Kaddish For An Unborn Child Analysis

Society’s unjust and cruel treatments acts a form of control, also known as oppression. Broken Glass by Arthur miller and Kaddish for an Unborn Child by Imre Kertez express the effects of the Holocaust’s oppression in the form of anti-Semitism on their characters. Imre Kertez delves into the traumatized aftermath of surviving a concentration camp, while Arthur Miller focuses on the influences the Holocaust can have thousands of miles away in North America. Sylvia in Broken Glass becomes paralysed after seeing the tragedies in the papers, contributing more problems to her marriage, which overall tests her character. Comparatively, Kertez's narrator explains why he refuses to have children in a world that could produce the horrors of the Holocaust, …show more content…

Through this seclusion of the outside world, one is forced to dwell strictly upon themselves—their past memories of suffering and pain will continuously repeat, forcing one to relive their own tragic history. The narrator is a prime example of encompassing oneself with the grievances of the past: “During those years I also became aware of the nature of my work, which in essence is nothing other than to dig, dig further and to the end, the grave that others started to dig for me in the clouds, the winds, the nothingness.” (Kertez 117). After constantly encountering anti-Semitic oppression, the narrator persistently wrote his thoughts of these persecutions. This further deepened his anguish as it arose the pain of the past, bringing him ever bleakly closer to his demise. The original quote elucidates this concept of the past harming one to the point where death is the only escape: “...more darkly now stroke your strings, then as smoke you will rise into air / then a grave you will have in the clouds there one lies unconfined.” (Wilkinson). The narrator failed to cope with the horrific memories the Holocaust delivered through his attempt in writing, which ultimately forced him to oppress himself. In other words, fearing the oppression of others cannot be escaped through dwelling in an isolated recount of its ramifications. Isolation will not cure the anguish of a catastrophe because it is a prison set for oneself by the horrors of their