Selfishness, in some instances, can be a virtue. Regardless of the situation, it is essential to our survival. Without the selfishness that comes from survival, we cannot protect those whom we love far more than ourselves. In the texts read in this unit, “Is Survival Selfish” by Lane Wallace, and “Night” by Elie Wiesel the authors discuss their own feelings of “selfishness” in their hard times. Both texts lead me to the conclusion that survival requires some amount of selfishness, selfishness, however, is not always a bad thing.
When we are put into a situation where yourself and those around you are in danger, your instinct is to save yourself and if you can, the others around you. Depending on whether or not you can hold it together or fall apart in a crisis also depends on whether or not saving your own life is bad. Just as Lane Wallace said in “Is Survival Selfish” on page 320 of our textbooks, “But while we laud those who sacrifice themselves in an
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Regardless of the situation, everyone should think about the others around them and put their needs before their own. Their survival and the survival of those around them depends on the selflessness of each person. Just as Lane Wallace said on page 318 of our textbook, “A guy who provides survival training for pilots told me once that the number one determining factor for survival is simply whether people hold it together in a crisis or fall apart.” Those who hold it together in a crisis, and manage saving those around them, are selfless. To be selfish in a crisis would be to only hold it together for yourself, but to be selfless in a crisis, would be to hold it together for those around you and yourself. While it depends on the circumstances, survival of those around you requires selfishness, and that is far more important than being selfish in a
Speeches are given for a purpose. Whether it is for persuasion, or education, or even entertainment, they all target certain parts of people’s minds. This speech, The Perils of Indifference, was given by Elie Wiesel with intention to persuade his audience that indifference is the downfall of humanity, and also to educate his audience about his conclusions about the Holocaust and the corresponding events. He was very successful in achieving those goals. Not only was the audience enlightened, but also President Bill Clinton, and the First Lady, Hillary Clinton, themselves were deeply touched by Wiesel’s words.
Since the publication of, Night by Eliezer Wiesel, the holocaust has been deemed one of the darkest times in humanity, from the eradication of Jewish people to killing of innocents. Wiesel was one of the Jewish people to be in the holocaust and from his experience he gave us a memoir that manages to capture the dark side of human nature in the holocaust. He demonstrates the dark side of human nature through the cruelty the guards treat the Jews and how the Jews became cold hearted to each other. Wiesel uses foreshadowing and imagery, and metaphors to describe these events.
In order to survive, people have been known to go to great lengths and to do
On 12 April 1999, Elie Wiesel gave a provocative and thought provoking speech, The Perils of Indifference, at the Millennium Lecture series that were held at the White House in Washington D.C. The goal of Wiesel’s speech was to open the audience’s eyes to the harmful effects of indifference to a suffering population, as well as to contemplate how not to let those types of atrocities happen in the new millennium. Wiesel’s dramatic account as a holocaust survivor aides in the success of his speech about indifference. “He was finally free, but there was no joy in his heart” (Wiesel, 1999). By utilizing Aristotle’s three appeals, Ethos, Logos, and Pathos, Wiesel created a successful argument against the dangers of indifference.
“The Perils of Indifference” In April, 1945, Elie Wiesel was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp after struggling with hunger, beatings, losing his entire family, and narrowly escaping death himself. He at first remained silent about his experiences, because it was too hard to relive them. However, eventually he spoke up, knowing it was his duty not to let the world forget the tragedies resulting from their silence. He wrote Night, a memoir of his and his family’s experience, and began using his freedom to spread the word about what had happened and hopefully prevent it from happening again.
It was selfish that Shlomo, Elie’s father, did not listen to his son when he asked his father to “…sell everything, to liquidate everything, and to leave...” (Wiesel, 9). Even though Elie plea was a necessary one, his father was selfish and decided to stay because of his human nature to cling to the location of his job, home, and family at the time. This selfish decision cost his life and brutally affected his entire family. Another reason I conclude that the human nature in the texts is that of a selfish one is due to examples in Night that Zalman, Elie, and the son to Rabbi Eliahu portray when faced with death. First, Zalman yelled: “ ‘I can’t go on. My stomach is bursting…’ ” (Wiesel, 86) which shows his lack of self will and his solitary concern for himself. Justly, Zalman was only concerned with himself before he was trampled making him selfish. Second, the son of Rabbi Eliahu subjected himself to his selfish human nature by leaving his father behind. Elie states, “He [son of Rabbi Eliahu] had felt his father growing weaker and…thought by this separation to free himself of a burden [Rabbi Eliahu] that could diminish his own chance for survival” (Wiesel, 91). If he had an ounce of selflessness in his body, he would have stayed behind to be with his father, but he didn’t. Son of Rabbi Eliahu thought it best to fend for himself and relieve himself of the
The theme of Night is resilience. To be resilient is to be strong and able to bounce back when things happen. Elie shows resilience many times throughout the course of Night, and some of these times included when Elie and his block are being forced to run to the new camp, when somebody attempts to kill him and when he loses his father to sickness. When Elie is with the group of people running to the new camp, he knows that he needs to persevere and be resilient, even when the person that he is talking to gives up (Wiesel 86). Elie tries to tell somebody that they need to keep going, and that it will not be much longer, but when they give up, Elie does not seem to pity the boy, and he stays strong. Somebody also attempted to strangle Elie while
The best teachers have the capabilities to teach from first hand experience. In his memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel conveys his grueling childhood experiences of survival to an audience that would otherwise be left unknown to the full terrors of the Holocaust. Night discloses mental and physical torture of the concentration camps; this harsh treatment forced Elie to survive rather than live. His expert use of literary devices allowed Wiesel to grasp readers by the hand and theatrically display to what extent the stress of survival can change an individual’s morals. Through foreshadowing, symbolism, and repetition, Wiesel’s tale proves that the innate dark quality of survival can take over an individual.
