Viktor Frankl begins by informing us about his arrival to the camp as an official prisoner of Auschwitz. He gets into great detail about the horrors of the camp, and how it greatly affects your state of mind. He uses his story of the concentration camp he attended to let readers see his psychological point of view on his surroundings and the atmosphere around him. Frankl’s story was set to answer one of the many unsolved questions that just so happens to be asked in the Nostra Aetate. That question was: “What is the meaning and purpose of life?” Frankl’s story about his experience inside the concentration camp attempts to answer just that. One of the quotes he wrote about this topic was "We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a value; and (3) by suffering." He uses his knowledge and understanding to give us techniques and information on exactly why it’s important for us to discover the true meaning of life, and why we should not hesitate on pursuing it. Frankl also explains that the meaning of life is simply just living. I agree with this statement because each and every second of your life gives people a true sense of what it means to live. I also believe that it comes down to how determined you are to find it. Motivation is key as well, but whether or not you are ready for the road ahead is the real question. Some choose to let nature takes it course, while others try to steer nature into a more detailed, mapped route. While as the men in the concentrations camps probably prayed to just A section that stood out to me was when he described the phases men went through as they watched others be tortured and killed. I find it interesting how many emotions and psych... ... middle of paper ... ...nd have the potential to endure more stress than others. The mind is a very powerful and unique thing and has the ability to learn and expand its knowledge when needed to. Not only can it learn things, but it could also fail you. Without proper care and strength, the mind will eventually run low on fuel causing it to break down. The more you learn and take care of it, the stronger it gets, you control how much power you give your mind. I think within the book Frankl tries to have you understand what you live for and why exactly you're on this earth. One of the most famous and popular quotes "Which does not kill me, makes me stronger", is a very important and inspiring quote. Although some of us have the constant struggle with everyday life situations, those which you stay strong through teach you valuable and important messages to prepare you for future experiences.
Man's Search for Meaning is a book written in 1946 by Viktor Frankl. Frankl is a holocaust survivor who elaborates on his experiences of being an Auschwitz concentration camp inmate during World War II. Being that Frankl is also a trained psychologist, he goes into detail about his psychotherapeutic method, which involved analyzing a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then imagining it being reality. According to Frankl, longevity was explained by the way a prisoner imagined how the future affected his durability of life. The book proposes to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One establishes Frankl's dissection of his experiences in the concentration camps, while part two touches on his theory of logotherapy.
In Primo Levi’s Survival In Auschwitz, an autobiographical account of the author’s holocaust experience, the concept of home takes on various forms and meanings. Levi writes about his experience as an Italian Jew in the holocaust. We learn about his journey to Auschwitz, his captivity and ultimate return home. This paper explores the idea of home throughout the work. As a concept, it symbolizes the past, future and a part of Levi’s identity. I also respond to the concept of home in Survival In Auschwitz by comparing it to my own idea and what home means to me – a place of stability and reflection that remains a constant in my changing life.
Primo Levi, in his novel Survival in Auschwitz (2008), illustrates the atrocities inflicted upon the prisoners of the concentration camp by the Schutzstaffel, through dehumanization. Levi describes “the denial of humanness” constantly forced upon the prisoners through similes, metaphors, and imagery of animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization (“Dehumanization”). He makes his readers aware of the cruel reality in the concentration camp in order to help them examine the psychological effects dehumanization has not only on those dehumanized, but also on those who dehumanize. He establishes an earnest and reflective tone with his audience yearning to grasp the reality of genocide.
Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz is a vivid and eloquent memoir of a Holocaust survivor from the largest concentration camp under German control in World War II. The original title in Italian is Se questo e un uomo, which translate to If This is A Man, alluding to the theme of humanity. The overall tone is calm and observational; rather than to pursue the reader, it is “to furnish documentation for a quiet study if certain aspects of the human mind” (Levi 10). The memoir is a testimony of Levi and the other prisoners’ survival at the Nazis’ systematic destruction attempts at the prisoners’ humanity. It was a personal struggle for prisoners, for individual survival, and struggle to maintain their humanity.
The Holocaust was one of the most horrifying crimes against humanity. "Hitler, in an attempt to establish the pure Aryan race, decided that Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma (Gypsies), and homosexuals amongst others were to be eliminated from the German population. One of his main methods of exterminating these “undesirables” was through the use of concentration and death camps. In January of 1941, Adolf Hitler and his top officials decided to make their “final solution” a reality. Their goal was to eliminate the Jews and the “impure” from the entire German population. Auschwitz was not only the largest concentration camp that carried out Hitler's “final solution,” but it was also the most extensive. It was comprised of three separate camps that encompassed approximately 25 square miles. Although millions of people came to Auschwitz, it is doubted that more than 120,000-150,000 ever lived there at any one time. (Encyclopedia of the Holocaust)
...ences the individuals dealt through in the Nazi concentration camps. He writes to avoid any personal bias, as he was a prisoner himself and emphasizes the notion that man has the ability to determine what will become of his life, as he himself was able to apply this thought while living three years in captivity. His notion of finding meaning in life becomes a key factor in survival, which was ultimately able to help him and help others under his teachings, to make it out from the camps alive with a positive attitude. The need for hope, gave him a purpose to keep fighting, although others became struck down with the thought of suicide. Though Victor E. Frankl faced many difficulties and challenges while in captivity and days following his release, he comes to the ultimate realization that life will never cease to have meaning, even when under the cruelest conditions.
