Unlike most Holocaust books, Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. The novel combines Frankl’s logotherapy theory with what goes on in a concentration camp. He explains how prisoners that looked forward to the future, were the ones to make it to liberation day. This concept of looking forward into the future can be applied to the modern-day lives of struggling people. Whether they are searching for meaning within their own lives, or just interested in how logotherapy helped people in the past, reading this novel can be beneficial to them. Man’s Search for Meaning shows readers that with hope and bravery suffering can be overc Most people who would think about the prisoners that make it out of concentration camps, would think that the strongest men and women would be the ones to survive. Frank wrote this novel to inform the readers that strength was not the deciding factor. Sure some weaker men may have died of illnesses first, or were beaten more for not being able to do work, but some of them had hope. These men had a reason to be free one day, whether it was to write a book, or see their kids one more time. Their hope and courage gave them the strength to shovel the heavy piles of dirt, and not give up during …show more content…
However, Viktor Frankl took it a step further and combine it with logotherapy and his own experiences with suffering. While most people struggling to find meaning in their life aren't in as serious of a situation as a concentration camp, they are still suffering. Frankl says that "he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how" (Frankl ). He tells people that by finding a reason to get through the suffering, they may find their “pain” is not so painful. Just as prisoners who had reasons to make it to liberation day defeated their suffering. Viktor Frankl said himself “that the meaning of his life, is to help others find the meaning of their’s” (Frankl
'He who has a why to live for can bear any how.' The words of Nietzsche begin to explain Frankl's tone throughout his book. Dr. Frankl uses his experiences in different Nazi concentration camps to explain his discovery of logotherapy. This discovery takes us back to World War II and the extreme suffering that took place in the Nazi concentration camps and outlines a detailed analysis of the prisoners psyche. An experience we gain from the first-hand memoirs of Dr. Frankl.
After being cooped up in squalor and surrounded by torture for four years, the prisoners couldn’t grasp the concept of their own freedom: “Its reality did not penetrate into our consciousness; we could not grasp the fact that freedom was ours” (88). They had looked forward to it so much that when it came it was almost like an anti-climax. The freed prisoners also had a strong desire for retribution: “They became instigators, not objects, of willful force and injustice. They justified their behavior by their own terrible experiences” (90). Frankl went onto refute this by saying, “that no one has the right to do wrong, not even if wrong has been done to them” (91). Moreover, the prisoners had kept positive in the camps by thinking that they will see their loved ones upon release. Sadly, for many they found that “the person who should open the door was not there, and would never be there again” (92). To these people Frankl imposed the idea that even suffering has a meaning in life; that it is the individual’s responsibility to overcome it and keep fighting on until their last breath. Ultimately, “there is nothing he need fear anymore-except his God” (93).
Everyone experiences emotional and physiological obstacles in their life. However, these obstacles are incomparable to the magnitude of the obstacles the prisoners of the Holocaust faced every day. In his memoir, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, illustrates the horrors of the concentration camps and their mental tool. Over the course of Night, Wiesel demonstrates, that exposure to an uncaring, hostile world leads to destruction of faith and identity.
In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl describes his revolutionary type of psychotherapy. He calls this therapy, logotherapy, from the Greek word "logos", which denotes meaning. This is centered on man's primary motivation of his search for meaning. To Frankl, finding meaning in life is a stronger force than any subconscious drive. He draws from his own experiences in a Nazi concentration camp to create and support this philosophy of man's existence.
In “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy,” written by Emily Smith, she talks about how Viktor Frankl made the most of everything. He had nearly nothing while being in the concentration camps, and turned that from a negative to a positive. “As he saw in the camps, those who found meaning even in the most horrendous circumstances were far more resilient to suffering than those who did not” (Smith, E. 2013, January 9. There 's More to Life Than Being Happy). The purpose of the article is to inform the reader that trying to pursue something other than happiness is an important aspect of life. Also, life is what a person does with it; living life with a purpose, whether it be living to an extent or living to the extreme. Viktor Frankl was a Jew who was captured, along with his wife and parents, and kept in a concentration camp for at least three years. By the time he was released, his wife and parents did not make
In literature as in life people experience tragedy and suffering. Survivors of the Holocaust can relate to this in more ways than one. In the memoir, “Night”, by Elie Wiesel, it shows how humans can be cruel and kind. During the memoir, it also shows how courage and hope assist survival. Throughout the memoir, there are situations of dehumanization, cruelty, and suffering. This affects people in a such a way that causes intense diseases that they live with for the rest of their life. In contrast, kindness and compassion can positively affect people in their lives even while suffering through the worst of times. In the memoir, many people are faced with different challenges showing how their courage and faith can help them endure the toughest
In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl tells the honest story of his own experiences as an inmate in a concentration camp during World War II. In his book, Frankl answers the question “How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?” (Frankl, 2006, p. 3) He describes the physical, emotional, and psychological torment that he endured as well as the effect that the camp had on those around him. He breaks down the psychological experience as a prisoner into three stages: the initial shock upon admission into the camp, apathy, and the mental reactions of the prisoner after liberation. He highlights certain emotions experienced throughout the time in the camp such as delusions of reprieve, hope, curiosity, surprise, and even humor.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is filled to the brim with rhetorical devices from all three sections of the text. Particularly in his section about logotherapy, Frankl’s practice to find an individual’s meaning of life, he explores the three main meanings of life: accomplishment, love, and suffering. This area uses a plethora of comparison, such as parallelism and metaphor. Recurring themes are used to draw back to Frankl’s three life meanings, like word repetition and alliteration. Frankl’s use of rhetorical devices allows his audience to focus on their individual possibilities and incorporate his ideology into society.
