Forgiveness In The Sunflower By Simon Weisenthal

846 Words2 Pages

Simon Weisenthal has composed a novel that presents readers with a difficult set of questions that leaves them thinking for hours on end. He had been trapped in a room with a repenting murderer and is begged for forgiveness. He leaves with no response, but is tortured by his conscious as he thinks whether his actions were acceptable. The Sunflower tests its readers personality as they are asked to put themselves in Mr. Weisenthal’s position in that dark, suffocating room. Forgiveness is dependent on the reader’s personal experiences, personality, and attitude towards the criminal. But most of all, forgiveness should be genuine. In regards to the horrors of the Holocaust, the three topics of forgiving, forgetting, and remembering can be quite …show more content…

HIs silence, I believe, was the best thing Simon could have done for Karl at that moment. The silence he provided him let the SS man think about whatever he needed. It gave him time to reminisce about his life overall, not just his foolish mistakes. Many of the responders who reviewed Simon’s story stated that he was not entitled to forgiving the SS man. I agree, since Simon may not have experienced the same emotions that the little boy suffered through. Simon never met the little boy nor did he know him personally, therefore he has no idea as to whether the little boy would forgive or not. Due to Karl’s actions, the little boy will never experience the little things that make life worth living, like going to school, falling in love, and growing elderly. The people Karl affected are gone and will never have the opportunity to hear his apologetic words. In regards to every event that occurred, we must remember what every individual experienced during the Holocaust. Their sufferings and the culprit must be remembered. The hatred felt between all races must not be forgotten, for it will reoccur once again.With the circumstances that the Jewish community was given, I believe that Mr. Weisenthal should not change a single thing about his actions. He had the courage to walk away, and although these memories haunted him until his very last moment, he should

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Simon Wiesenthal's The Sunflower

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the symposium section, Abraham Joshua Heschel quoted, “No one can forgive crimes committed against other people. It is therefore preposterous to assume that anybody alive can extend forgiveness for the suffering of any one of the six million people who perished.” (171). Simon Wiesenthal would possibly never forgive the SS officer because he doesn’t represents to those who suffer and died by the SS officers because he is just one jewish person out of many different jews that died. At that point, Simon Wiesenthal does not represent the rest of the jews and other Holocaust

    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

  • The Art Of Forgiveness In Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Art of Forgiveness Most runaway youth are homeless because of neglect, abuse and violence, not because of choice. Lily Owens is the protagonist in the novel, Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk. Kidd, is no different. Lily is a fourteen year old girl still grieving over her mother's death. T. Ray, a man who has never been able to live up to the title of a father, due to years of abuse, has not made it any easier.

    Read More

  • Morals and Forgiveness in Simon Wiesenthal's The Sunflower

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower, he recounts his incidence of meeting a dying Nazi soldier who tells Simon that he was responsible for the death of his family. Upon telling Simon the details, Karl asks for his forgiveness for what he helped accomplish. Simon leaves Karl without giving him an answer. This paper will argue that, even though Karl admits to killing Simon’s family in the house, Simon is morally forbidden to forgive Karl because Karl does not seem to show genuine remorse for his committed crime and it is not up to Simon to be able to forgive Karl for his sins. This stand will be supported by the meaning of forgiveness, evidence from the memoir, quotes from the published responses to Simon’s moral question, and arguments from Thomas Brudholm, Charles Griswold, and Trudy Govier. The possibly raised objection, for this particular modified situation, of forgiveness being necessary to move on from Desmond Tutu will be countered with the logic of needing to eventually find an end somewhere.

    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 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

  • The Assault by Harry Mulisch

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Harry Mulisch’s novel The Assault, the author not only informs society of the variance in perception of good and evil, but also provides evidence on how important it is for an innocent person experiencing guilt to come to terms with their personal past. First, Mulisch uses the characters Takes, Coster, and Ploeg to express the differences in perspective on the night of the assault. Then he uses Anton to express how one cannot hide from the past because of their guilt. Both of these lessons are important to Mulisch and worth sharing with his readers.

