The Cattle Car Complex By Thane Rosenbaum

Don’t let the clay dry out
Humanity has a collective memory, events that we all know of. We learn about these events in school, or through the conversations and stories we share with one another. But as those who experienced these memories first hand begin to pass, we are forced to attempt to keep these memories alive in a way that is true to the actual events. These memories become clay, moldable, changeable. The way we handle the clay changes it forever. This is why there is such an importance to the way things are taught. Because if the clay is handled wrong, the perception of our collective memory will never be the same. If an important event is degenerated to the point where it is only dates and numbers, the meaning is lost. This dilapidated

This task was taken on by Thane Rosenbaum, in his short story “the Cattle Car Complex,” and he was remarkably successful. Interestingly, “the Cattle Car Complex” is a story about the holocaust, but does not highlight the life of a holocaust survivor. In “the Cattle Car Complex,” a man named Adam, the son of two holocaust survivors, gets stuck in an elevator, and because of his background, he reacts in a way you would not expect from someone who themselves did not experience the holocaust first hand. Adam panics, and through this panic is brought back to the heinous

The strongest window to the theme of “the Cattle Car complex” is a quote saying, “The Holocaust fades like a painting exposed to too much sun.” (Rosenbaum, 5) When a painting is exposed to sunlight, the colors begin to fade. In most paintings, the color adds to the message being portrayed in the painting. When a painting uses darker tones, the message is dark. When this detail is faded, the entire meaning of the painting is changed. In this quote, the holocaust is being compared to this, and similarly, when the occurrences of the holocaust are told in a way that trivializes them, the message of the event is changed, or no longer present. We trivialize the events of the holocaust by stripping it of important elements until all that is left are dates and numbers. This belittling of the information destroys the meaning, and takes away lessons we are left with after something like the holocaust. The importance is stripped from the event. This is why it is necessary that while teaching of the holocaust the important elements are not taken away.
Another quote that gives