ipl-logo

All The Light We Cannot See Essay

935 Words4 Pages

Both sides of the nature versus nurture debate hold merit and have compelling arguments to answer the psychological question of whether behavior stems from inborn characteristics or learned practices - whether genes or surroundings are the root of human action and integrity. For Werner Pfennig of Anthony Doerr’s 2014 novel, All The Light We Cannot See, it is clear that the environments he lives in throughout his life influence his mannerisms and comportment. Werner is an excellent example of how the characteristics of external situations can impact morality - how nurture prevails over nature. The culture of the environments people find themselves in often unconsciously impact their virtues, and not always for the better.
Growing up as orphans …show more content…

The atmosphere was intense, and soon Werner’s mindset began to shift towards pitting himself against others to ensure that he fit the demand for “only the purest, only the strongest” (116). At Schulpforta he fell into the trap of mind control that the Nazi leaders wanted for the recruits and his state of mind was as manipulated as the culture of the environment found himself in. His voice had been stifled and his moral compass had been jostled by the drive to be approved of by the sergeants. He was silent when his friend was brutally beaten, turning a blind eye to the injustice and cruelty that he knew was fundamentally wrong for the sake of self preservation. This demonstration of the change in Werner’s morality as precipitated by his involvement in the military academy contributed to the theme of how manipulative and oppressive the entire purpose of the Nazi party was. By showing how one character was influenced by the culture of his surroundings, the author represented how the belief system of the Nazi party was so widely spread and

Show More
Related

Summary Of 'All The Light We Cannot See'

407 Words | 2 Pages

Our flag represents the new era, chant Hans and Herribert, our flag leads us to eternity.” (Doerr, 42) This passage provided a better image of how naive and brainwashed civilians of the Nazi regime became. The author provides a description which underlyingly emphasizes the historical aspect of the book; readers can infer the time period and location just from the greetings used and the manner of the citizens. Because the general traffic on streets today have a destination or purpose, I found it interesting that people seemed to casually inhabit

Read More

Orbit Schroder's Speech 'I Express My Shame'

834 Words | 4 Pages

Gerhard Schroder Speech Analysis Seventy some years ago, over five million Jews, and six million non-Jews were persecuted by Adolf Hitler’s forces during what we call the Holocaust. POW’s, homosexuals, mentally/physically disabled, communists and more were all subjected to Nazi crimes. This abhorrent reign of terror started in 1941 to 1945, whereas in 1944 Russian soldiers liberated the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. Gerhard Schroder, Germany’s chancellor from 1998 to 2005, held a commencement for the sixtieth anniversary of this liberation, and gave a remarkable speech, called “I Express my Shame”, delivering concise points regarding the Holocaust.

Read More

Summary Of Our Secret By Susan Griffin

941 Words | 4 Pages

Griffin mentions on the common “mask” Himmler’s parent’s wore in photographs. He comments that “but his face has become harder, and his smile, though faint like his mother’s smile, has gained a new quality, harsh and stiff like the little collar he wears” (Griffin, 245). The rigide and tensed postures of the family even makes the audience to catch the awkwardness and heavy atmosphere at that time. As Griffin follows back to Himmler’s life, it is evident that it is inevitable

Read More

Brutality In Elie Wiesel's Night

645 Words | 3 Pages

It’s difficult to imagine the way humans brutally humiliate other humans based on their faith, looks, or mentality but somehow it happens. On the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he gives the reader a tour of World War Two through his own eyes , from the start of the ghettos all the way through the liberation of the prisoners of the concentration camps. This book has several themes that develop throughout its pages. There are three themes that outstand from all the rest, these themes are brutality, humiliation, and faith. They’re the three that give sense to the reading.

Read More

Rebellion In 'All The Light We Cannot See'

594 Words | 3 Pages

In the second part of the novel All the Light We Cannot See, a prominent theme is rebellion because of what Madame Manec and some of her close friends that live in Saint-Malo have planned to do against the German soldiers and have found other ways to communicate what has been happening in France with perhaps other countries. Madame Manec, before her death, asked Marie-Laure and Etienne “Do you know what happens, Etienne”… “when you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water?” … “It jumps out. But do you know what happens when you put the frog in a pot of cool water and then slowly bring it to a boil? You know what happens then?...

Read More

Elie Wiesel's Actions In Night

1915 Words | 8 Pages

In the world today, there are good kind hearted people, and there are also individuals who have immoral ulterior motives. But, to truly gain an insightful view of the person is to regard their actions under extreme conditions and pressure. While Elie Wiesel suffers during the Holocaust in his memoir Night, he witnesses the actions—whether good or bad, of the people he meets, and their motives that were never forgotten, as displayed in the novel. Since the Holocaust was an extreme event that caused pressure to make the right decisions, and suffer by the hands of the Nazis, or to act with neglect to the victims and be ridden with guilt, it can be said many Holocaust victims suffered, and some of the bystanders noticed and took action. One such

Read More

Morality In Jonathan Bennett's The Conscience Of Huckleberry Finn

516 Words | 3 Pages

While morality and sympathy can be in a constant battle, ultimately the one that wins is what the person is more obligated to. Bennett presents Heinrich Himmler, Jonathan Edwards and Wilfred Owen in the article to show how sympathy does not always win over morality. Heinrich Himmler is the Nazi who came up with the “Final Solution” to murder mass amounts of people.

