At the start of the book, the residents of Sighet live relatively happily, oblivious to the approaching storm. Moch’e the Beadle practices the cabbala, with, “dreaming eyes” (13), living his life by his own terms. His eyes are his distinguishing factor; they show his hope for the future, his love of life, and his own freedom. Moch’e’s eyes seperate him from the rest of the town, elevating him to a model of self-esteem, and a confident, independent person. However, the German cruelty to the foreign Jews changes Moch’e; “There was no longer any joy in his eyes” (17).
By subjecting him to horror and fear, they removed the parts of Moch’e that made him Moch’e. When Moch’e lost his dignity, he lost himself.
The horrifying part of Moch’e’s experience is the Gestapo; they acted, “without passion, without haste” (16).
Their apathy towards their ‘job’ turns them into monsters. The inhuman act of murdering hundreds of people in cold blood was made even more heartless by feeling no emotion about it; how could anyone murder, slaughter babies, kill randomly, without a single thought? During the middle of the book, the prisoners start to lose hope, and they begin to fall, one by one. Elie’s father loses his strength quickly, “his eyes [grew] dim” (46) almost immediately after arriving. The horrors which he had seen were easily enough to crush the spirit of a former community leader. His disbelief of the horrors he saw questioned the very basis of his soul, and he began to despair. His father’s eyes soon become, “veiled with despair” (81), as he loses hope for survival.
The Essay on Fenton Hope Work People
In today's society, a job is necessary. Many people get up every morning hating what they do, but as the working class people we have to learn to live with it. Not everything we do we will like. Fenton is a worker for Seaboard World Airlines. He's an everyday person that wakes up every morning to go to work. The difference between other people and Fenton is the fact he hates his job. I say he ...
The despair of camp life shrouds the human within, showing only another cowed prisoner. Elie’s father no longer can see hope, having his vision clouded by cruelty and hate. Elie’s father is eventually overwhelmed by despair; he, “would not get up. He knew that it was useless” (113).
The Nazis crushed his soul, killed his family, stole his home, and eventually took his life; this treatment destroyed the person inside the body. He could no longer summon the strength to stay alive, so he gave up, and collapsed. By the end, the only emotion left among the prisoners is fear. The prisoners desire food more than anything, two cauldrons of soup are there for the taking, “but who would dare?” (66).
The prisoners are crushed by the fear of death or pain, and drop their hope and desire, having lost the last vestiges of humanity. Without their humanity, the only thing that matters to them is satisfaction of bodily requirements, and the prevention of pain. Idek commands, “Look me in the eye!” (66), attempting a further measure of control over Eliezer. As eyes are the window to a man’s soul, so Idek attempts to look into Elie, gaining control over the shreds of humanity which are left. If Elie had looked back at Idek through his eyes, he would have admitted one more inferiority to his tormenter. Above all, the prisoners fear death: Eliezer fears, “a silent death, suffocation” (100).
Elie fights the man suffocating him like a beast.
The cruelty, hatred and inhumanity he suffers destroys his humanity, leaving him to fight for survival. When basic rights are denied to people, they lose more than that; they lose their individuality, their morals, their personality, their fundamentals, their values, their mind, and eventually, their life. The malice the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis reduced them, in many cases, to the level of beasts; men fought each other for bread, men feared the promise of death, and men were killed wantonly. The cruelty reduced the Nazis to the level of animals as well; they slew without emotion, which only animals can do. Hatred and cruelty, inhuman qualities, destroy the humanity of both the oppressor and the oppressed..
The Essay on Universe S Indifference To Human Man Death Existentialist
Existentialism in American Literature "I must find a truth that is true for me, the idea for which I can live or die," (Sfren Kierkegaard). Being the first acknowledged existentialist, Kierkegaard s ideas set the standards. Existentialist ideas are based mainly on the individual, his plights, and his confrontations. Ernest Hemingway, another existentialist and author of "A Clean Well-lighted ...