    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

  • Lasting Effects of the Holocaust

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Holocaust was a very impressionable period of time. It not only got media attention during that time, but movies, books, websites, and other forms of media still remember the Holocaust. In Richard Brietman’s article, “Lasting Effects of the Holocaust,” he reviews two books and one movie that were created to reflect the Holocaust (BREITMAN 11). He notes that the two books are very realistic and give historical facts and references to display the evils that were happening in concentration camps during the Holocaust. This shows that the atrocities that were committed during the Holocaust have not been forgotten. Through historical writings and records, the harshness and evil that created the Holocaust will live through centuries, so that it may not be repeated again (BREITMAN 14).

    Read More

  • Should We Remember The Holocaust

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    We need to remember the Holocaust because of all the Jewish people who died and the people who tried to save them. In the book “Book Thief”, the family risked their lives to help one of their friends who was Jewish. If the Nazis found out about the Jewish person in their basement they would take the whole family to the death camp with the Jewish friend. Also in the “Boys who challenged Hitler”, a group of boys who lived in Denmark, risked their Life’s to save Jewish people by putting them on rafts to float over to Sweden. They did that because Sweden was a free country and the Nazi’s did not have control over them.

    Read More

  • The Holocaust: Superiority And Discrimination In The Holocaust

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    Because of the length of the war and the devastation of this genocide, Germany will forever be remembered for the Holocaust and the effect it had on multiple people groups. This event sparked from the idea of absolute supremacy and would continue until the damage was complete. People’s views of the German population and the Jewish people alike will be changed, and the Holocaust forever remembered as one of the largest racist genocides in

    Read More

  • Response To The Sunflower

    479 Words  | 1 Pages

    Thank you Mr. Wiesenthal for letting me be able to read and respond to your book The Sunflower. The Sunflower has showed me how ruthless it was for Jewish people in the Holocaust. In your book Karl, an SS solider, tries to get your forgiveness for the wrong he has done to the Jewish population. For a person to ask for forgiveness means that they have realized that they have done wrong and want to repent for their mistakes. The big question in your book was “What would you do?” I would’ve done exactly what you did I wouldn’t have granted the solider my forgiveness because he didn’t deserve it.

    Read More

  • Forgiveness In The Sunflower

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    The position to choose between forgiving one’s evil oppressor and letting him die in unrest is unlike any other. The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal explores the possibilities and limitations of forgiveness through the story of one Jew in Nazi Germany. In the book, Wiesenthal details his life in the concentration camp, and the particular circumstance in which a dying Nazi asks him for forgiveness for all the heinous acts committed against Jews while under the Nazi regime. Wiesenthal responds to this request by leaving the room without giving forgiveness. The story closes with Wiesenthal posing the question, “What would you have done?” Had I been put in the position that Wiesenthal was in, I would ultimately choose to forgive the Nazi on the basis

    Read More

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

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    One must understand the effects of the war on the morality of humans - everyone is fighting for survival. With these extenuating factors and wartime conditions, the narrator must forgive the dying Nazi. Karl is honest in his desperate plea for forgiveness. Therefore, the narrator should allow Karl his temporary forgiveness until God and the ones sinned upon can make their personal decision of whether his sins are indeed justifiable.

    Read More

  • The Quest for Atonement in Ian McEwan's Atonement

    1526 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ian McEwan illustrates a profound theme that builds details throughout the novel Atonement, the use of guilt and the quest for atonement are used with in the novel to convey the central dynamic aspect in the novel. McEwan constructs the emotion of guilt that is explored through the main character, Briony Tallis. The transition of child and entering the adult world, focus on the behavior and motivation of the young narrator Briony. Briony writes passages that entail her attempt to wash away her guilt as well find forgiveness for her sins. In which Briony ruined the lives and the happiness of her sister, Cecilia, and her lover Robbie. The reality of the events, attempts to achieve forgiveness for her actions. She is unable to understand the consequences of the actions as a child but grows to develop the understanding of the consequence with age. McEwan exemplifies an emotional novel that alters reality as he amplifies the creative acts of literature. In this essay I will be arguing that, the power of guilt prevents people from moving on from obstacles that hold them in the past.

    Read More

More about Forgiveness In The Sunflower By Simon Weisenthal

Open Document