Spencer King English 2120 Summer 1 Memory and Atonement One thing I noticed when reading The Emigrants is that three of the four major characters commit suicide. I’m going to focus on Dr. Henrey Selwyn and Paul Bereyter. I picked these two, because they have a couple things in common. First of all, both of their suicides were pretty symbolic and have a deeper meaning behind them in the way they were performed. Secondly, they both tended to gardens that were for a time very run-down, which is also symbolic. The gardens can be seen as the men making an attempt to atone for their earthly sins. Both characters carry a lot of pain from the memories of the wrong they believe they had wrought in regards to the Second World War and anti-Semitism. …show more content…
Selwyn, the life and death of Paul Bereyter is a lot more straightforward in terms of what he thought his sin to be. During WWII Bereyter fought in Germany’s military. He was in “motorized artillery, variously stationed in the Greater German homeland and in several countries that were occupied. He was in Poland, Belgium, France, the Balkans, Russia, and the Mediterranean and doubtless saw more than any heart or eye can bear.” (Pages 55-56) Paul was only one quarter Jewish, or as far as the Germans were concerned, three quarters Aryan. He was part of a group of men that were also not completely …show more content…
While being a part of the Nazi army is Bereyter’s sin, there are two major events within his life that make his sin an even greater one personally. First of all, would be the death of his father and mother. His father, “Theodor Bereyter died on Palm Sunday, 1936” (Page 53). The official “cause of death was given as heart failure” (Page 53), but this was caused by “fury and fear that had been consuming him ever since, precisely two years before his death, the Jewish families, resident in his home town of Gunzenhausen for generations had been the target of violent attacks.” (Page 53) His mother, Thekla Bereyter, lost his father’s emporium, because she was half Jewish and not allowed to own a business. She “had to sell it for next to nothing to Alfons Kienzle” (Page 54). She then “fell into a depression and died within a few weeks.” (Page 54) The second of these events would be the deportation of his wife, Helen Hollaender, and her mother. “there could be little doubt that Helen and her mother had been deported in one of those trains that left Vienna at dawn, probably to Theresienstadt in the first instance.” (Pages 49-50) No doubt “special trains” means they were taken to a concentration camp, where they most likely died. These events must have left Bereyter a broken man haunted by his past for the remainder of his life after the
The Great Migration started in 1910 and continued through 1930. It was a period in time which saw 1.6 million African Americans relocate from the southern states to the northern states(AAME). There are four main which contributed to this occurring. The first was better and more skilled job opportunities available in the north. Many blacks were not allowed to work or hold high paying jobs in the South. The second was the oppression of African Americans in the South. They were treated very poorly and were often victims of racism and crime at a much higher rate than in the Northern states. The third was they wanted to have the right to vote. The Jim Crow laws restricted African Americans from basic rights including voting, in the South, while
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.
“After 250 years of enslavement in America, African Americans were still terrorized in Deep South; they were pinned to the ghettos, overcrowded, overcharged, discriminated, and undereducated”. The best solution is to owe them reparations. To aid them out of their unjust inherit status. The novel is based on real life situations of many African Americans that had to face during slave, and post slave era in the United States of America. The purpose is to show that not having reparations for the African Americans lead to many downsides to the nation’s inequalities. In the novel “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, he uses just ethics and remorse obligation, to demonstrate the nation should to pay for the damage done to the black community.
Do you have a grandparent or great grandparent from another country? If you do, they might have come into the United States through Ellis Island. Ellis Island used to be a place where many people entered into the United States so they could establish themselves and their families here. Today, you can visit the Ellis Island Immigration Museum to see the path that those people (and possibly your ancestors) took to become american citizens. Ellis Island was an immigration station for millions of Americans who now have many ancestors here in America.
With the field of philosophy, the concept of "desert" suggests the status of deserving a particular response based upon prior action. The term is often invoked within conversations dealing with blame and justice. However, philosophers disagree on whether desert justifies responsive behaviors such as punishment or revenge. This debate is particularly significantly within the context of a legal system that purports to punish criminals in a manner that is consistent with their crimes.
