Personal Narrative: The Moral Logic Of Survivor Guilt

The narrator had done everything he could as a young child to make K be protected, smart, and loved as a brother. Although when they had gone down to the beach he tried everything he could to save K’s life without jeopardizing his own life too much. “‘I’m getting out of here!’ I yelled to K squatting down looking at something..I was sure I yelled loud enough, but my voice did not seem to have reached him”(Murakami 134). This narrator had tried but he knew the waves were planning to grab him so he had to get out of there. Just like in the story “The Moral of Survivor Guilt,” by Nancy Sherman, the returning war veterans need to forgive themselves for the sense of responsibility for the death of their fellow soldiers. “Captain Bonenberger said. ‘When we were in trouble Jeremiah Pulaski was there for us. But when he was in trouble he was all alone. I know it's not rational or reasonable. There is nothing logical about it, I feel responsible”(Sherman 152). This feeling the Captain is feeling and what the Narrator in “The Seventh Man,” feels is very unreasonable to me, you care deeply about your peers and friends but when it comes to putting your own life on the line, is it really

The narrator for the seventh man should forgive himself for not being able to save K because he did everything he could do to try to save him but he would not listen. In the story the seventh man a huge typhoon strikes the beach with a big boom while the narrator and his friend K were investigating the previous damage from the past wind and rain. The narrator heard the big booms and tried to warn his friend K but he just couldn't K was too interested in whatever he was looking at that he did not hear the yelling or the loud booms.

However, this cannot be said for all victims of guilt as the author makes sure to heed the consequences of

The narrator of “The Seventh Man” should seek forgiveness in himself. Not only is forgiving yourself an essential thing that keeps our lives going, but in his circumstances, there wasn’t much more to do to help his friend.

the narrator it was not at all his fault that K had died. He should have been able to forgive himself. A great story to source is “The Moral Logic of Survivor's Guilt.”The story explains what survivor guilt is. “The classic scenario is not so much one of good luck (as in survivors guilt), but of bad luck, typically having to do with accidents where again, there is little or no culpability for the harms caused”(Sherman 154). In the narrator of “The seventh man” case K had tragically died in a typhoon. He felt that it was his fault that K had been swallowed when in reality, if he had tried to save K he would have died himself. There was no way he could have saved K. The narrator should be able to forgive himself for not running after K. It was an accident, peer bad timing though he feels as if it was his fault. Even though the narrator of the story had watched K die, he should have been able to forgive himself because of the simple fact that it was not his

The seventh man struggled his whole life with irrational survivor guilt. The definition of survivor guilt is “one feels guilty despite the fact they did nothing wrong”. The seventh man did not make k follow him and he can not control the wave. The seventh man said that “i know the truth i know that i could have saved k”. How could he have saved him it was a typhoon and also K was never mad at him.

The human tendency is to feel guilt after a great tragedy, and so in turn humans will feel survivor’s guilt. Good people will naturally put more blame on themselves even if they had done nothing wrong or all that they could to help. In the editorial “The Moral Logic of Survivor’s Guilt” by Nancy Sherman, the author gives many examples of good people feeling survivor's

He felt the guilt long enough, and had to forgive himself. It didn’t only affect himself...it affected his friends and family too. What had happened was not his fault. It was a fluke of luck. Why K. unfortunately died and the Seventh Man did not will remain a mystery. Everything happens for a reason. With that said, the Seventh Man needed to forgive himself. He may have been alive, but he wasn’t living a much different life then K. He was alive, but was not living. Therefore, it was only right that the Seventh Man forgave

The Seventh Man was unsuccessful in saving his childhood friend, K. In spite of his lack of success, he should not have to live with

    Primarily, K’s personality is described as kind, shy, yet artistic. K had such a kind personality, I feel that he would have wanted the seventh man to forgive himself, and live a long/happy life. Such kindness should have been considered when the seventh man thought of the event.

There are many situations in which people feel like they’re at fault for the death of a loved one, or a good friend. Many of these cases, to this day, involve soldiers who have seen the terrors and tragedies of war, and have watched their companions get killed in the line of fire, while they survived. In the story, “The Moral Logic of Survivor Guilt,” the author, Nancy Sherman, talks about what survivor guilt is, and why some people suffer from it. “The guilt begins an endless loop of counterfactuals- thoughts that you could have or should have done otherwise, though in fact, you did nothing wrong.” (Sherman, 153) Sherman’s statement relates back to “The Seventh Man,” and how the narrator feels guilty for not saving K. even though there was nothing that could’ve been done to help. The Seventh Man has thoughts about what he could have done, and different things he could have said to save K. but in the end, he feels guilty for nothing.

A handful of people will agree that the Seventh Man left K. intentionally and let him die. For example, (evidence). Thus, what killed K. was the “wave like a huge snake with its held wanted him to die” (138). Furthermore, it was impossible for the narrator to save K. because he was “ten yards” away from him. Therefore, if he tried to run up to him and save him both of them could’ve died. In addition, although, the narrator failed on saving K., he was traumatized and had a difficulty moving on with his life. For example, “I was burning with fever, and my mind was clouded… been asleep for three days… vomited several times, and had bouts of delirium… in my dreams, K. would hop out of his capsule in the wave and grab my waist to drag me inside him...I never married… never went to swim in a pool… wouldn’t go near deep rivers or lakes…” (139-141). Others might conclude that the seventh man deserves everything he’s been through. However, this proves that the Seventh Man was miserable and couldn’t live life to the fullest because of the

Should the narrator of “The Seventh Man’ forgive himself for his failure of saving K?

The seventh man should forgive himself because if K was alive he wouldn't want the seventh man to be mad and hate himself. K would want the Seventh Man to forgive himself for his mistake. The Seventh Man did yell for K to move but K did not hear him and as a result he was eaten by a wave. Perhaps the seventh man should have tried to grab K, but he was really far out at the beach and he was probably worried that he would end up getting eaten by the wave just like K was another reason the Seventh Man should forgive himself is because he didn't create the wave to get K.

The next day after Kiowa’s death, the group of soldiers began searching in the fields for his body. On one side, Lieutenant Cross noticed a young man not far shaking in the mud, although Cross was preoccupied the letter he should write to inform Kiowa’s father. Both soldiers blamed themselves, for Cross had camped in the field that drowned Kiowa and for the young man had opened a flashlight that signaled the enemy. Working in a different area, Bowker, Sanders, and Azar found Kiowa’s body. When everyone was putting the blame on either themselves or each other, Bowker reminds them that Kiowa simply ran out of luck and it’s “Nobody’s fault. Everybody’s.” The young soldier attempts to confess, but Cross was too absorbed in his thoughts. Cross concludes that there is a blame for everything, but those for wars are “immediate.”