Topic > Comparison between Frankl's theory and Elie Wiesel's Night

Viktor Frankl developed a theory based on his experiences and those of other prisoners in a concentration camp. Frankl took these reactions and classified them into stages of psychological reactions. This theory is divided into the three phases that we know today. Phases one, two and three reflect what is happening in the minds of the prisoners and we are able to follow the psyche of the prisoner. In Elie Wiesel's Night he recounts his personal experience in the camps. Comparing his account to Frankl's theory, we can see his cognitive health regressing as his story continues. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayFrankl concluded that phase one began and ended at specific points. Phase one began before the person even became a prisoner. The first distinctive symptom is shocked. Elie's first phase began in the ghettos. Upon arriving in the ghettos, everyone was full of uncertainty and fear. The idea of ​​the Nazis taking over their city was still surreal. “Little by little life returned to 'normal'.” Life in the ghettos would never be the same as life in Transylvania. After Wiesel and the rest of his community were brought to Birkenau, they became more hostile. Elie, however, never seemed hostile. Instead, he longed for the rest of his family. He and his father were separated from his mother and sisters during the first selection in the camps. He said: "There was no time to think, and I already felt my father's hand pressing against mine: we were alone." One of the telltale signs of a prisoner moving from stage one to stage two is emotional death. Elie's emotional death was the death of his god. "Where? This is where they hang from the gallows.” Elie's faith is one of the only things that connects him to his past life, and without it, he would have no reason to live except for his father. The boy, Pipel, is described in the novel as a “sad-eyed angel.” When the boy is mentioned in the novel, he usually knows about God and angels, and when he is hanged, Wiesel loses any remaining faith in his god. After the prisoners severed all ties to their previous lives, they moved into the second phase. The second phase usually begins with a feeling of apathy, the dulling of one's emotions. Being in the camp for more than a few days was enough time to transform the prisoner into a completely different person physically, mentally and emotionally. On Yom Kippur, Wiesel struggled with fasting. His father forbade him to fast; since his God was dead, he had no reason to please him. “Deep inside me I felt a great void opening up.” Wiesel no longer felt emotional or physical pain. He talks about the time Kapo beat him: “It was over. I didn't realize...". Because he no longer felt emotional pain, he could suppress physical pain. Because he was free from suffering, he achieved negative happiness. Negative happiness occurred when a prisoner met the opposite requirements for being happy, such as having a strong relationship with depression rather than happiness. Frankl once said, “Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as a clear and precise image of it is formed.” Finally, after liberation, the prisoners experienced phase three, the final phase. After liberation, they experience their emotions in a wave of euphoria. Once they recover from the trauma, they relax. After Elie's father died, he admitted that he couldn't cry or grieve for him, but he is "finally free." In April, three months after his father's death, he experienced depersonalization. He lost the.