Synthesis Essay

In the face of adversity, the beliefs of an individual may be greatly altered, or even liquidated, leading to the lack of execution or bad behavior. Even if a person with strong beliefs and morals is put into a difficult and unexpected situation, they may completely and unwillingly disregard their beliefs and morals and act accordingly, or not at all. Around lots of people, when bystander apathy or diffusion of responsibility is present, the individual may be affected by it as well. In Night, Elie knew that his father was “on the brink of death, and yet [he] still abandoned him” (Wiesel 11). Elie had prayed to the “God in whom [he] no longer believed” to never abandon his father, yet at such a difficult time, he simply did it (Wiesel 97). In the Perils of Obedience, the subject, Prozi, first “[refused] to take the responsibility” because the subject was in there “hollering” (Milgram 23). Immediately after the Experimenter said that he was “responsible for anything that happens to him”, the Prozi simply said “all right” (Milgram 23). This proves that the majority of people in a difficult situation will simply wait for somebody else to take responsibility for any wrong doings, or lack of action at all. If the experimenter remained silent, Prozi would have immediately stopped, knowing all responsibility lay on him. In the face of adversity, anyone’s beliefs can be changed, either because the individual is dumbfounded and doesn’t know what to do, or because they know that the responsibility of something horrid, is not