Tim Pham

Mrs. Housepian/Mr. Conner

English 2H; Period 5
24 March 2016

Wars Creation of Emotional Death

War has many negative effects within the nations in which it happens, emotional death
being one of them, as the victims are exposed to the death of others for so long that it no longer
affects them. As all the guards were distracted, one prisoner sought out for the cauldrons of soup:
Every heart trembled, but with envy above all...Jealousy consumed us...never thought for a
moment of admiring him..In our thoughts we were murdering him (Wiesel 66-67), which
connects with I remember i found the soup excellent that evening(Wiesel 70). The hiding
prisoners watched one of their own die trying to get food and rejoiced at his death. The prisoners
at this point are so deprived of a humans basic needs that their actions and thoughts are no
longer humane. They view anothers death as a positive thing as it will increase their own chance
of living, as there would be ever so slightly more food. This nonexistent or positive reaction
towards the death of others is seen in many other parts of the story as well. Prisoners who broke
the rules and were caught were sometimes hung, the authors reaction as well as the reaction of
others can be seen when he states "I witnessed other hangings. I never saw a single one of the
victims weep. For a long time those dried up bodies had forgotten the bitter taste of tears" (70).
The prisoners no longer cried at the death of others or even close ones. At this point in the story,
the prisoners have been through so much and experienced so many deaths that the death of others
no longer bothers them. Because of the war, they are now used to seeing people die in front of
them and move on as if it was normal. Most of, if not all of the survivors of the holocaust

experienced an emotional death, as the war had scarred them and they were no longer capable of
feeling sympathy for others.