Has there ever been a time in your life where you had to experience a tragedy. The Seventh Man did. The seventh man was only ten years old on a september afternoon when a typhoon hit his home town of Providence of S. During the eye of the storm, he and his friend named K went down to the beach. A wave hit and killed K but the seventh man was able to escape. For the rest of the seventh man’s life, he had to deal with survivor's guilt until he was able to forgive himself. Should the seventh man forgive himself of his failures? Yes, The seventh man should forgive himself of all responsibility of K’s death.
First and foremost you must understand what the seventh man is going through. What he is going through is called survivor guilt. Survivor’s guilt is really common with soldiers that are returning from war with a feeling of guilt because they are coming home alive while their buddies aren’t. “Survivor’s guilt being perhaps the kind most familiar to us. In war, standing here rather than there can save your life but not your buddies. It’s flukish luck, but you feel responsible” (para 2, The Moral Logic of Survivor's Guilt). Survivor’s guilt mostly happens when there’s an accident where there is little to no culpability with the death of that person or people like what happened with the seventh man. “I knew that I could have saved K. if I had tried. I probably could have run over and dragged him out of the reach of the wave “ (para 41 The Seventh Man). The seventh
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man felt guilty even though he wasn’t the main reason why the accident occurred in the first place. Survivor’s guilt is Subjective guilt. “Subjective guilt, associated with this sense of responsibility...one feels guilty despite the fact he has done nothing wrong” (para 4, Moral Logic of Survivor’s Guilt). Subjective guilt is survivor’s guilt. The person can have survivors guilt even though they were not culpable for the accident. This is an important to know because this feeling of guilt even though the person did nothing what will hold them responsible. Guilt can be life lasting and changing just like with the seventh man. “This is probably why I never married. I didn’t want to wake someone sleeping next to me with my screams in the middle of the night...I stayed away from my home town for over forty years. I never went near that seashore–or any other. I was afraid that if I did, my dream might happen in reality”(para 47,48 The Seventh Man). For the seventh man the burden of guilt that he had on him was to much, to where his life changed dramatically. The seventh man never got to experience things that might happen in a lifetime. To fully survive survivor guilt what does it take? To fully survive from survivor guilt you need “duties to self, of self-forgiveness and self-empathy. These are a part of full moral repair”(para 16 The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt). To really survive survivor guilt you must follow these three self rights in order to survive. In the same way the seventh man is like some soldiers returning home from war. They both have survivor guilt. The accident that caused the seventh man to have survivor guilt was having his friend die by a ginormous wave that hit the beach. “In my case, it was a wave...It presented itself to me all of a sudden one day, without warning”(para 8 the seventh man). The wave was a unexpected traumatic accident which has similarities to some stories of soldiers dying on the battlefield from a terrible accident. From this accident the seventh man had to live a life full of sadness and nightmares.”when I managed to sleep, it was there in my dreams–except that, in my dreams, K. would hop out of his capsule in the wave and grab my wrist to drag me back inside with him”(para 42 the seventh man). This accident caused the seventh man to miss out on experiences that might happen in a regular life time like getting married or going swimming and boating. The seventh man just didn’t have nightmares he also had to carry the guilt of not being able to save his friend. “I knew that I could have saved K. if I had tried”(para 41). The guilt that the seventh man had to carry around was the guilt of not being able to help his friend just like the story of Capt. Adrian Bonenberger where he felt like he failed his friend Specialist Jeremiah Pulaski because he wasn’t there when Pulaski needed him the most. The death of K really hit home for the seventh man because K was his long time best friend which can be hard no matter what the circumstances.”My real brotherly affection went to my friend K...I always played his protector, whether at school or at home”(para 9,10 the seventh man). The seventh man and K were brothers from another mother. The seventh man felt that he had to protect K because k was a frail skinny kid which made the seventh man really attached to K. The seventh man felt responsible for K’s death because he thought