Comparing Despelder And Strickland's The Last Dance
In Viktor Frankl’s novel, A Man’s Search for Meaning, he starts by describing the stages he stages he noticed the prisoners go through while in the camps. Eventually he gets to the complete and utter apathy that one experiences when they are faced with traumatic things everyday. In DeSpelder and Strickland’s, The Last Dance, they describe different attitudes towards death and how many cultures view death as “not as a means to an end but as a change of status” and in Frankl’s story I feel as though the prisoners started off with this mindset (DeSpelder & Strickland). However, as they experienced more traumas, their views completely changed to feel nothing at all. It really emphasizes the psychology of this era and the intense observations that
…show more content…
Frankl described a two day period where he was sick and was allowed to rest and sleep for those two days. He recalls that in those moments he was experiencing pleasure and maybe even happiness. He goes on to explain that a person came and documented the conditions of the camp and took pity on those in the sick rooms. However, Frankl explains that he didn't find the pictures terrible because the people in them might not have been so unhappy after all. This brings me to Frankl’s complete account of the little pleasures that he experienced in the camps. While they were few and far between (Frankl once only counted two within a months time) they were present and sometimes in the form of art and humor. Art being the shows that were put on and the color of the sky at twilight. Humor in the form of jokes that in retrospect were not funny but provided a brief flash of relief from the realties of the camps. In The Last Dance the authors describe humor as way to “defuse our anxiety about death” (DeSpelder & Strickland). They quote James Thorson, “We make fun of which threatens us” which is exactly what Frankl and the other prisoners did. Frankl explains that “humor…can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds” and I believe that really encompasses the point made by DeSpelder and
Frankl described a two day period where he was sick and was allowed to rest and sleep for those two days. He recalls that in those moments he was experiencing pleasure and maybe even happiness. He goes on to explain that a person came and documented the conditions of the camp and took pity on those in the sick rooms. However, Frankl explains that he didn't find the pictures terrible because the people in them might not have been so unhappy after all. This brings me to Frankl’s complete account of the little pleasures that he experienced in the camps. While they were few and far between (Frankl once only counted two within a months time) they were present and sometimes in the form of art and humor. Art being the shows that were put on and the color of the sky at twilight. Humor in the form of jokes that in retrospect were not funny but provided a brief flash of relief from the realties of the camps. In The Last Dance the authors describe humor as way to “defuse our anxiety about death” (DeSpelder & Strickland). They quote James Thorson, “We make fun of which threatens us” which is exactly what Frankl and the other prisoners did. Frankl explains that “humor…can afford an aloofness and an ability to rise above any situation, even if only for a few seconds” and I believe that really encompasses the point made by DeSpelder and