Self Control if possible

Self Control if possible

Torture is dreadful which can impact one’s character. It can blind one’s judgment. An example is the survivors of the holocaust. Though at their early days of torture they did whatever it took to stay with their loved ones, it became more difficult to stick with this challenge. This horrible event made many loose controls over themselves will to only do what was right for them. In the book Night, a survivor known as Elie Wiesel tells his experience through the holocaust and explains some challenges he fought. As Elie struggles to survive in the holocaust it become more challenging for him to control his thoughts, proposing that the main issue was self conflict.

Before being tortured at the holocaust, Elie Wiesel was strong in faith and even thought about becoming a rabbi. However, his strong faith did not last for long. He was trying to believe that God was still with him, but the horror made him question if that was truly so. After Elie witnessed many innocent being hung, he wondered in a thought “Where is He [God]? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows…” p62, believing that it was God who was hung on the rope. This is possibly why there is an image of three being hung. He said that God was “hung because he thought that He left Elie and the rest of the victims. It was from this point Elie did not say anything about his religion.

During Elie early days at the concentration camps, Elie did whatever it took to keep his father alive and satisfied. He brought him food and water and did everything for his health. But in an environment of the holocaust, it is not so easy to help someone else while trying to survive you. Due to all the effort it took to keep his father alive, Elie began loosing control over his thoughts. After hearing the SS doctor’s advice, Elie thought “he was right… it’s too late to save your old father”pg 103. Here Elie is loosing control and going in the wrong direction. Though eventually he thought twice and changed his mind, it became more and more difficult to stick with what was right. His body was beginning to rule himself since it was becoming more difficult for Elie to survive and guide his father.

But the conflict he had with controlling himself became too great. He now had to care for himself more than he had to help his father. While being greatly ill with a fever, his father also had a lack of attention. When the officer approached Elie’s father, he gave him a blow, “I [Elie] did not move. I was afraid. My body was afraid of also receiving a blow”p 106. This shows that Elie no longer desired to save his father. He did not truly care that his father was murdered. The conflict with self and others was too great so he decided to defend himself instead of his father.

The holocaust blinded many into becoming totally different. Many of the survivors were pushed to the limits and decided to quit trying to win control over them. They were living like wild animals with only the fittest to survive. Though we are not in such a dreadful environment like the holocaust, we today still experience difficult with self control like through pure-pressure, stress and anger.