Read More

Human Development In John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany

1932 Words | 8 Pages

Does environment shape moral and psychological traits? Are humans born inherently with pre-determined qualities and ways of thought? The debate of nature versus nurture, whether humans are born with a set of moral traits or whether one’s environment influences and shapes their traits, has constantly been argued, not only from a psychological standpoint, but also from a literary perspective as well. In A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving explores the relationship between environment and the development of psychological traits and personal conceptions, using both animate objects, like voice and people, and inanimate objects, such as armless objects and family influences, to prove the often powerful, yet overlooked influence of environment on human development; in the

Read More

Light In Elie Wiesel's Night

777 Words | 4 Pages

Aristotle wrote, “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light (Aristotle)”. The Holocaust was one of the darkest times humanity has ever seen. A machination brewed by an extraordinarily perverse man that resulted in the deaths of millions, and robbed millions more of their faith and hope. Families were torn apart, towns were destroyed, and humanity lost, all to satisfy one man’s extreme racism and psychotic agenda. If however, one only chooses to focus on the darkness, they might overlook the light, specifically in the two stories of boys who survived against all odds and shared their tales years after defying death.

Read More

Summary Of Death Dealer By Primo Levi

1775 Words | 8 Pages

Hoss reflects that he was a model prisoner because he was always taught to be obedient to the point of painstakingly neatness so this made him fit into prison life quite well because he always performed his duties to the satisfaction of the foreman and loved the daily routine of it (Ibid, 70). These orders of authority from prison guards makes Hoss satisfied, to the point where the reader almost feels that Hoss enjoyed prison life because of its regular routine and authority of the guards. Hoss’ comfort in prison life foreshadows how Hoss would easily be able to become enthralled by the totalitarian ideology of National Socialism because just like in prison he obeyed higher authority in the SS without question. An interesting moment in Hoss’ memoirs, which show his feeling of devotion and duty towards Germany, is when an inmate tells Hoss that the reason he was in jail was because he killed a pregnant mother and several children. Hoss becomes enraged at the man’s savageness for killing innocent people and never stops to think that he acted the same way when he killed the innocent man that betrayed his friend Schlageter, but justifies the murder he committed as a political murder that was done to protect Germany.

Read More

Loss Of Self And Personal Identity In Elie Wiesel's Night

1001 Words | 5 Pages

Many actions played out during the Holocaust and World War II were not humane, and still remind us like a scream behind closed doors: hidden but still heard. While hearing the horrid stories and seeing the ghoulish photos of times not to be forgotten, we see the tragedy that is the mistreatment of human lives. Our identities are lost little by little, but those victims had theirs ripped from their bodies. After losing everything and then becoming a nearly empty vessel, it is amazing that we attempt to comprehend the cruelty of the Holocaust. The loss of identity and self might have started with Adolf Hitler’s reign, for the Holocaust legacies, but we are all losing bits of ourselves constantly.

Read More

Identity In The Book Thief

749 Words | 3 Pages

Retaining one’s virtue whilst living in Nazi Germany is challenging,

Read More

Innate Morality

1507 Words | 7 Pages

Questions of morality are abstract and extremely touchy. They are subject to enduring debates regarding its origins, nature, and limits, with no possibility of a consensus. Although the theories on morality often pursue diverse angles, among the most interesting ones that have come up in recent times revolve around the question whether human beings are born with an innate moral sense. Some scholars hold the view that humans are born with an inherent sense of morality while others believe the opposite that humans are not born with an innate moral sense holds true. By using Steven Pinker’s

Read More

Are Criminals Affected By Nature Or Nurture?

762 Words | 4 Pages

One of the most debated topics throughout the world is nature versus nurture. When psychologists debate this topic, they are studying what influences a person’s personal development. Some say that a person’s nature influences personal development while others say a person’s nurture influences personal development. A lot of people spend time contemplating which one actually does the influencing but what some do not realize is that, perhaps, both nature and nurture help shape a person’s personal development. One topic that comes up quite often is whether or not a person is born a criminal.

Read More

Literary Analysis Of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader

1417 Words | 6 Pages

Bernhard Schlink’s novel The Reader, set in Germany in the post-World War II era, explores the social and cultural tensions between the Nazi and Post – Nazi generations in the aftermath of the Third Reich. Schlink uses literary techniques in The Reader to evoke the reader’s sympathy for flawed characters. Schlink does this through using motifs, symbolism, and foreshadowing to portray the protagonists flaw of inferiority and Hanna’s illiteracy. Characterisation and imagery are used to portray the character’s actions, and as a result, the reader’s perception of the characters change throughout the novel.

Read More

More about All The Light We Cannot See Essay

Related Topics

Open Document