Chattahoochee River
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Giving to charity
For me the most upsetting part of the chapter is when they are ridding through the German town and the townspeople throw bread to taunt the Jews. People begin to kill each other. When Elie has a flash back to the woman in Paris throwing money to the children and watching them beat each other she is almost taking pleasure in being superior. It's so weird that people don't always do the right thing for the right reasons. People like to feel superior to others and their circumstances . The townspeople didn't throw the bread to help the Jews they did if to taunt them. There is no empathy there.
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The townspeople felt so superior that even they considered the Jews animals, and participated in their dehumanization. It's upsetting to see this treatment in war, and even more upsetting to see it after the war, like in the case of the woman in Paris.
ReplyDeleteI agree, especially for people who have low self-esteem they feel the need to step on others, or in this case watch others suffer, so they can feel satisfaction and superiority.
ReplyDeleteOne part of humanity that is just so disturbing is the need for people to be better, to be superior. Everyone wants money and fame and this woman disturbingly finds it acceptable to "give to charity" even if it means watching people fight over it. At the same time it's sickening how the people react to the bread that is thrown at them, one boy beat his father to death for a scrap of bread. But I guess that's just what starvation does to you. You would do anything to survive right?
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