What would you do if everything you held dear to you, your decisions, your power, your will to live, your life taken away from you? Imagine a life with no food, no clothes, harsh working conditions, mass killings and widespread outbreak of epidemics when we
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What would you do if everything you held dear to you, your decisions, your power,
your will to live, your life taken away from you? Imagine a life with no food, no clothes, harsh working conditions, mass killings
and widespread outbreak of epidemics when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”,
says Austrian neurologist and psychologist Viktor Frankl in his book Man’s search for meaning. He chronicles his experiences of three years as a prisoner in the nazi concentration camp during World war II.
SUMMARY
The memoir revolves during the entire course of the book around finding meaning and purpose to life in sufferings and adversities The book focuses on love, hope, responsibility ,inner freedom and the beauty to be found in both nature and art as means that helps one to endure and overcome harrowing
experiences.
•Purpose of selecting this book
It is an universal problem people, especially the the youth face today to find meaning, to find purpose to life and reason to live This Rationale has been a great contributor for choosing this book for my review”.
ANALYSIS
The book brings into light brutal treatments, harsh realities and the physical and emotional suffering the prisoners endured The author has written a beautiful line which states “Everything can taken from a man but one thing, the last of human freedoms, to choose one’s way. This power of choice every individual has even if everything else is snatched and encapsulates the essence of Frankl’s philosophy
•Themes
The book talks about universal themes like life transience, courage, dignity and finding meaning in agonies
Writing style
Frankl’s writing is simple yet poetic at times to develop a connect with the readers. Lines like “what is to give light must endure ‘burning’ resonate sacrifices for growth and positive impact on the reading audience.
PERSONAL RESPONSE
Reading man’s search for meaning felt like revisiting some moments of my life. I often wondered what really was the meaning of life and why did I do what I did because at when when I die all that I have will be left behind and every second of my life will be in vain. There were two instances. when I got my answer. First when the author says that those who have a why to live can bear with almost any how and second when he says, “the salvation of man is through love and in love. “It made me realise how our loved ones impact our lives significantly and never leave our side in hardships and when I say this, it does not necessarily mean physical presence but memories and experiences of them. Despite of the dehumanizing conditions Frankl writes in his book how he found solace and strength in thinking about his wife. Even though he was unaware of if she was alive or dead, her image gave the him the reason to not give up. This highlights how love can provide hope and purpose is despair.
CONCLUSION
This book by Dr. Viktor is not just piece of writing but a life guide. It fills the readers with great of optimism and courage and reminds us of the strength which lies in every human spirit. Life is worth living no matter the circumstances because meaning is always within reach or as the author says, “Life is never mad unbearable by circumstances but only by lack of purpose.”
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