Topic > Thomas Keneally's Schindler's List: Destruction of Human Oppression

Despite countless, award-winning reminders of indifference throughout history, the persecution depicted in Thomas Keneally's Schindler's List against the Jewish people during the Holocaust remains a significant demonstration of human harm oppression. Thomas Keneally's novel titled Schindler's List should be the recipient of the 2019 Richardson Book Award as it opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression and the importance of combating incivility within contemporary society by addressing the horrific despotism against the Jews during the Holocaust. Throughout the novel, the eye-opening destructive nature of human oppression is depicted through the dehumanizing attitudes, lack of freedom, emotional harm, and physical mutilation associated with the Jewish population in Germany during the Holocaust. For starters, the dehumanizing attitude towards the Jewish population opens readers' eyes through the lack of identity offered to the Jewish population and its depiction of the animalistic treatment of Jewish prisoners. Subsequently, the harmful temperament of oppression resulting from the lack of freedom possessed by Jews opens the readers' eyes through the description of compulsory labor and lack of freedom of speech in Germany. Third, the destructive emotional damage suffered by Jews during the Holocaust opens readers' eyes through the illustration of prisoners' dreams and their postwar apprehensions. Finally, the physical devastation of the Jewish prisoners opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression through the depiction of the Jews' lethal massacres and the prisoners' self-inflicted wounds. Overall, it is evident that the horrific effects of indifference described in Schindler's List open readers' eyes to the destructive cost of oppression and push individuals to recognize and resist the growing indifference within contemporary society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To begin, it is evident that Schindler's List deserves to win the 2019 Richardson Book Award as its depiction of Germany's dehumanizing treatment of the Jewish population opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression and the importance of combat incivility within modern society. In Thomas Keneally's Holocaust novel, the expectation that the Jewish population will repress their former individual identities and adopt the characteristics of an oppressed group really opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression, as Jewish prisoners were forced to wear specific prison clothing. When new Jewish prisoners are admitted to the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, the impediment of their unique identities resulting from oppression is illustrated when an Austrian commander states: “all Jewish prisoners must abandon any remnants of civilian clothes they still possess to the railway tracks and must wear striped prison clothes otherwise they will be shot." It is evident that the abandonment of Jewish civilian clothes allows readers to understand the annihilation of identity among the oppressed, as the prisoners are considered a group of abominable striped convicts rather than individual human beings. The loss of identity among captive Jews resulting from prisoner clothing also allows readers to recognize the destructive power of oppression on individuality and insinuates the need to resist the enforced conformity that is regeneratingin modern society. Subsequently, Schindler's List opens readers' eyes to the destruction of human oppression through its horrific depiction of the animalistic treatment of Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust. When the Jewish prisoners were forced to abandon their former freedom and begin the journey to the concentration camps, one prisoner states that the captive Jews “were waiting for the new decisive symbol of their status, the cattle car, to be pulled with a heavy engine through their field of vision. Now, the cattle cars told them, we are all beasts together.” The horrific practice of forcing Jewish prisoners into cattle cars demonstrates the barbaric treatment that accompanies oppression, as Austrian SS officials confine their human prisoners in enclosures designed for large ruminant animals. The animalistic treatment of captive Jews resulting from the cattle cars allows readers to recognize the destructive power of oppression on human mortality and insinuates the need to encourage civilized behavior within modern society. As a result of the novel's horrific depiction of how dehumanizing indifference can destroy unique human identities, it is clear that Schindler's List deserves to win the 2019 Richardson Book Award, as it opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression and the importance to encourage civilized behavior in today's society. Next, Schindler's List deserves to win the 2019 Richardson Book Award, as its depiction of the Jewish population's lack of freedom opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression and the importance of standing up to indifference. In Thomas Keneally's novel, the impediment to freedom resulting from oppression is presented when the novel states: “When the first snow fell, Schindler noticed and became irritated