Human organism easily adapts to practically all the environments. It is able to survive on scarce food and water supplies and gets used to cold or unbearable heat. Such conditions harden people and make them more endurable. However, among those things which are destructive for people’s health, stress is the most dangerous. There is no way a person can avoid health deterioration in stress conditions; all that a human organism can do is develop defense mechanisms which, though they do not protect from negative influence of the environment, distract a person from the direct source of stress. Among such defense mechanisms, there may be detachment, devaluation, displacement, dissociation, denial, and a number of others (Schwebel 67). In case with the characters of Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber such defense mechanisms as acting out, denial, and displacement are the most evident.
To begin with, the cases of acting out can be observed in some characters of the text under consideration. Acting out is one of the most dangerous defense mechanisms (Fehr 102). It is characterized by the translation of the inner conflict of a person into aggression towards people who surround this person. For instance, during a conversation about the religion, one of the characters got angry at another one with practically no reason: “Cant’s somebody shut him up? He’s been raving as if he’d caught God himself by the feet” (Borowski 2310). The unfavorable environment was the key factor for the development of this defense mechanism.
Another defense mechanism which can be noticed in the story’s character is denial. A great example is the Frenchman which the author describes at the beginning of the story. He seemed to be not noticing the poor conditions in which people were kept. He treated them as something temporary and often ignored what was taking place around him: “Henri, the Frenchman, dreams aloud of the French wine brought by the transports from Strasbourg, Paris, Marseille” (Borowski 2308). Denial is the most primitive defense mechanism which consists in simply ignoring the stressful factors. At first, it may be confused with mere optimism; in reality, however, it is the defense mechanism developing in response to the stressful environment.
Finally, displacement can also be vividly traced among the prisoners of Auschwitz. In general, displacement is “the redirection of strong feelings about one person to someone else” (Milliken 231). This takes place when a person is unable to hurt the one who hurts him/her and wreaks the anger on somebody who is weaker. This defense mechanism can be observed in most of the prisoners described in the book. It is best illustrated in the episode when the workers attack the train with Jewish prisoners and take their possessions. On the one hand, they need them to survive; on the other hand, however, they are violent with them because there are people who also make their lives miserable and who they are unable to oppose. Thus, displacement is developed in the workers in response to the way they are treated.
In sum, such defense mechanisms as acting out, denial, and displacement are among those numerous which can be observed in the characters of Borowski’s Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber. All these defense mechanisms are developed in response to the environment in which the workers were kept and the way they were treated.
Works Cited
Borowski, Tadeusz. “Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber.” Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed., vol. 2. Lawall, et al., eds. New York: Norton, 2006. 2307-2320.
Fehr, Scott S. Introduction to Group Therapy: A Practical Guide. London and New York: Routledge, 2003.
Milliken, Mary E. Understanding Human Behavior: A Guide for Health Care Providers. London: Cengage Learning, 2004.
Schwebel, Milton. Behavioral Science and Human Survival. New York: iUniverse, 2003.