Chattahoochee River
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Inevitable Fate
I
think the people of Sighet are very well aware of the war going on
right in their backyards, but stay calm and composed, going about the
days as usual because they've already given up hope. They seem to be too
scared to admit that their lives are in danger and they refuse to act
before it's too late. They say Moishe is a mad man and disregard his
warning, possibly because they are too fearful to take such drastic
measures such as fleeing or fighting back, and so they resign themselves
to the power of the German officers. However, whether the Jews met
their fate because they were fearful, ignorant, or unbelieving, in the
end it doesn't matter, because they all suffered the same demise.
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I can see where you are coming from, but I don't think they were giving up their hope, I think they were just finding a way to make it through the whole thing. They stay composed because it is a way to survive, a way to keep hope alive, not give up on it.
ReplyDeleteMikaela I agree with what you said. I believe this was a technique used by the Jews to cope through the situation. Their optimism for a positive outcome kept them from leaving when the situation got worse. Hope was their last option when they were filled with the fear because of all these atrocities happening around them.
ReplyDeleteMany say that when there is a conflict, there are the options of "fight, flight, or freeze." I agree with you, Kingsly, in that the conflict that arose left them to fearful to flee or fight back, so they instead stayed and seemed to submit to the German officers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Kingsly, in that that they masked their denial with naive, transparent optimism. In the end reality tears off their masks by exposing the horror that was about to become them, and though I also see why people think the Jews were hopeful and optimistic about their fate, they continually denied the circumstances around them - I almost get a sense of frustration when Elie describes it- which I interpret as giving up on hope.
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