Fatima Saavedra

Lit 395 Catastrophes and Disasters

Human Culpability
Humans are capable of many things, but what can we really achieve in times of
destruction? Are we still bound by our moral integrity our sanity? Do our animalistic instincts
arise? Do we let go of our intellect and of our conscious mind to do the one thing that all animals
strive to do, to survive? The Holocaust, like so many other calamitous events, questions what
humans are truly capable of. When we are forced to survive-will our beliefs, our ethics, and our
family and friends play a role in our survival? Will we remain human, or will we lose all sense of
humanity and be left with our most primitive instincts? Will we become animals? Or will we
conquer and assure ourselves that we will find our way? Will love save us?
Eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, workis what many people of the Holocaust were left with
after being in the prison camps for so long. These prisoners were stripped of their clothes, their
belongings, and their human rights. They were put to work, and they were shown just how
expendable they were. The soldiers murdered children, women, men, and babies. No one was
spared. Do something wrong, and the only thing that waits is death. These humans became
mindless machines striving to withstand their torture. They became robots. The bread, the soupthose were my entire life. I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less: a famished stomach. The
stomach alone was measuring time (Wiesel 61). Where these prisoners still human? In a
biological way they were considered human, but the beautiful mindthe thoughts, the honor, the
respect, the dignity...arent these qualities also part of what makes us human? These people were
treated as objects and nothing more. To the Nazis they were nothing more than animals who
were needed to complete their work. These humans were stripped of their humanity, of their will,
until only one thing remained-perseverance.

Fatima Saavedra
Lit 395 Catastrophes and Disasters

After being subjected to so much death, the people became numb to the atrocities they
witnessed. The murder of innocents never stopped, and they were forced to be used to it. These
humans became living shells of what they had once been. The primal instincts came out, and
nothing else mattered. Family was forgotten. Friends were forgotten. Only the desire to survive
remained- no matter what the cost. The old man mumbled something, groaned, and diedHis
son searched him, took the crust of bread , and began to devour itWhen they withdrew, there
were two dead bodies next to me, the father and the son (Wiesel 99). This scene from Night, of
a man throwing bread into the wagon, caused a fight to break out among the men. The men were
described as beasts of prey, and their eyes were filled with animal hate. The man that got
ahold of the bread was beaten to death by his own son. The son murdered his father for a crust of
bread, and the others murdered the son for a chance of getting a piece of that bread. This scene
really puts into perspective just how starved, and out of their minds these people were. They had
become animals fighting to the death for food. They were so starved and tortured that their minds
took over, and all they could think about was the need to feed. There were other instances in the
book Night were Elie Wiesel mentions the prisoners fighting against each other, and he also
mentions that many of the prisoners betrayed their families in some sort of way-including
himself. Elie Wiesel mentions that he ignored his father when he was being beat by an SS
officer. I shall never forgive myself. Nor shall I ever forgive the world for having pushed me
against the wall, for having turned me into a stranger, for having awakened in me the basest,
most primitive instincts. His last word had been my name. A summons. And I had not
responded (Wiesel 11). Can you imaginebetraying your own family to avoid a beating? We
like to think of ourselves as honorable, but if we were in some of these peoples shoes would we

Fatima Saavedra
Lit 395 Catastrophes and Disasters

truly uphold those values and morals? What are we really capable of in order to guarantee that
we pull through with our life?
The guilt after surviving is also a nightmare. Why did we survive when so many others
perished? What makes us so peculiar? Is this our punishment for betraying those that we loved?
The trauma that is left, the survivors guilt, is inconsolable. Only time will heal, and sometimes
time cant erase the monstrosities that happened. Those officers that were Jewishhow could
they follow orders like that? How could they eradicate their own like they were nothing? How
could anyone killmurder like that? The will to live, the fear of death, and the manipulative lies
that were told about racial superiority were the cause of this. Fear is a powerful thing. When
people are dying at every moment-being shot without mercy, being burned, being experimented
on, and being gassed-that makes for really powerful emotions. The way these emotions are
harnessed depends on the person. Some lose the will to live. Some lose themselves in their
laments for their family and friends. Some seal themselves from all of their feelings. Each deals
with the trauma differently, and in that moment we are different beings because some fall to
despair while others cling to hope. Some live, some die, some betray, and others are just lost. In
the end, only those that experienced the destruction can truly testify to the conditions and the
choices made. We are capable of many things, but even we cant fabricate such emotional
turmoil. The guilt lives on in everyone because we created those conditions and those atrocities
as a species.
Even with these instances that mark us as animalistic beasts, there are qualities that
redeem us. Not all humans are weak minded. There are people out there that refuse to give in to
just their primitive qualities. Family union and love is a pillar of strength in the movie, Life is
Beautiful. This movie ventures into the love of a family trying to survive the Holocaust. The
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Fatima Saavedra
Lit 395 Catastrophes and Disasters

father, Guido, goes to extreme lengths to protect his son from the atrocities of the concentration
camp. Guido also helps reassure his wife that his son and he are safe. Guido invents a game, and
he coerces his son into accepting it as fact. The game starts now. You have to score one
thousand points. If you do that, you take home a tank with a big gun. Each day we will announce
the scores from that loudspeaker. The one who has the fewest points will have to wear a sign that
says "Jackass" on his back. There are three ways to lose points. One, turning into a big crybaby.
Two, telling us you want to see your mommy. Three, saying you're hungry and want something
to eat (Benigni Life is Beautiful). Guido enforces these rules onto his son, going through a lot of
trouble to keep him from the real truth. Guido-as a father, as a human, and as a husband-is
willing to go through anything to ensure that his son doesnt learn the truth. He is willing to
compromise his life to ensure the survival of his son. He is willing to sacrifice himself. He keeps
the pretense of normality to make sure that his son isnt frightened. Love is a powerful emotion.
This emotion keeps Guido and his family strong through their struggles in the camp.
Humans are fragile beings. We are animals, yet there are so many different aspects that
set us apart from animals. We are unique. We are strong. We are weak. We are easy
manipulated. We are emotional. We are so many distinctive and contradicting things. Each one
of us is different, yet we also have underlying currents that make us so similar. We experience a
lot togetherdeath, destruction, peace, unity, and nature. We are capable of a lot in both
spectrums of good and evil. We are continually evolving, and even with evolution, there is
always a chance of another calamity like the Holocaust occurring. We wont ever be free of evil
or corruption because there will always be someone out there willing to wreak havoc and
destruction, and it us up to us to understand and analyze why the human mind is so abstract and
different. It is up to us to learn of our own capabilities as humans.
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