The Sunflower Primary Storyline
When I read the book it all boiled down to me that the main topic being discussed is the word forgiveness. Because the act of forgiveness has complex philosophical, moral, religious or spiritual aspects, it requires and deserves a thoughtful analysis of our beliefs. The main character in the book was a man name Simon Wiesenthal and who was also the author of this book.
The primary story line of the book, Simon Wiesenthal was a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp in Lemborg, Poland.
He did pass a Polish cemetery on a forced journey to a Technical School which had been turned into a make shift hospital. On each grave site a sunflower had been planted, each standing straight. This is where the title of the book derived from. He envied those lying in their graves because they had been properly buried, a sunflower marking their graves, with butterflies flying overhead. He predicted his burial site would be a mass grave.
After arriving at the make-shift hospital, he was secretly led by a nurse to a dying SS member’s bedside. The soldier recalled his past experiences with the Hitler youth group and his volunteering for army duty. The SS soldier described “the terrible thing” he had done and said, “Some time elapsed before I realized what guilt I had incurred. ” Simon couldn’t forgive the soldier and left him in silence. Simon began to doubt his choice to leave the soldier without offering the forgiveness he sought. Simon was shuffled to different work camps until he was sent to Block 6 where death was imminent.
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After the war he joined a commission to investigate war crimes. After seeing a field of sunflowers, he decided to visit the soldier’s mother. After the encounter, his doubts remained. In the concluding paragraph, the author writes, “You, who have just read this sad and tragic episode in my life, can mentally change places with me and ask yourself the question, “What would I have done? ” Issues that emerged There were many issues that emerged from the story. The first of the main issue were where after confirming that Simon was Jewish, a nurse escorts Simon to the bedside of a dying Nazi solider named Karl.
Karl hauntingly recounts his involvement in the horrifying death of a father, a mother, and a dark-eyed child who are brutally shot down after jumping out of a burning building. Simon becomes extremely distressed with the imagery evoked by the untimely demise of the dark-eyed child, especially when he theoretically identifies the child with a six-year old named Eli. Indeed, while recalling the heart-wrenching scenes of the kindergarten extermination, Simon fights the urge to leave the hospital room as the dying soldier continues to recount the rest of his confession.
With sincere remorse in his voice, Karl begs for the forgiveness of a Jew. The irony of this dying soldier’s confession arises from the fact that “a murderer who did not want to be a murderer but who had been made into a murderer by his murderous ideology” was confessing his crime to a man that may die by the hands of these same murderers at any time. Struggling with this ironic dilemma and having an imagery of the child with piercing eyes that questioned the hatred of the world surrounding him, Simon leaves the soldier in complete silence.
Simon seeks and challenges the opinions of his contemporaries about the beliefs on justice, mercy, human responsibility, and forgiveness. Simon had nightmares about the Nazi soldier’s confession. He went back to the hospital too see the Nazi soldier, but the nurse announced he died. The main issues come when Simon fails to understand why the Nazi soldier’s request for forgiveness and should he forgive him. He discussed with his close companions about the issue and heard their point of view. Still having doubts and still not understanding he also brought the situation up to a Polish Catholic Jew who had studied to be a priest.
After hearing his point of view he still had doubts remained. After viewing a field of sunflowers Simon decides to visit the Nazi soldier’s mother and even after the visit doubts still remained. In the end he never figured out what to do. Simon’s Moral Issues Simon’s moral issues in the story were if he should forgive the Nazi soldier after his confession. Did Simon have the right to forgive the Nazi soldier in behalf of the Jews that were killed? Was morally right for Simon not to forgive the soldier after he confessed and acknowledged his wrong doings?
Forgiveness is very complex in the situation Simon is in because of all the pain and suffering the Nazi soldiers brought to him and his people. Even thou Simon could have forgiven the soldier it was still a chance he would be kill from the same people that he would have forgiven. Dalai Lame What is forgiveness? To whom does it matter and why? After reading Dalai comments on “The Sunflower”, Dalai believes that forgiveness is a part of the way we live our lives out spiritually. He stated that one should forgive the person or persons who have committed atrocities against oneself and mankind.
If your religion state to you to live your life to a certain guideline and forgiveness is a part of that guide then the victim doesn’t really have a choice to forgive because it’s the right thing to do according to their religion. No matter how big the atrocity or act brought against a person the victim should forgive. Who has the right to forgive? According to Dalai comment, every human has the right to forgive. Any person who had an act brought against them has the right to forgive. Through religion God gives human beings the right to forgive.
If God forgives someone, does it settle everything? Through Dalai’s comments the answer will be yes. Dalai is standing in the mythos looking at the situation where religion and God is the center piece of life. God is the supreme ruler and everything he says goes so once God has forgiven you then everything is settle even if the victim doesn’t forgive you. Who decides if someone is forgiven, the victim; perpetrator; the Law; God? According to Dalai, the victim decides if someone is forgiven because in religion there is confession and the perpetrator confesses their wrong doings to the victim.
