The main impact of Shin’s story in Camp 14 is the psychological toll the camp took on him. In the beginning of the book, Shin describes that he thought as his mother as competition for survival (77), and this led Shin to do things like steal her lunches. The need for survival in the camp forced Shin to not have typical relationships with his friends and family, and the psychological toll of the camp returned prisoners to their basic human urges and instincts. This ideal is similar to what happened to the boys in the Lord of the Flies when they began to turn against each other and view each other as means for survival instead of friends. Another instance of the psychological toll the camp had on Shin was when Shin recalled in June 1989 a girl …show more content…
The psychological brainwashing of the camp at a young age forced Shin and his other classmates to believe that their treatment was justified and appropriate, and that they were repenting for their parent’s mistakes. Even sometimes classmates were forced to participate in these beating and as a result they would begin to adapt and become like another set of teachers/guards. Since Shin was trapped in the camp until he was 23 years old, he had no knowledge of the outside world and was forced to believe the teaching and rules the camp set. Shin says, “His teachers, as a result, could shape the minds and values of students without contradiction from children who might know something about what existed beyond the fence” (71). Shin’s description of the psychological toll of the camp was the most disturbing and moving part of the book. Children forced in these political concentration camps are forced to believed that they deserve their abuse and they become so dehumanized to the acts happening around them they are unable to form bonds with other people. In the end of the book, Shin watches his mother be hung after attempting to escape Camp 14 with his older
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.
In the first excerpt, he describes his father turning on an overseer that was assaulting his wife and the overseer’s promise that nothing would come of it if he let him walk away unharmed. This was not the case, of course, and authorities soon followed him until he was captured and tortured. “…The
The guards won’t let them do anything that they normally do and experience, along with beating them for not understanding the orders of the Japanese. I believe that this is an example of dehumanization because the guards are taking away what the men are used to. Mine experienced the perspective of feeling invisible as well as other Japanese-Americans in internee camps when they were given a number for their whole family, “My family name was reduced to No. Mine and other Japanese-American internees were very good at resisting invisibility in clever ways, such as when they weren’t allowed to have cameras, “Internees were not allowed to have cameras, but Miné wanted to document what was happening inside the camps. She put her artistic talent to use making sketches of daily life inside the fences” (The Life of Mine Okubo). Mine is defying the rules of the camp by creating art about the people in their “daily lives” at the camp that she is located in.
War slowly begins to strip away the ideals these boy-men once cherished. Their respect for authority is torn away by their disillusionment with their schoolteacher, Kantorek who pushed them to join. This is followed by their brief encounter with Corporal Himmelstoss at boot camp. The contemptible tactics that their superior officer Himmelstoss perpetrates in the name of discipline finally shatters their respect for authority. As the boys, fresh from boot camp, march toward the front for the first time, each one looks over his shoulder at the departing transport truck. They realize that they have now cast aside their lives as schoolboys and they feel the numbing reality of their uncertain futures.
Mental abuse is sometimes overlooked, because of the rough physical abuse, but soldiers see a good side of both during wars. Maria Remarque shows the mental part of abuse on the book All Quiet on the Western Front. The narrator discusses all the hard times that went on during World War I, all through the book. Paul Baumer, the narrator, explains it when he and his friends enter the German army, very deeply although he is only eighteen. Baumer tells a story about fighting for their own sanity as well as their country. As the war begun, he and his friends got an real look at what the war was truly about. This book shows the conflict coming during the actual war, the boys use their spirits to try to overcome it. But the mind against reality that is described in the books, gives them a reality check on how life really is. During the beginning of the book, Remarque explains the boy's job, relating it to how hard it is to be in the war. Their was always something, not getting much sleep, relieving the front line, and they also didn't have much to eat. What was going to happen, is described good by the way that the author talked about the life of the soldiers, but the boys failed to realize reality.
Knowing myself, I know that in many of these scenarios I would not have been able to be as strong as these people are, and that I would have given up. Places in the book that show how strong many of these people are include when they first get there and can see babies being thrown into the fire yet keep going, when everyone had numbers tattooed on them, and when Elie’s block was running to the new camp. When the men are separated and sent to the left, the path that they have to take to the barracks leads them past the crematorium. Within the fire pits they are walking towards are children and babies being thrown into the fires to burn (Wiesel 32). Upon seeing this, I would have found a way for me to end my life, just so that I did not have to witness it happening anymore; I definitely would not have been able to handle a situation as such, which proves the people in this camp are stronger mentally than I may ever be.When everyone gets a number tattooed onto them, this is the exact moment that everyone lost their individuality (Wiesel 42). They had their names taken away from them, and they were no longer themselves, but a number. I can not stand the idea of just being a number and not being myself, so for this to happen to me, I probably would have cracked and gone insane. I consider myself to be a pretty tolerant person, but you can not take my name or who I am, and that is what they
Sometimes a loss of innocence through contact with evil and life experiences leads to maturity. It helps one see the world for what it really is and gives a shot of reality instead of just living in a dream world. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout’s early childhood innocence is lost as she becomes a near grown up. She starts to see Maycomb in a different light and learns to accept people as they truly are instead of what she thought they were. This is because she comes in contact with racial prejudice, Boo Radley and she real people of Maycomb.
