Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Frankl Remains a Human

Despite all of the hardships that Viktor Frankl faced while he was trapped in a concentration camp, he still retained inklings of his humanity. It's easy for a prisoner to be regressed to a state that shuns humanity in the name of survival. Frankl himself was no longer shaken by death, and is even able to continue eating after watching a man that he had recently spoken to die. He and other prisoners scavenge for useful goods off of bodies to boost the odds of their own survival, which would be frowned upon if they were not faced with such dire situation. Clearly the situation has removed all boundaries in the nam of survival, yet Frankl still shows human characteristics and honor at certain points.

Despite the terrible conditions he is in, Frankl still listens to the Capo's life troubles and offers psychotherapeutic advice. While this may only be done as a favor to the Capo in an attempt to get food,  Frankl is not obligated to do so. Later, a foreman calls Frankl a pig for taking a short break while working, insulting him and suggesting that he must have been a businessman. Even in the camp, Frankl still had pride, and quickly pointed out that he "was a doctor-a specialist," and "did most of [his] work for no money at all, in clinics for the poor." Instead of submitting to the foreman to survive, Frankl shows a sense of pride in his past work. Frankl shows his maintaining comradeship by assisting a fallen prisoner, breaking the pattern of apathy that he had previously been showing. Even in a dire situation that requires one to ditch all form of humanity, Frankl holds on to pieces of his.

No comments:

Post a Comment