Empathy In The Sniper

In war no one is your enemy because there is no one that you need to hurt. In The Sniper and All the lights we cannot see, both the boys from All the lights we cannot see and the republican sniper feel for their enemy. They show empathy towards someone who they are meant to hurt. Frederick in all the lights we cannot see shows empathy through discovering his orders in partaking in the prisoners torture. Not only this but it is mentioned that Werner’s hands went numb after having thrown water on the prisoner, insinuating that Werner even though having participated in the torture, still felt remorse for the prisoner. In the sniper we see this as well. While the Republican sniper initially felt glad to have eliminated his enemy, when he goes to

Bastian steps forward. His face flares scarlet in the cold. “Give him another.” Again Frederick sloshes it onto the ice at his feet. He says in a small voice, “He is already finished, sir.” (Doerr) By resisting the pressure to obey his orders, Frederick demonstrates his morality in treating his enemies as people. When Frederick says,“He is already finished,” He is showing empathy towards the person he is meant is to torture. Even though Frederick does not know the prisoner personally, he still holds true to his morals and does not falter when his humanity is being tested. Bastian is attempting to turn Frederick into something he is not, a soldier who does not feel for his enemy and follows orders blindly, but Frederick knows this and therefore he does not allow himself to become an empty shell of a person who cannot feel empathy or emotion. Furthermore, another example of treating your enemy as human comes again from All the Light we cannot see, where Werner is now the one faced with the choice of pouring the bucket of water or not. Faced with this tough decision,“Werner throws the water like all the others and the splash hits the prisoner in the chest and a perfunctory* cheer rises. He joins the cadets waiting to be released. Wet boots, wet cuffs; his hands have become so numb, they do not seem his own.” (Doerr) Werner chooses to participate in pouring the water, he chooses to stand alongside the other kids, not wanting to be punished or singled out. Werners choice hurts his enemy, but it also hurt himself. When the story reads,”his hands have become so numb, they do not seem his own.” The action of pouring the water on the prisoner gained nothing for Werner, he only felt empty, his hands go numb due to his internal regret and shock towards the reality and cruelty of war. In both boys we see