After Auschwitz Poem Analysis

Is the extinction of humankind possible? “After Auschwitz” is a poem by Anne Sexton; the poem is about an individual that is in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War Two. Auschwitz concentration camp was known as a death-camp, a camp that was made for the extermination of the Jewish peoples. Since death was a normal occurrence there, the speaker expresses the anger and despairs he or she feels towards humanity as a result of all the death that is taking place in the camp.
In the beginning of the poem the speaker says, “Each day, each Nazi took, at 8:00 A.M., a baby and sauteed him for breakfast in a frying pan.” The fact that the individual adds, “sauteed him for breakfast,” helps readers understand the ease in which the Nazis kill babies first thing in the morning without any
The speaker notes, “And death looks on with a casual eye and picks at the dirt under his fingernail.” The point that the speaker is trying to get across is that the Nazis are a symbol of death in the eyes of the Jews. The Jewish people dying in the camp means nothing to the Nazis. It is as if they were taking a walk in the park. That is why the speaker adds, “picks at the dirt under his fingernail,” to help the reader understand the ease in which the Nazis kill the jews.
Finally, the individual lets the readers know that humankind disappearing would be good, for the reason that he or she sees the atrocities that man is capable of committing. The individual asserts, “Man is evil... Man is a flower that should be burnt.” This allows the readers to understand that the speaker sees humans as beautiful creatures, but it is impossible to unsee all the evil that the Nazis have done to the Jewish people, thus not wanting for anybody else to go through such a horrible ordeal, wishes that humankind would disappear or in the speaker’s words, “should be