Man’s Search for Meaning and Night
Holocaust Final Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl and Night by Elie Wiesel are both memoirs written by Jewish men telling their stories of survival in the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. Both men discuss their experiences in the camp and how their experiences influenced their lives. These books are excellent at conveying every emotion the two men face in their ordeal.
These great books have many similarities and differences.
Universal Themes
Man’s Search for Meaning and Night contain many similar major themes such as death, inhumanity and survival. Both men come to the realization that death is imminent. With death surrounding them, the men no longer feared death, they all had the mindset that soon they would all be dead. Frankl said, “This body here, my body, is really a corpse already.” (Frankl 30) Hundreds of people died every day in the concentration camps, to these men death meant nothing more than ceasing to exist.
Inhumanity is a huge and horrid theme in these stories. The people in these camps were subjected to verbal attacks, being beaten, whipped, shot, burned, gassed and pretty much anything else you can think of. The Jewish people were treated like they weren't even people, as they were often referred to as dogs or even swine! What is more humiliating than being assaulted physically, verbally, and even mentally. Frankl said in Man’s Search for Meaning, “The most painful part of the beatings is the insults they imply.” (Frankl 24) The beatings the prisoners took were malicious and probably stuck with them for the rest of their lives. “I no longer felt anything but the lashes of the whip… He took his time with the lashes. Only the first really hurt.” (Wiesel 57)
Obviously an important theme in these situations is survival. For the prisoners in the concentration camps every day was a fight to stay alive. Prisoners did what they had to in order to survive. Even killing themselves over a piece of bread, “In the wagon where to bread
These great books have many similarities and differences.
Universal Themes
Man’s Search for Meaning and Night contain many similar major themes such as death, inhumanity and survival. Both men come to the realization that death is imminent. With death surrounding them, the men no longer feared death, they all had the mindset that soon they would all be dead. Frankl said, “This body here, my body, is really a corpse already.” (Frankl 30) Hundreds of people died every day in the concentration camps, to these men death meant nothing more than ceasing to exist.
Inhumanity is a huge and horrid theme in these stories. The people in these camps were subjected to verbal attacks, being beaten, whipped, shot, burned, gassed and pretty much anything else you can think of. The Jewish people were treated like they weren't even people, as they were often referred to as dogs or even swine! What is more humiliating than being assaulted physically, verbally, and even mentally. Frankl said in Man’s Search for Meaning, “The most painful part of the beatings is the insults they imply.” (Frankl 24) The beatings the prisoners took were malicious and probably stuck with them for the rest of their lives. “I no longer felt anything but the lashes of the whip… He took his time with the lashes. Only the first really hurt.” (Wiesel 57)
Obviously an important theme in these situations is survival. For the prisoners in the concentration camps every day was a fight to stay alive. Prisoners did what they had to in order to survive. Even killing themselves over a piece of bread, “In the wagon where to bread