that he could save K before the wave hit.”the wave was coming, and K. didn’t know. As clearly as I knew what I ought to be doing, I found myself running the other way–running full speed towards the dyke, alone”(para 30 the seventh man). There was no way for the seventh man to save K. If the seventh man tried to save K then he would of probably would've been dyed with K. Even though the seventh man felt responsible he was not responsible for K’s death.” we often take responsibility in a way that goes beyond what we can reasonably be held responsible for”(para 5 the moral logic of survivor guilt). The seventh man felt that he was suppose to take care of K but failed at doing so, which is an imperfect duty. Some people might say that the seventh man should not forgive himself for his failure to save K because it was his fault. The seventh man knew that the wave would be coming and ran the other way toward the dyke.”I told myself to run over to K., grab hold of him, and get out of there... I knew that the wave was coming, and K. didn’t know... I found myself running the other way–running full speed towards the dyke, alone”(para 30 the seventh man). The seventh man knew that he should try and warn K about the wave that would be smashing into the beach at any moment but in the end, he ran to the dyke alone. However the seventh man didn’t realize because the wave was totally unexpected. “It presented itself to me all of the sudden one day, without warning. And It was devastating” (para 8 The Seventh Man). None of them knew that the wave would hit until moments before it came crashing onto the beach. The seventh man desperately tried to save his best friend before to wave would hit”Hurry, K.! Get out of there! The wave is coming!...finally, K. heard my shouting and looked up” (para 31, The seventh man). The seventh man tried to save K but K was to mesmerized by all of the debris on the beach to be listening to the seventh man.”He was still squatting, looking down at something at his feet, in deep concentration. He probably did not hear the rumbling”(para 29 the seventh man). The seventh man tried to notify K that he was in danger, but because K was minding his own business, he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings which caused his death, but that wasn’t the seventh man’s fault that K died from an accident. Having to go through a traumatic event is tough for some people.
Having guilt to go with all the emotions swilling around your head makes it even worse. The seventh man should forgive himself of all culpability of the accident that took his best friend’s life. Forgiving yourself can also be tough but the seventh man forgave himself by going back to where it all started. If you have guilt the first thing you need to do is forgive yourself or you might have to face the consequences from your
guilt.
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
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 ...
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.
First, the seventh man should not feel guilty because he did not ask K to go along with him. The Seventh man only told him where he was going. By going with the seventh man K put himself into the situation. In the Seventh by man by Haruki Murakami, the seventh man yelled out to K warning him about the oncoming danger. He screamed as loud as he could and it was K’s fault for not listening. This means the seventh man did everything possible to help K without putting himself in danger. Along with the yelling, there was a loud rumbling noise which
Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus unfolds the story about his father Vladek Spiegleman, and his life during the WWII. Since Vladek and Art are both the narrators of the story, the story not only focuses on Vladek's survival, but also the writing process and the organization of the book itself. Through these two narrators, the book explores various themes such as identity, perspective, survival and guilt. More specifically, Maus suggests that surviving an atrocity results in survivor’s guilt, which wrecks one’s everyday life and their relationships with those around them. It accomplishes this through symbolism and through characterization of Vladek and Anja.
Imagine blaming yourself for the death of someone close, the guilt weighing down on your shoulders… You know it wasn’t your fault but you can’t shake the feeling that you could’ve done something to avert the situation. Drowning in disbelief that you survived yet they didn’t. This is known as survivors guilt. In the story “The Seventh Man” the narrator undergoes survivors guilt when he was unable to save his best friend K.. The narrator of “The Seventh Man” should forgive himself for his failure to save K., if he tried any harder to save K he might've died as well. It wasn’t his fault that K. was unable to hear him, therefore the narrator of “The Seventh Man” shouldn’t be at fault nor accuse himself.
