In the amazing world of literature, there are so many works which help to evaluate this life, person’s role in this world, and the principles that are so important for self-improvement.
Among the variety of literary works, it is very difficult to define the one that perfectly depicts people’s hopes, dreams, and thoughts which are inherent to every day life with its own rules and demands. In this paper, I want to underline two works: one is written by Philip Hallie Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of the Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There and another is represented by Hannah Arendt Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.
These authors paid certain attention to the Nazi community and their ideas of how to conquer the world and make the roles of other people less important and less dominant. These two works represent a beautiful and at the same time the most terrible picture of how people may suffer because of violence as they have already chosen non-violent resistance to brutality introduced by the Nazis.
In fact, each person is a kind of cog in a certain machine; and I would like to believe that the machine that influences my personal life and depicts my role in it is all about my family and people around. Hallie and Arendt represented an idea according to which people became cogs under a certain pressure from the outside and suffered because of injustice, violence, and power that was a part of the machine in their world.
I truly believe that each person makes an attempt to analyze his/her personal life and the results of actions that have been done on purpose or accidentally at least once in his/her life. This is why to achieve better understanding of this life, it is possible to read books that touch upon numerous philosophical and vital issues and make use of information from such books. When I was questioned whether I realized that I was a cog in a certain machine, I could not really comprehend what kind of answer had to be given.
I did not want to believe that I was a part of something and even more I was a cog in the machine I knew nothing about. After I read Hallie’s Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, my understanding of the question had been changed considerably. It becomes clear that each community people live in is already a kind of machine that cannot be destroyed or neglected. There are also a number of machines which try to gain recognition and achieve the desirable purposes and power.
My awareness of Nazi’s actions and intentions allows me realize that they made people suffer, they killed innocent, and they never felt sorry about their actions. The Nazi domination over the European countries was indestructible. It was impossible to resist their power and abilities. However, brave people who lived in Le Chambon made a glamorous attempt to say “No” to the Nazis and their superiority and decided to risk their lives in order to save innocent Jews from death. Hallie’s story turns out to be helpful from many perspectives.
On the one hand, it describes the historical period of time when the Nazis enthralled and killed people without any reasons. On the other hand, this story helps to build proper characters in people. The concept of morality is usually neglected during the educational processes, this is why it is extremely important to pay attention to such books and learn a lot from them.
Though many people regard the Nazis as a strongly negative group of people whose intentions and actions were immoral only, it is possible to admit that their role in the world is still very important. People suffered because of the Nazi’s regime; people tried to fight against their actions; and people developed the most powerful and significant traits of their characters. This development serves a good lesson for future generations and demonstrates how talented and brave people can be in the face of danger or death.
Hallie as well as Arendt based their works on the past experience of people who had to face the Nazi’s power and who had to find out more courage to cope with all difficulties. Their works describe the ways of how people should overcome violence and be able to help the others to do the same.
Those who want to improve their lives and live in accordance to justice and rules can find many captivating ideas in the works under consideration. Author’s attention to both Nazi’s intentions and Jews’ actions help to comprehend how it is possible to define personal place in this world, not to be subdued by supreme power, and consider personal interests and living principles.
Is it possible to define my own role in the machine that is called society and family right now? I think it is. These two books make me believe that each person is a part of a certain community, a certain machine that follows its own rules and meet all the necessary requirements. The machine I belong to is my family with definite religious preferences and views concerning this life. I cannot agree to the idea that I am only a cog in this machine. My role seems to be more crucial and important in everyday life.
I have my personal standpoints and I am able to share them with the others. Each person can easily do something to improve this world and become a worthwhile part of it. My role as the role of each human being is to assist, to promote, and to evaluate the constituents of this life. This is why it is not enough to comprehend this fact but accept it as an integral part of my own being.
In general, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Hallie and Eichmann in Jerusalem by Arendt are the two literary works that help their readers realize that life and its difficulties are impossible to overcome. It does not matter what challenges are on the way, it is always very important to remember about personal principles and the rights of other people in order to not break any moral rules.
And it becomes necessary to find out more powers, more courage, and more ideas on how to become stronger and define personal place in this life and in the chosen machine. The idea of people’s belonging to one concrete machine is captivating indeed. The world may also be regarded as a machine with a complex structure, and its parts have to work properly altogether. Right now I belong to my family machine and play an important role in it.