, Virginia, during the early 1980’s. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily was a fourteen-year-old girl who grew up in the 1960’s, a time when racial equality was a struggle. She had an intense desire to learn about her deceased mother. Her nanny, Rosaleen, with whom she grew very close over the years, raised Lily with little help from her abusive father. When her father failed to help Rosaleen after three white men hospitalized her, Lily was hysterical. Later, Lily decided to break Rosaleen out of the hospital and leave town for good. While there are differences between Chris McCandless and Lily Owens, they share striking similarities. Chris McCandless’ and Lily Owens’s inconsistencies of forgiveness with their parents resulted in damaged relationships and an escape into the unknown.

    Read More

  • Morals and Forgiveness in Simon Wiesenthal's The Sunflower

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    Forgiveness is not an action that should be taken for granted. Nor should it be easily accepted without a second thought. It was strong of Simon to refuse to give Karl an answer to his request. “Possibly, there are circumstances in which forgiving is a temptation, a promise of relief that might be morally dubious. Indeed, the refusal to forgive may represent the more demanding moral accomplishment” (Brudholm 2). Simon did not give into the temptation to give a dying man the easy answer he sought and say that he forgave him without thinking it over. Karl assumed that he would be forgiven, even though he did not express much remorse about what he had done. Because he did not automatically tell Karl that he forgave him, Simon never had ...

    Read More

  • Simon Wiesenthal Forgiveness Quotes

    1675 Words  | 4 Pages

    Forgiveness is a process. You can still feel the pain, see the events behind your eyes, and feel the loss of the people around you but you have to find a way to forgive. People think that if you forgive someone you are forgetting or saying hey I would hang out with this person now because we’re cool but thats not at all what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is righting the wrong for yourself because you want the injustice you feel to leave. It’s acknowledging to that there a wrong that was done to you and you decide how you want to think about it not anyone

    Read More

  • Forgiveness In Simon Wiesenthal's The Sunflower

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Sunflower while in a hospital, Simon Wiesenthal was approached by a nurse who leads him to a dying SS soldier named Karl who confessed to Wiesenthal of his heinous acts against Jews, He asked Wiesenthal for his forgiveness. Instead of replying Wiesenthal walked away and later that night the soldier passed away. Through Karl’s confession you could see that he was remorseful for the actions committed through his time as an SS soldier; therefore, Karl should be forgiven.

    Read More

  • The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, by Simon Weisenthal

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    The act of forgiving a murder is out of the question for most people. Simon is confronted with this very dilemma in The Sunflower. Karl, a dying Nazi, is asking forgiveness from a Jew, the narrator. The narrator leaves the dying Nazi with no answer, leaving him with an agonizing thought of whether he did or did not do the right thing. Due to the fact both Karl and the narrator’s psychological well-being is affected by not only wartime but other extenuating factors, the narrator should grant Karl forgiveness, as this dying man is an individual who is genuinely repenting for the crimes he has committed. Forgiveness will allow Karl to die with piece of mind while the narrator will continue life with a stable and clear conscience.

    Read More

  • Forgiveness In The Sunflower

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    Personally, I make mistakes every single day. For example, over this past winter break, my Mom bought our entire family tickets to the Seattle Boys Choir for the night I got home. Instead of going to the concert with my family I ditched them to go to a party at my high school friends house. My Mom was really hurt by my lack of recognition of her hard work to create a special memory for my family and I. All she wanted to do was spend time with me and I blew her off for something pointless. When I do something I regret, I hope that whoever afflicted would find it in their heart to see that I was sorry, and that they see that given the chance to re-do the situation, I would choose to change my actions. To be clear, I am not in the slightest defending or validating the actions of the Nazi regime during the time of the Holocaust. But as a person who has regretted certain actions or decisions I’ve made, I can understand the root of his need for forgiveness. The Nazi’s plea for forgiveness points toward his recognition of fault. Many Nazi’s were operating on the mindset that the atrocities they were committing were actually in the right. This Nazi, seeing the error in his actions, shows that he realizes what he did was wrong. For some people, the request for forgiveness isn’t enough to justify the act of giving it. In my opinion, if the person who is requesting the forgiveness is genuine in their motives, then they deserve

    Read More

  • June Callwood Forgiveness

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    The essay "Forgiveness," written by June Callwood, explores the concept of forgiving and how it influences people's lives for the better. Her work describes many components of forgiveness, such as how difficult it can be to come to terms with, why it is such a crucial part of humanity, and how it affects all people. Her essay aims to prove that forgiveness is the key to living peacefully and explains specific examples of people who have encountered extremely difficult situations in their lives- all of whom found it within themselves to forgive. To clearly portray this message in her writing, Callwood uses several strategies. She includes fear inducing statistics, makes many references to famous events and leaders, and uses a serious convincing tone, all of which are very effective.

