Schindler's List Of Jews example essay topic

Today and forever in the future we will look back and reflect on the past, the good experiences, the bad experiences. However, the bad experiences always seem to be the most remembered. This is because the bad experiences the world has suffered have been horrific in many cases and have ultimately changed the way we live today. Authors and composers continue to recap the happenings of the past through novels, reports, movies, articles and much more. But do they really grasp the ideas? Do they really know how the people of the world suffered in the recounts they produce, when they really happened?

It appears today that some composers have more ideas than others, what life was really like in these times and the way they present their work shows this. Two of many examples convey the times of the past to do with dehumanization include; "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the film "Schindler's List" directed by Steven Spielberg. Schindler's List is the true story of Oskar Schindler, a very well respected man. A native German, he relocated to Coro con, Poland after it fell into German hands so he could on Jewish labour at slave wages. There he established an enamelware factory and made obscene amounts of money, while wining, dining and bribing nazi officials to get his way. But while Schindler was profiting from the Jews work, he became disgusted by the way they were being treated.

He slowly became more sympathetic towards the Jews, his attitude changing while realizing that what was happening was wrong and that he could do something about it. He began to use his money and his influence to bring more Jews into his factory, a haven where they were not beaten or killed. Or as Mr Welsh placed it; "Schindler used his power to gain things for himself then used it for the Jews."By the end of World War II., Schindler's List of Jews to be saved had grown to over 1,000, and he ended up spending his entire future to buy their lives from the Nazi's". Solzheitsyn's novel; is based around the camp life of some political prisoners who were being prosecuted under Stalin's rulings. These "prison camps" were initiated by Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 until 1956, who constructed one of the tightest and toughest Communisim's in history. In relation to this book; being a prisoner at a "special camp" meant that you had rebelled against Stalin's system of government and you could face imprisonment unjustly with sentences for as long as 25 years.

Emily described the novel saying; "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, is a personal or exposition of the personal trials of an individual set in one moment in a historical period " Both composers have put forward similar themes in that both pieces have similar content area's of dehumanization, persecution of innocence, and self". A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a personal account or an exposition of the personal trials of an individual set in one moment in a historical period."Whereas Schindler's List is more of a historical recount of a certain horrific period of time presented in visual form featuring some personalities to fully convey the concept of the story". In Schindler's list, dehumanization played a major theme; being prominently displayed throughout the entire film. Acts of dehumanization such as the stripping of clothes and the cutting of hair and even more to the point; the actual killing of the Jews can be seen during numerous periods during the course of the movie. Also displaying dehumanization, several verbal comments are thrown into the story; for example; "I realise you are not a person in the strictest sense of the world", a statement made by the character Amon Goeth when referring to his Jewish servant is not only very degrading for a person's feelings but is a very good example of dehumanization at it's worst". In Ivan Denisovich, dehumanization stands out in the sending of the prisoners to the cells, the powerful restrictions and basically their very poor treatment" stated Nicole.

A simple example like not being able to wear underclothing in - 44 degrees Celsius weather just so the prisoners would be uncomfortable is an example of dehumanization. Again, like in Schindler's List, dehumanization is the main theme of Ivan Denisovich and is also displayed throughout the entire novel. Schindler's List also raises particular themes relating to the persecution of human innocence. Simply killing off the Jewish religion because they were "Jews" is persecuting the innocent. As Nicole said; "Killing people because of their beliefs; religiously and culturally is just wrong".

The theme of "persecuting the innocent" is also prominent in the novel Ivan Denisovich, where as to start with the "political prisoners" were unjustly imprisoned in the first place. All of whom who suffered by being a prisoner in that camp were imprisoned for treason, imprisoned because they had apparently rebelled against Stalin's system of government. Both reports have very similar views on dehumanization and the miss treatment of human beings, and this is shown by the similarity between the two texts. Both accounts have received much crepitation for their content, emotion and fine craftsmanship.

Solzheitsyn's novel receiving a Nobel Prize in literature and Speilberg's "Schindler's List" receiving quite a few academy awards, only showing furthermore that both composers have done an excellent job in portraying to the media just how bad times really were.