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Is Charlotte Delbo's Concept Of Over-Optimism?

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An admirable quality to have is being optimistic , when life hands you lemons you make lemonade. According to dictionary.com optimism is a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome. One can define Over-optimism as an excessive belief that good will prevail from whatever situation one may be in. Charlotte Delbo’s piece Convoy to AUSCHWITZ told the story of her journey of when she was captured as a prisoner during Hitler's reign. Throughout this heart wrenching story over-optimism can be seen clearly in the actions of herself and the women close to her. Being overly optimistic is what kept these women alive, the thought of one day returning to their loved ones. …show more content…

“Social support is exceptionally important for maintaining good physical and mental health. Overall, it appears that positive social support of high quality can enhance resilience to stress, help protect against developing trauma-related psychopathology, decrease the functional consequences of trauma-induced disorders…” (Social Support and Resilience to Stress) Throughout Departure and Return social affiliation was extremely important, Charlotte kept an optimistic outlook while experiencing horrific things. Charlotte was lucky enough to have been on this journey with her very close friends, they had already established a sense of trust and comfortability with one another and the fact that she wasn't facing this journey alone I believe gave her strength. The women would make remarks that gave some comfort, an example of this was when they had realized they were heading to an extermination camp “Toward nothing, nothingness.’ In other words,’Extermination Camp.’ ” the remark of a friend was “Oh, that’s cheerful.” (Delbo 1997) It may seem like nothing but that response of sarcasm would've lifted my spirits, knowing that you are with friends who can easily joke about the situation definitely would've made me feel a bit of ease. Another example was when Madeleine Dioret responded to another friend about the horrific soup they were given to eat “The soup will always smell like a sewer, we’ll just have to eat it or die of hunger. Might as well start now.” This statement just showed the strength and level of communication these women had, Madeleine was trying to comfort her friends telling them basically you have to get over the fact that it smells because we have no choice ,now lets do this together. The effect of social affiliation in Departure and Return

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