Again, Elie's apathy is demonstrated when he's illustrating the hanging of the young man who was accused of stealing during the air raid. Elie openly admits that "the thousands of people who died in Auschwitz and Birkenau...no longer troubled [him]." After witnessing and enduring so much brutality, it almost seems as if Elie's completely lost his ability to feel compassion towards his fellow inmates, let alone his own father.
But that's where we see the complexities of Elie's character. Even as he admits to feeling contempt towards inmates who are being victimized by the SS soldiers, he still tries to teach his father how to march in step so that he can escape the beatings, and he still feels upset about the deaths of the falsely accused inmate and the "angelic" young pipel.
Though we may not be able to relate directly to Elie's situation, I think many of us can understand the conflicting emotions which dwell within him. A lot of times when a situation appears hopeless, it's easier, and perhaps even safer, to blame the victim. Some find it easier to blame the homeless for living on the streets, or to blame "promiscuous" women for being raped because in their minds, they must rationalize such irrational situations by forcing someone to be held accountable.
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not implying that we're all heartless people, or even that Elie is heartless. Obviously many of us don't agree with those prior assertions, but I'm just using them to illustrate the conflict of emotions that I observe within Elie. Even when we may blame victims for their hardship, it's still our innate desire to feel compassion for others, as Elie did towards the young pipel. And the fact that Elie still is able to feel this compassion in spite of all that's happened truly attests to the idea that compassion is a quintessential aspect of our humanity. At the end of the day, even when our brains may tell us to rationalize, our hearts still insist that we empathize.
Though we may not be able to relate directly to Elie's situation, I think many of us can understand the conflicting emotions which dwell within him. A lot of times when a situation appears hopeless, it's easier, and perhaps even safer, to blame the victim. Some find it easier to blame the homeless for living on the streets, or to blame "promiscuous" women for being raped because in their minds, they must rationalize such irrational situations by forcing someone to be held accountable.
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not implying that we're all heartless people, or even that Elie is heartless. Obviously many of us don't agree with those prior assertions, but I'm just using them to illustrate the conflict of emotions that I observe within Elie. Even when we may blame victims for their hardship, it's still our innate desire to feel compassion for others, as Elie did towards the young pipel. And the fact that Elie still is able to feel this compassion in spite of all that's happened truly attests to the idea that compassion is a quintessential aspect of our humanity. At the end of the day, even when our brains may tell us to rationalize, our hearts still insist that we empathize.
Okay I LOVE your post. Thank you for talking about all of this!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you related the blame the victim mentality to present day issues.
I especially was thinking about his relationship with his father. His anger at his father is sort of a blame the victim mentality. But honestly he was just frustrated I think because he was unable to help. He could not respond to his fathers beating with outrage at the officer. To do so could put him in danger, both by how it could possibly compel him to action and how the officer would respond (remember how the one took simply Elies silence as disrespect?). He likely was angry at himself to for being unable to do anything. He reassigned his anger to his father I believe as a means of protection. But he also was likely simply angry at his father for "causing him" this distress. (Sorry I tend to analyze characters very in-depth :P )
It is sad how such conditions could begin isolating Elie from the one person he has with him his father. I think of the two brothers he met earlier and how they lived for each other. In many horrendous situations, especially abuse-type, people find strength by being there for one another pushing forward together. The most torturous element to me of the imprisonment is how the Jews were turned against each other slowly putting up more and more walls looking out solely for themselves "just to survive". The sense of isolation would be incredible because everyone was so focused on simply keeping themselves alive. But by shutting others out you lose any meaning to living. By harboring anger towards his father as protection from getting hurt, he really is only hurting himself more because hardening your heart may seem like a good idea to survive but it ultimately lessens your ability to endure. To me this was a very sad turning point because from this point on he really is utterly alone just like all the other inmates because he has begun shutting off his compassion lost in his mind trying to survive.
Also you posted this at 2:25 in the morning??? :P
ReplyDeleteI really like how you highlighted this point because I feel like his through this chapter was very unempathic, until the young boy was hanged. To me, it seemed that when he had the ability to turn on and off his empathy because trying to feel sorry for all the killings would be exhausting and would ultimate ruin his chances of surviving.
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