The meaning of life is to find the meaning of life. Is it not? We all go through each day trying to figure out which road out the infinite amount of paths will lead us in a better direction where happiness is prominent and society is flawless. However, not every single human being is going to fit on that narrow, one-lane highway to success. Bad choices, accidents, fate, family matters, society, temptation, anger, rage, addiction, and loss of hope can all be deciding factors in opting to choose that wrong path to self-destruction. The adverse thing is, once you've traveled so far down the road, you get so discouraged that you feel like you can never turn back or make up for the "lost time."
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...
Wiesel includes these themes to help him fulfill his purpose for writing the memoir. He wants this specific work to give a true emotional story that reveals the truth about the Holocaust. The emotional story not only teaches the audience about the cruelty in the concentration camps, but also allows the audience to experience the Holocaust as the reader. On the other hand, Benigni’s purpose for Life is beautiful is not so much to explain how cruel concentration camps are, rather to give an audience a love story of two different people while briefly enlightening the audience about the prisons. Even though the film is not completely focused on the conditions of the prison it still teaches the audience historical elements. Both the memoir and the film explain the hard working conditions the prisoners are required work in, and the hard work they have to do. Also, they describe the crematorium as a place where people are burned if they are not capable of working (Benigni). Along with the hard working conditions, the Jews are treated as if they are animals. They are called dogs, and the S.S. soldiers do not treat them with respect. This dehumanization causes the prisoners to act like animals as explained by Elie Wiesel in Night. Relationships
A excruciating pain, like the loss of a family member or close friend, may cause a person to lose faith for better times in life. This particular source of pain was seen all too much during the Holocaust. Between eleven and seventeen million people lost their lives in concentration and work camps all across Europe including Frankl’s own family. For the ones that this tragedy directly affected, their past occasionally became their present and future: “To be sure, a human being is a finite thing, and his freedom is restricted. It is not freedom from conditions, but it is free to take a stand towards the conditions” (Frankl 130). Frankl explains that while people have the ability to change their outlook on their surroundings, it’s often difficult to escape the aftermath of horrific events from the past. Humans cannot control when, where, and how they were raised. All these factors play a crucial part in the development of one’s personality and behaviors. Your view on life can either help you progress or halt your success in finding your meaning. A person who is lost in their past will not glimpse into the possibilities of what the future hold for them. Instead they will only be in a continuous state of nihilism and lack the motivation to have any type of future at
Auschwitz was one of many concentration camps during the Holocaust; the only difference was that Auschwitz was the biggest and most brutal Nazi death camp that caused terror to millions of prisoners. Auschwitz was located near Oswiecim, Poland and stretched several miles long. Thousands of prisoners were held captive within Auschwitz and had no choice to obey the rules the SS men set for them. Those who did obey the rules were put to death instantly. Thousands of prisoners prayed that they would one day be set free; however, many prisoners spoke their last words within the barbed wires of Auschwitz.
In Victor Frankl's novel Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl discusses finding this magic in life in what he calls will-to-meaning. Frankl, a twentieth century psychiatrist, states that "life ultimately means taking responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual" (122). This concept is what he called will-to-meaning. Some forms of will-to-meaning are hunger, humiliation, fear, and deep anger at injustice (8). Some importance of will-to-meaning is that he had to find a sense of responsibility in his existence (9).
The meaning of life is a very confusing question but to be able to answer it you must realize that it differs for everyone. There is never only one real answer. Everyday it can change for each individual. Everyone has their own way of living; they have their own thoughts and beliefs so therefore each persons answer to the meaning of life will be their own private version.
I have always been to asking myself what is meaning of life? or what I supposed to do ? or what I have to achieve? . Meaning of life what 's you have been given? what you have given by different kind of human? Or what I believe or what I do not believe in life .Everybody have Meaning of life it depends between person to person, I found myself when I was young because my parents always talk about experience in their life.Throughout my entire life ,I have wondered about the significance meaning of life that has beneficial for the people, because the life is beginning odds and ending odds .Even though struggle of life, I believe meaning of life are ,regional ,ambition, participate ,achievement ,and happiness .Due to this, I
The meaning of life, defined by Victor E. Frankl, is the will to find your meaning in life. It is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. He believes that if you are approached with the question of “what is the meaning of my life” or in this case, “life is meaningless,” then you should reverse the question to that person asking the question. For example: What are you bringing to me? What are you as an individual contributing to this life? This forces the person in question to take a look at themselves and to ultimately be responsible. Frankl says that if you are a responsible member of society than the meaning of life transcends from yourself rather from your own psyche. He also says that if we for some reason cannot find meaning within ourselves it has to be from some outside source. This is referred to as service. And an example of this is love. Victor Frankl describes three ways in which we can discover the meaning of life; Creating work-doing a deed, experiencing something-someone, and by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.