This Way To The Gas versus On My First Son

The short story, “This Way To The Gas, Ladies And Gentlemen” by Tadeusz Borowski and the poem “On My First Son” by Ben Johnson, both deal with death. They are very different types of death and are told in different ways but through some similar approaches, a similar feeling is portrayed to the reader of each.

One of the first similarities of the two is that they are both told in the first person as well as being personal accounts. Ben speaks, as himself, about the death of his son and Borowski tells of events at a death camp that he was in during WWII. They both tell their stories through their own voices which adds a lot to the experience of reading. It allows the reader to except just how real the story is. Once the reader accepts that, then the reader is able to more fully understand and relate to the feelings of the authors especially because of how reality based they are. For example, in “On My First Son”, when Johnson says “Oh, could I lose all father now!”(Johnson, ln.5), the reader is able to feel the deep sorrow in that line. That is because it is told to the reader by Ben Johnson, the father of a dead son. When the story is made that personal, it is impossible to not share the passionate feelings that are expressed. Borowski causes this type of reaction in the reader as well but in a more indirect way. He does through his personal descriptions rather than personal expressions of feelings. One example is when he describes the dead babies in the box cars and explain...