When spending time as a prisoner, many things come to mind. How to achieve survival, when is the next shipment of food coming, why is the only person who will keep their promise the man holding me behind bars? In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie is taken from his hometown and placed in Auschwitz to do hard labour until he is transferred to the Buna prison camp. While in Buna, Elie works until the end of WWII. During the time Night takes place, Elie is 15 years of age, a 10th grader. When put in Auschwitz, Elie has only his father even though on arrival, he was also with his mother and two sisters. During this “[s]lim novel of terrifying power” (New York Times 2008) Elie has his coming of age moment along with some questions and a very powerful statement that “[n]ever shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself [sic].”. (Wiesel 34). Elie
Viktor Frankl's concept regarding survival and fully living was developed through his observations and experiences in the concentration camps. He used his psychiatric training to discern the meanings of observations and to help himself become a better person. He uses analysis to develop his own concepts and describes them in steps throughout the book. When the prisoners first arrived at the camp most of them thought they would be spared at the last moment. The prisoners believed they had a chance of surviving, but this belief was eventually eliminated and it was at this time when the prisoners began to learn how to survive by using their internal strength. A sense of humor had emerged among the prisoners. This humor helped to get through some difficult situations they faced. Viktor also observed how much a person could really endure and still live. Even though the prisoners could not clean their teeth and were deprived of warmth and vitamins, they still were able to survive. The sores and abrasions on their hands did not suppurate despite the dirt that gathered on them from the hard labor. The challenge of staying alive under these wretched conditions was to have and maintain strong internal strength. During the time he spent in the camps, Viktor learned what was needed to survive and how to keep his internal strength despite his weakening external strength. During the second stage of Viktor's psychological reaction, prisoners lost their sense of feeling and emotion toward events that would be emotional to people outside the camps. This was a result of the violent environment, which consisted of beatings of prisoners and the death of many others. The prisoners could no longer feel any disgust or horr...
In his book Night Mr. Elie Wiesel shares his experiences about the camps and how cruel all of the Jews were treated in that period. In fact, he describes how he was beaten and neglected by the SS officers in countless occasions. There are very few instances where decent humans are tossed into certain conditions where they are treated unfairly, and cruel. Mr. Wiesel was a victim of the situation many times while he was in the camps. Yet he did not act out, becoming a brute himself, while others were constantly being transformed into brutes themselves. Mr. Wiesel was beaten so dreadfully horrible, however, for his safety, he decided to not do anything about it. There were many more positions where Mr. Wiesel was abused, malnourished, and easily could have abandoned his father but did not.
In the story, each character's mental and physical health changes, whether it is prominently obvious or not. Their health declines – whether it be a rapid decline, as in the father's case, or a graduating descent, like the the rest of the family – and they become older and less attached to the real world, more attached to each other. They retain their habits from the camp and it affects the way that they live amongst other people, in the outside world. The permanence of the changes is evident in each character and will strongly affect the way they live the rest of their life from that point.
Through segregation, loss of identity, and abuse, Wiesel and the prisoners around him devolve from civilized human beings into savage animals. The yellow stars begin separation from society, followed by ghettos and transports. Nakedness and haircuts, then new names, remove each prisoner’s identity, and physical abuse in the form of malnourishment, night marches, and physical beatings wear down prisoners. By the end of Night, the prisoners are ferocious from the experiences under German rule and, as Avni puts it, “a living dead, unfit for life” (Avni 129). Prisoners not only revert to animal instincts, but experience such mental trauma that normal life with other people may be years away.
This is Especially because I love dangerous and intenseful books which made this book a perfect match. I had originally not fully understood the Holocaust, and what people had to deal with. It is because of this book I have truly learned all of the facts. Number The Stars is a book that I enjoyed reading and recommend to anyone who would like to learn more about the Holocaust. The book starts off with Annemarie and Ellen Rosen running home from school. Two german soldiers stop tham and start interrogating the girls like they did something wrong just by running. They did it was a rule that all Jewish people must not run or ride their bicycles. The Nazi soldiers are putting strict rules on all jews until one day. One day can change everything even family. Peter, Annemarie's brother got taken away for buying bread and is now at a concentration camp. When I read this sentence I freaked out. “Uncle rushed in and told us that Pater was taken on the train to the camps, my heart fell (Lowry 140).This is just one one piece of evidence that made my heart drop. The book grabs the reader so much and puts the reader in the characters shoes that I was upset that Peter was dead. I can not even Imagine how Annemarie feels. As Annemarie would say “Past the Border is freedom, but there are many problems along the way” (Lowry 175). Annemarie and Ellen must hide and secretly escape Denmark before they are all dead. I should not tell to much more until you read it for yourself. In the beginning of the book you will be able to see the transition and progression of the further stages of genocide in the
Prisoners and Jews taken during the war were forcibly relocated to areas with “no prepared lodging or sanitary facilities and little food for them” (Tucker). Often said the people were simply being held prisoner, many of them died; some from the brutality of the German soldiers and others through methods for mass killing (Tucker). The labor camps in the novel are based off of this concept; people being taken to an area with poor treatment and then being killed. Towards the beginning of the novel, June believes students who fail the trial go to labor camps and are never seen again (Lu 8). Later in the novel, Day enlightens June about the labor camps by telling her “the only labor camps are the morgues in hospital basements” (Lu 205). In both the labor camps featured in Legend and World War II prison camps, the people are told they are being taken away when in reality they are killed. Furthermore, in the Nazi Germany prison camps the people were living in poor conditions up until their death, similar to the individuals in the novel who were experimented on for the benefit of the military. The portrayal of labor camps as similar to wartime prison camps points out the brutality of the government towards its citizens, as well as, the way leaders tell lies to cover their unethical
When this story is viewed through Sigmund Freud’s “psychoanalytic lens” the novel reveals itself as much more than just another gory war novel. According to Sigmund Freud psychology there are three parts of the mind that control a person’s actions which are the id, ego, and superego. Psychoanalysis states that there are three parts of the human mind, both conscious and subconscious, that control a person’s actions. The Id, ego, and