Long ago, Viktor E. Frankl was a part of the Nazi death camps. From 1942 to 1945, Frankl was forced to work in camps like Aushwitz while his family members perished. He used this experience and his own practice to write about suffering and finding meaning in leaf. His technique, known as logotherapy, believes that man's main drive is not to find pleasure in life. Instead, humanity's goal is to continuously discover and pursue the things that we find meaningful. Due to the immense popularity of his book, Frankl sold 10 million copies by the time he died in 1997.
The Holocaust is regarded as one of the worst events in human history. In fact, the vast majority of those who were sent to a concentration camp perished there. When prisoners view the despair all around them, they find it hard to see meaning behind all the suffering. Life is no longer worth living, so many prisoners see suicide as the only option to escape the pain. As a psychiatrist who was sent to Auschwitz, a concentration camp notorious for its crematoriums, Viktor Frankl has a special perspective on the loss of the will to live that those imprisoned exhibit. In his own words, “Life in a concentration camp tore open the human soul and exposed its depths”(Frankl 94). Frankl discovers in himself not only the shock and apathy he displays, but also the strange hope that comes with imagining his freedom. The brutality of the Holocaust changes Frankl and brings out his true self while teaching him that he and others can survive the worst of terrors by setting a purpose in life, which only they can individually determine.
The book, in autobiographical mode, relates Auschwitz to the life of the author Viktor E. Frankl in the concentration camps of the former Nazi Germany. It reports the cruelty in which the SS soldiers used to mistreat the prisoners and in turn explains how the concentration camp life in the mind of the average prisoner affected.
In this paper I will be analysing/ reflecting on Viktor Frankl’s Man 's Search for Meaning. In my reflection I will compare the main philosophical message of frankl 's experience and try to compare its meaning to my very own life experience. In order to do this I must give you some personal background while growing up I was born with some challenging complications due to a lack of oxygen at birth I was diagnosed with ataxic cerebral palsy. The thing about ataxic cerebral palsy is that it has affected my life in many ways some miniscule others immense. I can write an entire book on my childhood / adolescence and some of the many challenges I have faced but that 's neither here
The premise of Frankl’s book is that mankind’s desire for meaning is much stronger than its desire for power or pleasure and that if man can find meaning in life he can survive anything. Frankl introduces this idea [which he calls the theory of logotherapy] throughout his concentration camp experiences in the book’s first section and delves deeper into it in the second section. Referencing Nietzsche, Frankl tells us “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'” (p. 80). The most important thing to be learned from this statement is that no matter what your circumstances are, you can be happy, or at least survive, if you find a meaning or purpose in life. While in the concentration camp Frankl tells us that in order to maintain his desire to have a meaningful life he focused on three main things: suffering, work, and love. Of sacrifice
In September of 1942, Viktor Frankl was arrested in Vienna and taken to one of the many Nazi death camps. Frankl was working on a manuscript which was confiscated from him in a move to Auschwitz. In this manuscript entitled, The Doctor and the Soul, Frankl had began his work on a theory he would later call logotherapy. The term logotherapy is derived from the Greek word logos, which means meaning. According to logotherapy, the striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man (Frankl 121). Frankl’s theory and therapy generated and grew through his experiences in the concentration camps.
Experiences encompassed in times of struggle can lead to a new transformative perspective of one’s relationship with self and the world. William Shakespeare’s last play “The Tempest” (1610), canvasses loss catalysing rediscovering the importance of life resulting in a greater understanding of how our flaws compromise our humanity. Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan, shows this to be true, moving from a mindset focused on vengeance to a profound discovery of self. Similarly, in “Man’s Search for Meaning” (1946), fulfillment with discovering how we choose to cope and find meaning/purpose in life through unrelenting struggle is illustrated. The three-part non-fiction told by psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, depicts his ordeal inside of concentration camps during the Second World War, elaborating on finding true meaning in life even under the most horrific circumstances. Frankl shares his process of discovery demonstrating his ability to overcome the most overwhelming experience leading to doorway of meaning, purpose and happiness.