The term “atonement” originates from the Greek word katallage which means “reconciliation, restoration to favor”. The HELPS Word Studies gives this definition, “reconciliation (restoration) as the resulting of Christ exactly (precisely) exchanging His righteousness (blood) for our guilt. During the Old Testament times, sin was only
In The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal wrote of an incident of the time he was a concentration camp inmate. He described life in the concentration camp, the continuous humiliations, the hunger, the illness, and the constant threat of death. Death was fearful, but death was not his only worry. When he was asked by a dying Nazi soldier for forgiveness, this tore him down, ultimately killing his heart and tearing him mentally apart. Having heard the first confession of a dying SS man, Weisenthal continued to be troubled by his refusal to give forgiveness. In the end of the book when he asked his readers what they would do in his situation, Weisenthal not only bore witness to a horrible event, but he invited all people to participate in the discussion of justice and forgiveness.
The Great Migration was a huge rural movement that occur in the southern United States, it was the movement of 6 million blacks. It began in the earlier 1900 all the way the 1970. The 14 states the blacks were moving from were from the south. The main states were Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The first big movement was between the 1910 and 1930s. There was around a little bit over 1.5 million people moving from rural areas to the industrial cities in the north.
In the book, the German soldiers went out of their way to make the Jews suffer. Why did the Solidiers do it? To begain the Soldiers didnt start off as this way ,but faced with German rule and wanting to portect themself they abandoned
In the different definitions, we are able to see the cause of suicide is usually not depression with an individual’s circumstances; but, deals with the individual’s mindset and place in society. Individuation and industrialization coincide with the fragmentation of society through the different types of suicides; for example, in Egoistic suicides the act of suicide happens for purely selfish reasons. Consequently, the number of suicides has shown to decrease during great political upheavals and crisis. Durkheim explains this idea with the example of France and Europe through 1848-49; this decrease of suicide might have to do with the drifting of civilian population during wartime. This increase of equality and freedom in the city areas has put a barrier between the individual and his purposes in society which then leads to changes in suicide
The government and media played a huge role in convincing people to emigrate just like in society today where they play a huge role in persuading people to commit certain actions. As citizens we look to the government for guidance, since they are in charge of our everyday lives and the knowledge we receive. They are our greatest sources of brainwashing. A great speaker and persuader can go very far in the actions they want to pursue. Take Hitler for example. He was crazed and everything he said was corrupt but somehow convinced everyone that he was right and superior. In this story, the government and media somehow convinced people suicide was acceptable and death could be sold at a local market. Time and time again our thoughts and outlooks are clouded by our wants. People prepared for death as if it was a departure to the Bahamas. People had everything they needed on Earth, yet wanted more. Larry visited the civic theater auditorium to play his electric guitar which would have been a dream if not for the mass suicide occurring outside. Eve used the entire shopping mall as her own private closet, only every girl's fantasy. Death was so widely promoted that suicide kits were eventually made, only that they were referred to as “going away kits”, which could be found at local Walmart’s and rite aids. The first kits made were head-sized plastic bag with a drawstring followed shortly by
In this paper I will argue that America should pay reparations to black communities that have suffered most from institutionalized racism. My view is not that reparations should be paid via checks mailed by the federal government, of an undeterminable sum, to families that are most eligible, but rather, through changes in policy. These policies would tackle racial inequality at it most obvious sources, the wage gap, the mistreatment of black Americans by our criminal justice system, quality of education, and the disparity in housing between black and white Americans.
Alongside a plot that deals with a series of unhappy events, Ian McEwan’s Atonement explores the concept of reality in the fragile equilibrium of human existence. McEwan’s mastery of narration helps to shape his reader’s comprehension that reality is subjective. McEwan’s employment of shifting focalization and presentation of a single event approached from several character perspectives and use of both third and first person narration all contribute to this conclusion.
Answer: When we talk about Christ’s atonement, we are talking about the sacrifice Jesus Christ made to overcome sin, adversity, and death. Christ’s atoning sacrifice took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. Jesus went to the cross paying the price for our sins. Matthew 26-27 talk about Gethsemane, the cross, and Jesus paying the price for our sin. A few other scripture references are Matthew 28:1-10, Romans 6:10, and Hebrews 9:26; 28; 10:10. Christ’s death was completely sufficient to overcome our sins. Due to the atonement we have victory in Christ Jesus.
Forgiveness is the act of releasing an offender of any wrong or hurt they may have caused you whether they deserve it or not. It is a decision to let go of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group of people. When we choose to forgive, we’re wiping the slate clean, cancelling a debt, or as I love to say, “Letting it go.” In the Bible, the Greek word for forgiveness literally means to “let it go.” This concept, “forgiveness,” is easier said than done. Majority of people find it very difficult to let go of offenses and hurts caused by others. I really do believe that most people desire to let it go, but we lack the knowledge of how to do it. As believers, we are instructed by God maintain an attitude of forgiveness.