Examples Of Forgiveness In The Sunflower By Simon Wiesenthal

When it comes to the topic of Simon Wiesenthal not forgiving a dying SS soldier for his crimes, most of us will readily agree that it’s a debatable topic. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of if Wiesenthal should have forgiven the soldier. Whereas some are convinced that he made the right choice in not forgiving the soldier, others maintain that he should have let the soldier die peacefully, guilt free, and forgiven. I agree with Wiesenthal’s decision to not forgive the dying SS soldier because he cannot speak for all the other Jews who have been killed by this man. In Simon Wiesenthal’s book, The Sunflower, he asks the reader what they would have done in his position with the SS soldier. If I was Wiesenthal, I wouldn’t have forgiven the man as I cannot make decisions for others and because the soldier was not sincere in his apology for the crimes he was involved in.

Forgiveness has a different context depending on where the person is from or what he believes. Religion places a great emphasis on the view of forgiveness.

In Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower, he recounts his incidence of meeting a dying Nazi soldier who tells Simon that he was responsible for the death of his family. Upon telling Simon the details, Karl asks for his forgiveness for what he helped accomplish. Simon leaves Karl without giving him an answer. This paper will argue that, even though Karl admits to killing Simon’s family in the house, Simon is morally forbidden to forgive Karl because Karl does not seem to show genuine remorse for his committed crime and it is not up to Simon to be able to forgive Karl for his sins. This stand will be supported by the meaning of forgiveness, evidence from the memoir, quotes from the published responses to Simon’s moral question, and arguments from

Sometimes things are better off forgotten so one does not get too caught up in hatred. When the time comes to forgive someone or even oneself, one might find it very hard. The word forgiveness may have different meanings to some people. For example, some people may refer forgiveness as a way to lose weight off their backs. In Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer highlights the importance of forgiving the mistakes one has made, and the actions people around us make. Life’s experiences are not always easy to forget, nevertheless to move on from those experiences

Forgiveness is a necessary part of human existence, although it is rarely easy to give, and sometimes hardest to give to ourselves. The Kite Runner illustrates humanity's tendency, and even willingness, to dwell on past mistakes. The opening sentence sets this theme with "I became what I am today at the age of twelve," as Amir unapologetically relates how he believes one action at that young age defined his entire life. However, as the novel progresses, the reader comes to the conclusion that it was not one action, but a series of choices and events that created Amir's persona as an adult. By holding onto his guilt and fear of discovery, Amir could only bury his past for short periods of time before his own conscience uncovered it and the

In all actuality is forgiveness more of a resolution for one person to move forward, or does it fix the situation as a whole. The Sunflower, is a book that presents an idea of forgiveness and others opinions on what should happen in this case of events. Karl a dying SS man, brings in Simon a prisoner in a concentration camp to his hospital room, and asks Simon for forgiveness. Karl is guilt ridden for his killings during his time as a soldier, and wants to die confessing and seeking forgiveness from Simon. Simon however has never known Karl before their meeting, and Karl has never committed anything towards Simon. Simon struggles and is indecisive on whether he should forgive Karl or not. Saying sorry for murdering people during the Holocaust, is impossible given the damage of the event, but for Karl he searched for forgiveness through Simon. Simon being imprisoned in a concentration camp and brought to Karl, a dying SS man, Karl wanted to seek forgiveness for his actions. Being in the position Simon was in he was not entitled to take the apology on behalf of others, when he was not wronged against by Karl.

The soldier had asked the nurse to bring Simon to him because he felt the need to share his crimes with a Jewish person. He tells Simon, “I must tell you something dreadful… something inhuman”(Wiesenthal, 11). He shows remorse by calling his crime dreadful and inhuman, and all he wants is to tell Simon his story and be forgiven. The soldier is heavily wounded, and his face is covered in bandages. He tells Simon about how his own parents didn’t trust him as a child because he joined the Hitler youth. Even if his parents didn’t agree with what he was doing, they should always be able to trust their own son. When the war began, he volunteered for the SS, and the last words he heard his father say were that no good would come of it. He is truly a man deserving of pity in his final days.