The perpetrator then seeks forgiveness from the victim and the victim then has the power to decide to forgive or not to forgive. Should the Nazi officer be forgiven? If so, by whom? Why ; why not? According to Dalai, the Nazi officer should be forgiven because since forgiveness is a part of our spirituality and religion it has been labeled as the right thing to do. Eva Fleischner (Professor Emerita of Religion at Montclair State University) What is forgiveness? To whom does it matter and why? Through Eva’s comments you can see that she is standing more in the logos as she views forgiveness and the situation in the story.
She is claiming that forgiveness is more of a selfish act for the perpetrator than the victim. The perpetrator is only seeking a peace of mind for him as he prepared to leave this world. Who has the right to forgive? According to Eva’s comment, the victim could forgive if they choose too but how forgiveness is going to benefit the victim. So she is practically saying that the victim shouldn’t give forgiveness because it is not benefiting them in any way to make up for whatever pain or suffering that’s been carried out by the perpetrator.
If God forgives someone, does it settle everything? Well Eva is standing more in the logos rather than the mythos looking at forgiveness. So, she doesn’t think that if God forgives someone that everything will be settled. She thinks that the victim should receive some type of reward or anything that is beneficial before they can get some type of forgiveness. Who decides if someone is forgiven, the victim; perpetrator; the Law; God? According to Eva’s comment, the victim decides if someone is forgiven because they have a choice to forgive or not to forgive.
The victim is also not judged for whichever one they choose because they are viewing it from a logos standpoint. Should the Nazi officer be forgiven? If so, by whom? Why ; why not? According to Eva, the Nazi officer shouldn’t be forgiven because the victim isn’t benefitting anything from it. Instead of the Nazi officer seeking forgiveness he should try to do something that will help the Jews in some way. Harold S. Kushner (Rabbi Laureate of Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts) What is forgiveness? To whom does it matter and why?
Through Harold’s comment, forgiveness is where the perpetrator who seeks forgiveness is trying to free themselves from what they used to be and becoming a new person. He is standing in the mythos looking and examining forgiveness. The perpetrator doesn’t need a victim to forgive them and that forgiveness is between the perpetrator and God. Who has the right to forgive? Harold was stating that forgiveness comes from God, and it comes when God chooses to grant it, not when we want to. God’s forgiveness is something that happens inside us, not inside God. Harold is claiming that he perpetrator has the right to forgive their self and that God gave us the miracle to forgive ourselves just once we confess our wrong doings to him. If God forgives someone, does it settle everything? Through Harold’s thinking, then the answer will be yes that when God forgives someone everything will be settled. Harold’s point of view is that God could only grant forgiveness that is within us. Who decides if someone is forgiven, the victim; perpetrator; the Law; God? According to Harold, forgiveness is decided by God because only he can grant us the ability to forgive ourselves where the perpetrator can leave their wrong doings behind.
Should the Nazi officer be forgiven? If so, by whom? Why ; why not? According to Harold, the Nazi officer has the right to forgive himself once he confess his wrong doings to God and leave his wrong doings behind. Lawrence L. Langer (Professor Emeritus of English at Simmons College in Boston) What is forgiveness? Examining forgiveness Lawrence was standing more in the logos where he put a measurement on acts that can be forgiven, where some acts can be forgiven and some acts are just unforgivable. Who has the right to forgive?
Lawrence is stating that man controls forgiveness and we have the choice to forgive according to the act that has been made against the victim. Such as in “The Sunshine” , the Nazi soldier didn’t deserve forgiveness because of how great the bad in the act that he carried out. If God forgives someone, does it settle everything? Lawrence is claiming that God doesn’t have anything to do with forgiveness and that man controls forgiveness. We control who can be forgiven and who is unforgivable this decides how everything will be settled. Who decides if someone is forgiven, the victim; perpetrator; the Law; God?
The victim decides when someone is forgiven. The victim can choose to forgive a perpetrator according to how great the bad act that was carried out on the victim. Should the Nazi officer be forgiven? According to Lawrence, the Nazi officer should not have been forgiven because his wrong doings are so bad that they are un forgivable. Manes Sperber (Austrian-French novelist, essayist, and psychologist) What is forgiveness? According to Manes, forgiveness is what people seek to have a peace of mind after all their wrong doings when they are on the verge of death.
In the story “The Sunflower” the soldier only came to realization of his wrong doings on his death bed and wanted to seek forgiveness from any Jew to have a clear conscience. Who has the right to forgive? The victim has the right to forgive, however the perpetrator will be benefitting more from the forgiveness. Sperber is standing in the logos where he is looking at directly right and wrong and also fair and unfair. It will be unfair for the victim to also give mental peace to the perpetrator after the wrong he did. If God forgives someone, does it settle everything?
Sperber is looking at it from a logos perspective where God doesn’t have anything to do with forgiveness. Showing that forgiveness is between man and is a complex issue between man. The victim either can choose to forgive or can choose not to forgive. Who decides if someone is forgiven, the victim; perpetrator; the Law; God? The victim decides if someone is forgiven because the perpetrator seeking forgiveness is a selfish act. Perpetrator only seeks to have peace of mind and the victim can choose to give it to them or not. Should the Nazi officer be forgiven?
The Sunflower Primary Storyline. (2018, Nov 23). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-the-sunflower/