    Read More

  • The Sunflower on the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal

    1381 Words  | 3 Pages

    Forgiveness is to stop feeling angry, to stop blaming someone for the way they made a person feel, and stop feeling victims of whatever wickedness was directed towards them. Is forgiveness necessary? Can everyone be forgiven despite the circumstances? If forgiveness depends on the situation, then is it necessary at all? Does forgiveness allow someone to continue their life in peace? Is forgiving someone who causes physical pain to someone, as a pose to forgiving someone who murdered a member of the family the same? If someone can forgive one of these acts so easily can the other be forgiven just as easy? Forgiveness allows for someone to come to terms with what they have experienced. In the case of murder forgiveness is necessary because it allows for someone to be at peace with themselves knowing they no longer have to live with hatred. It also allows someone to begin a new life with new gained experience and different perspectives on life. Forgiveness is necessary from a moral perspective because it allows someone to get rid of hatred and find peace within him or herself to move on with their lives.

    Read More

  • Forgiveness In Louis Zamperini's 'Unbroken'

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    A person like this is the Bird, The Bird was a leader of a prison of war camp who treated Louis as if he were not even human. Louis never did anything against the Bird but he still tried to break Louis down. The Bird acted as if Zamperini had done something absolutely and horrifyingly terrible. The first encounter Louis had with the Bird was at the first camp called Ofuna which was a military based camp. The Bird had put a target on Louis back because he recognized him as a famous olympic runner. He beat and made fun of Louis endlessly trying to get him to his breaking point. later, Louis is moved to a second camp called Omori where he thought that he has finally escaped the Bird’s cruelness, he was wrong. The Bird also moved to Omori so that he could stay with Zamperini. The situation here did not get better as Louis thought it would, the bird actually got meaner and things got harder (Bos). Now, this seems like one of those particular situations where it would be impossible to forgive. It would take a very special person to forgive someone that has done so many horrible things to a person like the Bird had done to Zamperini. Louis, against all odds and against all normality decides that the right thing for him to do would be for him to forgive the Bird. This decision to forgive him happens later in Louis life, but no one knows where he is so Louis would

    Read More

  • Comparing Forgiveness And Justice

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    Forgiving someone is a way to release us from the pain they have brought us. Justice can just be

    Read More

  • Forgiveness And Forgivenessessation In The Sunflower, By Simon Wiesenthal

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    While reading “The Sunflower,” by Simon Wiesenthal, I had many mixed emotions and reactions to his story as would many other readers. One of the most reoccurring thoughts that I would have is to feel truly sorry for Simon. In Simon’s story, he tells us how he was a randomly picked Jew and heard a dying Nazi soldier named Karl confess his sins to him. After the confession of the soldier, Karl asked Simon for forgiveness for his wrongdoing to the Jews and any other sins he may have had. Simon had forgiven him, but many other Jews seemed to disagree with Simon’s call on whether or not Karl should have received forgiveness. I for one would have forgiven him also. I do realize that I really do not have in a say in this or not, but there are many

    Read More

  • The Sunflower Simon Wiesenthal Summary

    1906 Words  | 4 Pages

    In “The Sunflower” Simon Wiesenthal confronts the reader with a crisis that has been plaguing him since the 1940’s. Wiesenthal tells of a SS man who wants to escape his impending fate by putting the burden on a Simon who is part of the very group the SS man learned to hate. This SS man, Karl, is Simon’s dilemma. Wiesenthal proposes one question to his audience: Should he have forgiven Karl? Wiesenthal tells of a Karl, who is rapidly growing in maturity as well as independence due to his increasing knowledge and awareness of the world around him. This awareness comes from him joining the military and as a result further inflating his status in society making him a more favorable person. The knowledge and consciousness of his surroundings allow

    Read More

  • Essay On Forgiveness

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    Forgiveness is the act of releasing an offender of any wrong or hurt they may have caused you whether they deserve it or not. It is a decision to let go of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group of people. When we choose to forgive, we’re wiping the slate clean, cancelling a debt, or as I love to say, “Letting it go.” In the Bible, the Greek word for forgiveness literally means to “let it go.” This concept, “forgiveness,” is easier said than done. Majority of people find it very difficult to let go of offenses and hurts caused by others. I really do believe that most people desire to let it go, but we lack the knowledge of how to do it. As believers, we are instructed by God maintain an attitude of forgiveness.

    Read More

More about Forgiving In The Sunflower By Simon Wiesenthal

Open Document