HUM 301 Sunflower
Introduction
A profoundly poignant account portraying the internal conflict Simon Wiesenthal experiences when a dying Nazi soldier earnestly seeks his forgiveness, The Sunflower provokes introspective discussion about forgiveness, justice, mercy, and human responsibility. While metaphorically gazing upon the sunflowers displayed on the graves of soldiers, Simon is forced to mechanically march towards the Technical High School he once attended. The familiar surroundings evoke memories of the hatred and contempt he encountered while he was a student, particularly on the examination days that had been entitled "a day without Jews" by his Polish classmates (Wiesenthal 20). When he arrives at the Technical High School (now a military hospital), Simon and the other prisoners are instructed "to carry cartons filled with rubbish out of the building" (Wiesenthal 22).
After confirming that he is Jewish, a nurse escorts Simon to the bedside of a dying Nazi solider named Karl. With his yellow-stained bandaged head appearing through the semidarkness of the hospital room, Karl hauntingly recounts his involvement in the horrifying death of a father, a mother, and a dark-eyed child who are brutally shot down after jumping out of a burning building (Wiesenthal 42-43). Simon becomes extremely distressed with the imagery evoked by the untimely demise of the dark-eyed child, especially when he theoretically identifies the child with a six-year old named Eli (Wiesenthal 46). Indeed, while recalling the heart-wrenching scenes of the kindergarten extermination, Simon fights the urge to leave the hospital room as the dying soldier continues to recount the rest of his confession. With sincere remorse in his voice, Karl begs for the forgiveness of a Jew. The irony of this dying soldier's confession arises from the fact that "a murderer who did not want to be a murderer but who had been made into a murderer by his murderous ideology" was confessing his crime to a man that may die by the
A profoundly poignant account portraying the internal conflict Simon Wiesenthal experiences when a dying Nazi soldier earnestly seeks his forgiveness, The Sunflower provokes introspective discussion about forgiveness, justice, mercy, and human responsibility. While metaphorically gazing upon the sunflowers displayed on the graves of soldiers, Simon is forced to mechanically march towards the Technical High School he once attended. The familiar surroundings evoke memories of the hatred and contempt he encountered while he was a student, particularly on the examination days that had been entitled "a day without Jews" by his Polish classmates (Wiesenthal 20). When he arrives at the Technical High School (now a military hospital), Simon and the other prisoners are instructed "to carry cartons filled with rubbish out of the building" (Wiesenthal 22).
After confirming that he is Jewish, a nurse escorts Simon to the bedside of a dying Nazi solider named Karl. With his yellow-stained bandaged head appearing through the semidarkness of the hospital room, Karl hauntingly recounts his involvement in the horrifying death of a father, a mother, and a dark-eyed child who are brutally shot down after jumping out of a burning building (Wiesenthal 42-43). Simon becomes extremely distressed with the imagery evoked by the untimely demise of the dark-eyed child, especially when he theoretically identifies the child with a six-year old named Eli (Wiesenthal 46). Indeed, while recalling the heart-wrenching scenes of the kindergarten extermination, Simon fights the urge to leave the hospital room as the dying soldier continues to recount the rest of his confession. With sincere remorse in his voice, Karl begs for the forgiveness of a Jew. The irony of this dying soldier's confession arises from the fact that "a murderer who did not want to be a murderer but who had been made into a murderer by his murderous ideology" was confessing his crime to a man that may die by the