Despite the horrible concentration camp in Night “by Elie Wiesel”, the family dynamics are hard, but remain in support of each “other”. Finding oneself without support in a difficult situation would be really upsetting. In the book the Night by Elie Wiesel, he is saying that family is important when there are rough times. Eliezer is in a concentration camp in Auschwitz and in Buchenwald. He and his father are going through a rough time trying to survive in the camp and that they need to stick together to survive as a family of two. The idea that family should never lose hope, especially in a rough time is demonstrated when (. That families should support each other no matter what. Families should always think of what is best for the whole
If a person had to choose between their life and someone else’s, they’d choose to be the ones to live. Selfishness is a terrible thing that can cause families to fight, it can cause wars, or the death of someone to spare one’s own life. Night by Elie Wiesel, shows many examples of selfishness. Sons leave their fathers to save their own lives, reluctantly feed their dying father and even kill just for a piece of bread. Humans are inherently selfish, it’s a personality trait that doesn’t care about relatives or lovers or anyone else.
”Lie down on it! On your belly! I obeyed. I no longer felt anything except the lashes of the whip. One! Two! He took time between the lashes. Ten eleven! Twenty-three. Twenty four, twenty five! It was over. I had not realized it, but I fainted” (Wiesel 58). It was hard to imagine that a human being just like Elie Wiesel would be treating others so cruelly. There are many acts that Elie has been through with his father and his fellow inmates. Experiencing inhumanity can affect others in a variety of ways. When faced with extreme inhumanity, The people responded by becoming incredulous, losing their faith, and becoming inhumane themselves.
Elie Wiesel writes about his personal experience of the Holocaust in his memoir, Night. He is a Jewish man who is sent to a concentration camp, controlled by an infamous dictator, Hitler. Elie is stripped away everything that belongs to him. All that he has worked for in his life is taken away from him instantly. He is even separated from his mother and sister. On the other side of this he is fortunate to survive and tell his story. He describes the immense cruel treatment that he receives from the Nazis. Even after all of the brutal treatment and atrocities he experiences he does not hate the world and everything in it, along with not becoming a brute.
The holocaust was a tragical point in history. About six million Jews were slaughtered for no reason at all. Many innocent women, men, and children were killed by the dozens everyday. They were taken from their homes and sent to concentration camps and ghettos. In the concentration camps they were either put to work or killed. Survival was not in everybody’s hands. They had to rise above and do everything they can to survive. There were many who survived, who still stand today telling their stories. Elie Wiesel’s book Night, was a first hand account of the holocaust. In his book he talks about he experience during the holocaust. There were many methods of survival for the victims during the holocaust. Wiesel and other survivors who were interviewed
Even forms of human beings preforming selfless acts derives from ones desire to help others, which in a way makes that person feel importance. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, better known as Mother Teresa, devoted her life to helping those in great need. To many these acts may appear as selfless and gallant acts that are not performed by anyone with any type of ego. Yet when taking a psychological look at why she performed such acts they may appear a somewhat more for herself. Every time anyone does anything, even when for someone else, they are doing it for some type of feeling that they experience. With the holiday season approaching, there will be a specific emphasis on giving unlike any other time of the year. We give yes to show gratitude for someone we love, but also to experience the joy in seeing someone enjoy something they them self-caused. Even while being selfless humans have the unique ability to still be doing something that involves caring for them self. This outlook toward the human condition completely debunks Wolf’s claim that “when caring about yourself you are living as if you are the center of the universe.” When choosing to do anything positive or negative, for others or for yourself, you are still taking your self-interest into consideration, making it
In the informational text “Is Survival Selfish?” Lane Wallace claims that there are different situation that determines how someone would act during a survival situation. Whether someone should save themselves or jump into the front line to save others is all up to whether or not the situation and their instinct allows. In a situation where saving yourself is the only choice, it is not selfish, but rather smart. During the mountain climbing incident, Yates was unable to save his friend so he “ended up cutting the rope to Simpson to save himself. Miraculously, Simpson survived the 100 foot fall and eventually made his way down the mountain. But Yates was criticized by some for his survival decision, even though the alternative would have almost