How would you feel if your friend died and it was believed in your mind that the death was your fault? It’s hard to forgive yourself. Even if it is not your liability, you feel guilty. You feel survivor’s guilt. The narrator of “The Seventh Man” should forgive himself for his failure to save K. K. was a young boy who didn’t hear the call of his name. The narrator should not be at culpability for the miscommunication between him and his best friend. If he tried to save K. for even a minute longer both of them could be gone. Then who would feel the guilt? His parents for letting them go down to the beach? There will always be someone who feels solely responsible for a death that was close to them personally. Many people
Moral repair is a word of many meanings. One may say it's "restoring or creating trust and hope in a shared sense of value and responsibility". Others will say "Moral repair is the process of moving from the situation of loss and damage to a situation where some degree of stability in moral relations is regained." Others will have different perspectives on the true meaning of moral repair and whether someone has achieved it. In Haruki Murakami’s short story “The Seventh Man”, the narrator speaks of a tragic event that took the life of a close childhood friend leaving the narrator with a weight of guilt and need for moral repair. Murakami illustrates the narrator’s internal self battle and struggles throughout the story which gives the reader
Although, grief work theories are often applied to deaths, they can also be applied to other sorts of loss that an individual faces. For instance, in 2012, I had just bought a new black Trek bike. Three days later, I stepped outside only to find my broken bike lock and my bike nowhere in sight. All of a sudden, I began verbally abusing everyone and was unable to control it. The police’s in ability to assist me fuelled my anger and frustration. As a result of this monetary loss, I never rode a bike after that ,despite being an avid cyclist. I lost interest rapidly and avoided any events that involved the use of a bicycle. To this day, I hope that somehow I will have my bike restored to me and I will revive my passion for cycling.
In the short story The 7th Man, the narrator's best friend dies. He is swept away by a typhoon wave. Although the 7th man could’ve saved him, he didn’t. This man shouldn’t feel guilty for not saving his friend. He was surviving and didn’t know exactly what to do in that instant.
The story “The Seventh Man,” by Haruki Murakami was about a little boy that lived with his family in a small town when a typhoon hits. After all the fury of the powerful winds had calmed, the man’s dad told him that it was ok for him to walk along the beach because they were in the eye of the storm. His dad told him that when he felt or saw the first sight of wind to go right home. The man’s best friend was named K. The two boys met on the beach together, looking at all of the remains from the storm. They were so mesmerized that they forgot about the wind, so when the big waves started to come in it was too late. The man yelled for K. and tried to get him to run, but K. was swallowed up by a wave. The man stood looking for him, and was the second wave crest rolled over, he saw K. inside of it. After this terrible event, the man still can not stop blaming himself for not being able to save him. The narrator of “The Seventh Man” should forgive his actions because some people, depending on the situation, that have gone through a bad experience like that think they could have done more, when they could not.
The feeling the seventh man felt wasn't at all a rare exotic feeling it's a common thing felt by many people in society today, in fact survivor's guilt is considered to be the main way people cope with traumatic events in which a loved one was lost. “When a person survives a traumatic incident in which others died, especially loved ones, it's common to feel guilty for living” (Elizabeth Landau,CNN Article). So the seventh man wasn't wrong feeling at fault for the fate of his fellow friend, rather it was expected from him after the event.
When events like terrorist attacks or natural disasters occur, at least a few people are often left alone. Someone, or everyone, in their family has died and they have to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move on. As they struggle to continue with their life they often feel survivor guilt. Survivor guilt is when people who survive an event like 9/11 or the holocaust, where other people died, feel guilty, even though they had no control over what was happening. Many people argue about if people should or should not feel survivor guilt. Some people believe survivors of life threatening situations should feel survivor guilt. Others feel they should not. Survivors of life and death situations should feel survivor guilt.
Although he feels guilty, K’s death is not the seventh man’s fault. The text states, “...I found myself
One thing that communities have been able to realize from returning war veterans is that it can be extremely hard for them to return to where they have left off. This is not necessarily because they have no place to return, but because of the emotional reality of the differences between their self’s and the outside community. While their families and friends may be experiencing a miracle and the weight of relief has been lifted from their shoulders, the veterans they welcome home with open arms are likely struggling with emotions. High on this list of emotions is guilt, Survivor’s guilt to be more precise (Sherman, 2011).