In FYS we were taught many ways to live in the world through the stories we read, speeches we listen to, and the projects we did. In the book, Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, and Destiny of The Republic, by Candice Millard, I saw a few prominent themes of how one should live. In these three books I learned about the author 's voice through their writings. I saw how one should live their life. In these books the authors shared common themes through their writings. The authors showed how to live life with forgiveness and live life with faith. Krueger and Potok both showed me through their novels how to forgive someone and they did this by showing that there is a bigger picture in

What inherent value does forgiveness hold? Who benefits from forgiveness? Must forgiveness be explicitly stated, or can a person be forgiven silently? When does someone have the right to forgive an individual? In the book The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal, the author, a Holocaust survivor, recounts an experience with an SS soldier, named Karl, on his deathbed asking Wiesenthal, a Jewish prisoner, for forgiveness for his inhumane actions, telling his tale with brutal detail. Wiesenthal neither forgives nor condemns the dying man, but instead leaves wordlessly. This experience has discomforted Wiesenthal greatly, and he grappled with if what he had done was the right choice or not. At the end of the book, Wiesenthal poses a question, what

Opponents argue that forgiving someone who has committed a crime would be one of the toughest things to do for a person. They believe it would be very difficult to forgive soldiers for what they had done because they people they killed were part of their friends and family. How can they forgive someone who was so beloved to them. In the book, "The Sunflower" Sven Alkalaj argues that we don't have the right to forgive a person on someone else's behalf. For example, Simon couldn't forgive Karl because he killed someone else’s family member. Karl did not have the right to forgive on behalf of those families. As a result, Simon left the room without saying any word to Karl because Simon knew that Karl committed crimes and also asking the wrong

Throughout the novel of Out of the Dust written by Karen Hesse, Billie Jo and her father illustrate how forgiveness is needed to be human, especially after Ma died. In the early days of Ma's death, Billie Jo and her father went through a rough time of depression and Billie Jo needed to forgive her father. Billie Jo could not forgive her father for leaving the destructive pail on the counter and going to the bar when his family needed him most. Billie Jo and her father began to part ways because they "[could] [not] soothe each other... [they] do[not] know how to talk anymore" (Hesse 1047).

Simon Wiesenthal could have not forgiven for the six million that died. Karl could have never “put a Jewish survivor in the impossible moral position of offering forgiveness implicitly in the name of the 6 million” (Fisher,132). Karl (the dying nazi) couldn't have asked Simon for forgiveness because he's only one out of the 6 million that died. That’s like Donald Trump asking 1 Mexican for forgiveness for all the Mexicans. Also “placing a jew in this position further victimizes him or her” (Fisher). Putting a Jew in this position makes them weaker than what they already are. Karl asked Simon for forgiveness but “only the victims were in position to forgive; and they are put to death” (Fleischner 140). Karl shouldn’t have asked Simon for forgiveness because he didn’t do anything wrong. Karl should have asked the people that he had murdered but it was too late.

Edward H. Flannery states that The Sunflower presents “an important moral question” (Flannery 135). Flannery argues in favor of forgiveness. He states that Karl, the dying SS man, could had asked for forgiveness for what “he had done” (Flannery 137) not forgiveness on the behalf of others. Flannery states that

Amir and Hassan’s relationship throughout the book, The Kite Runner, is based off of love, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Forgiveness is essential to daily life. An important person does the unthinkable, and finally that person earns forgiveness. It is important to forgive oneself, so one can forgive others, too. In The Kite Runner, novelist Khaled Hosseini tells about the past of the Afghan refugee, Amir, and about the importance of forgiveness regarding to what happens in Afghanistan a long time before Amir arrives in America. Amir grows up in Kabul with his prosperous father, Baba, who has two servants, Ali, and his son, Hassan. Amir and Hassan are best friends until Hassan is raped, and Amir doesn’t help him. Amir can’t get over his guilt, so he takes it out on Hassan and treats him very badly. Thus, Hassan and Ali leave