when, on any given day, 60 or more of his Jewish employees were absent . They would have been stopped by SS squads on their way to work and employed in clearing snow." Here, Thomas Keneally allows readers to understand the blatant destruction that oppression wreaks on the freedoms of hard-working individuals, as workers were tyrannized on their way to the factory, solely because of their Jewish origin. Likewise, the depiction of the forced labor of the Jewish people allows readers to understand the power of indifference, holistically appreciate their modern freedom, and understand the importance of opposing indifference. Secondly, Schindler's List opens readers' eyes to the destruction of human oppression and the importance of combating indifference through its depiction of the lack of freedom of speech possessed by Jews within the concentration camps. The harmful impact of hindering free speech is exemplified when Oskar states: “Frances Spira's ten-year-old son watched from the balcony. In order not to scream, he had put his fist in his mouth, because there were so many SS men in the courtyard who would have shot him without hesitation." This passage allows readers to recognize how oppression destroys individuals' freedoms, as young Jewish prisoners were forced to suppress their voices for fear of being killed. Furthermore, the lack of free speech by Jews in the concentration camps allows readers to understand how indifference hinders the decisions of oppressed individuals. Overall, it is clear that Schindler's List deserves to win the 2019 Richardson Book Award, as its depiction of coercion and lack of freedom opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression and inspiresindividuals to oppose indifference to live in a world with unhindered freedom. Schindler's List deserves to win the 2019 Richardson Book Award, as its portrayal of the emotional suffering endured by Jews during the Holocaust opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression and the importance of standing up to incivility within society contemporary. Within the novel, Keneally vividly describes the emotional suffering that comes from destructive oppression when he describes that the Jewish prisoners "awoke from dreams of exile and dispossession to find themselves exiled and dispossessed in a crowded room in Podgorze – the events of their dreams, the same taste of fear in dreams, finding continuity in the fears of the day.” Here, readers are able to understand the emotional destruction caused by oppressionJewish prisoners endure frightening nightmares about their reality The prisoners' dreams suggest further tells readers that the emotional destruction of oppression is inevitable and constant, as prisoners are unable to deliberately or unconsciously escape their fears. Furthermore, the emotional trauma suffered by Jewish prisoners of the Holocaust allows readers to understand how the 'indifference hinders the emotional health of oppressed individuals and to open their eyes to the importance of opposing indifference within contemporary society. Subsequently, the emotional suffering of the Jewish population within the novel opens readers' eyes to the destruction of human oppression and the importance of fighting indifference. Within the novel, the emotional trauma and stress resulting from the oppression of the Holocaust is exemplified by Richard's PTSD. After witnessing the gruesome hanging of numerous Jewish prisoners on scaffolding as a young boy, when Richard is finally returned to his mother, the novel states: "[...] after what he had seen of the scaffolding in Kraków-Płaszów and Auschwitz, his mother he could never take him to the playground without him becoming hysterical at the sight of the swings.” The emotional trauma Richard suffered allows readers to recognize how oppression destroys the emotional well-being and development of individuals, as young Jewish prisoners were forced to witness horrific murders. Overall, it is clear that Schindler's List deserves to win the 2019 Richardson Book Award, as its depiction of the emotional suffering endured by Jews during the Holocaust opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression. the emotional trauma suffered by the Jewish population during and after the Holocaust opens readers' eyes to the importance of opposing incivility within contemporary society, as it demonstrates the emotional impact of oppression if left unchecked. Schindler's List deserves to win the Richardson 2019 Book Award, as its depiction of the physical devastation of the Jewish population within German concentration camps opens readers' eyes to the destructive nature of oppression and the importance of standing up to indifference. By reading Thomas Keneally's novel, readers can understand how oppression destroys the physical well-being of individuals when the Jewish inhabitants of Germany were brutally hunted down and killed. The novel describes the German commanders who "burst into the niches of the attics, the false ceilings, the chests of the cellars, and found Jews who had maintained a hopeful silence all day". The text then indicates that “more than 4,000 of these people were discovered during the night and executed in the streets.” Here, readers are able to understand the physical destruction caused by oppression, as thousands of..