Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Literary themes found in Holocaust literature
Literary themes found in Holocaust literature
Prevalent themes in Holocaust literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Literary themes found in Holocaust literature
“The best of humanity is possible even in the most trying of circumstances.” For the novel study, I read ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, a book based on the holocaust written by John Boyne. I believe that the proposition above has a deep meaning. The novel has shown that the proposition is true, and the three people who have proven that the proposition is correct are; Shmuel who became Bruno’s best friend despite knowing what Bruno’s father had done to him and his family, Pavel who was forced to work for Nazis and always treated Bruno respectively, and Bruno who never forgot to bring some food for Shmuel even though the terrible condition for him at Out-With. For these three individuals, I positively agree with the proposition “The best of humanity is possible even in the most trying of circumstances.” The first individual I accept fits what this suggestion means is Shmuel, who was a character we came to know extremely well all through the span of the …show more content…
He is a Jew from the camp, working for a Nazi authority and his family. He regards them significantly after all the things they have done to him and maybe his family. He is general a decent person and I think he is one of the few that treats everyone with the same respect. He helps individuals when they are in need regardless of the possibility that they would never help him as an exchange. He never wishes any credit for things, and is glad the way he is. An example of his kind doing is the point at which he saw Bruno tumble off the tire swing. The next thing he did was to head out to him and lift him up; he took him inside and bandaged him up. Nonetheless he never assumed any credit for this. He let mother take everything, possibly it was on account of he knew father wouldn't be happy. I am certain he would be even less cheerful if Pavel did nothing. He didn't need to it was out of his own great
Throughout the novel he helps others with there problems and people came to him for advice." The Jewish community in Sighet held him in the greatest esteem" This quote tells us how much the community in Sighet relies on him.
Throughout the Holocaust, the Jews were continuously dehumanized by the Nazis. However, these actions may not have only impacted the Jews, but they may have had the unintended effect of dehumanizing the Nazis as well. What does this say about humanity? Elie Wiesel and Art Spiegelman both acknowledge this commentary in their books, Night and Maus. The authors demonstrate that true dehumanization reveals that the nature of humanity is not quite as structured as one might think.
Anton was a child when the Nazi collaborator, Fake Ploeg, was assassinated on his street. Consequentially, his family was killed and Anton buried his grief deep within himself, not wanting to evaluate his feelings and work through his grief. Even into his adult life,
He is a brutal, criminal uncle of Nikolai. All he cares about is himself and does not trust other people (especially people outside of his family). If a person works for him they need to do a job and do it well, or else there will be consequences for them.
I believe they are the very essence of what makes us human. However, in a place like the concentration camps, humanity is challenged by the urge to survive. When survival is of the utmost importance, we lose our capacity for empathy. I believe this was one of the Nazi’s most effective forms of dehumanization—when people are so preoccupied with their own survival that they must lose sight of the concerns of others, they cannot feel the kinds of empathy and compassion that are essential to a complete life. In addition, the guilt that the survivors must have felt, feeling that they had allowed themselves to become so self-centered, would have made it impossible for me to ever perceive myself as a good person again. The Nazi’s torture must have endured in the minds of survivors for the remainder of their
Throughout history, there have been hardships on the human race, such as war, famine, natural disasters, and poverty. In these hardships, people have demonstrated acts of kindness and generosity. World War ll was a time of sorrow and suffering, especially for the people of the Jewish religion. Elie Wiesel's nonfiction work, “Night”, proves that kindness and generosity can exist in times of cruelty and suffering.
He has one task to perform - to kill the soldiers of the Free States. However, the most important line is that catches the attention of the reader is “.the eyes of a man who is used to look at death.” This is very ironic as he was earlier compared. to a student who is like a symbol of innocence where now he is spoken of a murderer as a child. He is engrossed in fulfilling his duty and is now a student of the violence of the.... ...
...igher being, or achieving a lifetime goal. People can survive even in the most horrible of situations as long as they have hope and the will to keep fighting, but when that beacon begins to fade. They will welcome what ever ends their plight. The Holocaust is one of the greatest tragedies in human history. Elie Wiesel wrote this memoir in hopes that future generations don't forget the mistakes of the past, so that they may not repeat them in the future, even so there is still genocide happening today in places like Kosovo, Somalia, and Darfur, thousands of people losing their will to live because of the horrors they witness, if Elie Wiesel has taught us anything, it is that the human will is the weakest yet strongest of forces.
It is no mystery that the lives of the prisoners of Nazi concentration camps were an ultimate struggle. Hitler’s main goal was to create a racial state, one consisting purely of the ‘superior’ Aryan race. The Germans under Hitler’s control successfully eradicated a vast number of the Jewish population, by outright killing them, and by dehumanizing them. Auschwitz is the home of death of the mind, body, and soul, and the epitome of struggle, where only the strong survive.
...he survivors of the Holocaust prevailed after their liberation. After their introduction to the hate that individuals can possess, and in losing many of their loved ones and friends, the survivors felt it necessary to share their legacies with the world, for this occurrence reveals their truth strength and determination.
Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worse attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point were they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous example used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were. After being forced into concentration camps, Elie was rudely awakened into reality. Traumatizing incidents such as Nazi persecution or even the mistreatment among fellow prisoners pushed Elie to realize the cruelty around him; Or even the wickedness Elie himself is capable of doing. This resulted in the loss of faith, innocence, and the close bonds with others.
Pierre Bezhukov, the illegitimate son and eventual heir to his father’s massive fortune, is not well-suited for the high society of Russia. Intelligent and honest, Pierre is one of the few characters in the upper echelons of society that is genuine. As a major character, Pierre experiences one of the most marked character developments in the novel. Although his kind and decent nature remains relatively unchanged throughout the story, Pierre is occasionally induced into a rage, one of which is actually directed against his first wife, Helene.
Bruno is forced to suddenly leave his beloved house in Berlin to move to Auschwitz for his father’s job promotion. His father shows little sympathy for Bruno is worries about what his new life would be like. As a military man, he is strict and a disciplinarian leader not
Bruno accepts Schmuel as a human being, not a jew, who does not seem like a bad person. While everyone else fails to looks beyond their prejudices, Bruno wants to be friends with someone who is told should be his enemy. He sees that him and Schmuel are no different. He comes to understand that Pavel is not a bad man or just a potato-peeler, he realizes that he his a good man.
The holocaust attested that morality is adaptable in severe conditions. Traditional morality stopped to be contained by the barbed wires of the concentration camps. Inside the camps, prisoners were not dealt like humans and thus adapted animal-like behavior needed to survive. The “ordinary moral world” (86) Primo Levi refers in his autobiographical novel Se questo è un uomo (If This Is a Man or Survival in Auschwitz), stops to exist; the meanings and applications of words such as “good,” “evil,” “just,” and “unjust” begin to merge and the differences between these opposites turn vague. Continued existence in Auschwitz demanded abolition of one’s self-respect and human dignity. Vulnerability to unending dehumanization certainly directs one to be dehumanized, thrusting one to resort on mental, physical, and social adaptation to be able to preserve one’s life and personality. It is in this adaptation that the line distinguishing right and wrong starts to deform.