The Struggles Of Survival
DescriptionAn essay about the universality of human suffering and how it affects people.
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ImageMarkus Zusak
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Night by Elie Wiesel, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak portray the struggles faced by individuals and groups, emphasizing the universality of human suffering. Through oppression, dehumanization, and resilience, these novels highlight the transformative power of love, storytelling, and strength, offering valuable lessons on empathy, compassion, and confronting trauma to help build a more compassionate society. They remind us of the dangers of silence and the urgent importance of actively addressing and combating oppression today.A Thousand Splendid Suns shows the struggle of women who are oppressed both physically and mentally. In Afghan society, there are many men who refuse to see women, treating them rather as dogs. “Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a mans accusing finger always finds a woman. Always” (Hosseini 7). This quote highlights the severity of the problem of Taliban rule in Afghanistan and how women are consistently taken advantage of, used to blame and victimize instead of love and humanize. In the end, they are forced to accept their situation and live with it. “[The burqa] was also a symbol of something. Something I didn't want to acknowledge. That I was no longer an individual. I was part of the walking dead in a graveyard, shuffling along with my eyes lowered, too afraid to look the world in the eye" (Hosseini 141). This quote gives insight into how Laila is forced to accept her new life, hiding from the world and continuing to be suppressed. She can't act out or run away because, if she does, it will be the end of her, a sad and dangerous truth to live.In Night, Wiesel's memoir about being Jewish during the Holocaust, consistently explores his life as he questions the world and his existence in it. In every way, his spirit is near broken, the death and depression around him spiraling Elie's young mind out of control. “Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence that deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never” (Wiesel 34). What he says here perfectly encapsulates the impact the horrors he witnessed inflicted on everyone involved. The words express the despair and loss experienced by Elie, highlighting the profound impact of the atrocities committed against him and his fellow prisoners. “Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence” sends a damning message of the silence and darkness that pervaded the concentration camps, symbolizing the absence of humanity. It represents a pivotal moment that got rid of Elie's desire to live, leaving a permanent mark on him. The immense loss of faith, of love, of soul experienced by all during these darkest days of human history is the epitome of what happens when the oppressor starts to win, a terrifying truth to put it lightly. And the final statement, the fact that he will never forget them "even if... condemned to live as long as God Himself," emphasizes the impact of the experiences. It signifies Elie’s determination to remember and bear witness to the things he saw, regardless of the length of his life. Elie is definitely not like he was before: a firm believer in humanity. Now he is in so much pain and endured so much hardship that he barely even feels himself as human. Pain and deprivation can make you think, feel or act in ways you would not under normal circumstances. But he rebounds and reaches out to God again and doesn’t become a monster himself. He could have died, just lost the will to live, turned on fellow prisoners, or not turned so much pain into positive. “For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time” (Weisel). What this emphasizes is the moral obligation of survivors to share their lives and testify to the horrors experienced. According to Elie, the survivor's duty is twofold; to remember and honor the memory of those who perished and to ensure that future generations have access to the collective memory of the past. The phrase "bear witness for the dead and for the living" highlights the survivor's responsibility to serve as a voice for those who lost their lives during tragic events, such as the Holocaust. By sharing their trauma, survivors give a voice to the silenced and ensure that the memory of the victims lives on. Forgetting or ignoring the past would be dangerous, is dangerous, as it risks repeating the same mistakes and allowing history to be distorted or manipulated. By remembering the past, we can learn from it and strive to create a compassionate and fair future. Wiesel's words imply that forgetting the victims would be a form of disrespect, likened to a second death, suggesting that allowing the memory of the victims to fade away is akin to killing them once again.Max from The Book Thief has the most compelling survival story because as a Jew he is the most persecuted of all the victims in the story. Six and a half million Jews died in the Holocaust and the author makes it clear that Max has the greatest odds stacked against him. All the characters realize it. "You could argue that Liesel Meminger had it easy. She did have it easy compared to Max Vandenburg. Certainly, her brother practically died in her arms. Her mother had abandoned her. But anything was better than being a Jew" (Zusac 161). This highlights the contrast in hardships faced by the two main characters, Liesel Meminger and Max Vandenburg. It suggests that while Liesel endured her fair share of difficulties, her experiences were easier compared to the extreme persecution and suffering endured by Max as a Jew during the Nazi regime. It admits that Liesel faced significant challenges in her life, that her brother's death and her mother's abandonment caused profound pain and loss. However, comparing the struggles with Max's persecution as a Jew implies that, in comparison, Liesel's difficulties pale in comparison to the immense dangers and brutality faced by Jewish individuals during that time. The phrase "anything was better than being a Jew" underscores the relentless persecution and dehumanization experienced by Jews during the Holocaust. It suggests that even though Liesel faced personal hardships, her identity as a non-Jewish person afforded her a certain degree of safety and privilege in comparison. Being a Jew during that period meant living under constant fear, discrimination, and the imminent threat of imprisonment, torture, or death. To put it simply, this piece serves to highlight the vast disparity in the challenges faced by Liesel and Max, drawing attention to the profound impact of one's identity. By contrasting their experiences, the novel underscores the magnitude of suffering endured by those targeted by the Nazi regime and emphasizes the privilege and relative ease afforded to those outside of that targeted group. It proves that no matter how hard you try, when persecution and dehumanization are on the table, there is nothing that can compare to the pain it causes, and acts as a stark reminder of how truly disgusting the Holocaust was.Ultimately, these characters struggled immensely, but this could have just as easily been about how they survived. They survived and, as individuals, fictitious or not, made it easier for others who are persecuted and helped publicize the horrible prosecution that so many face every day. One can’t just forget about the atrocities of the past, one can not just walk past silently as they happen; they need to know it, understand it, and make sure that it never happens again. Because that, and only that, will stop the need to struggle for survival, gifting the world with what it begs for so dearly: peace.
Sources
Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Penguin Publishing Group, 2008.Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Night: Elie Wiesel. Perma-Bound, 1993.Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. Random House Children's Books, 2016.
