Apathy to Human Suffering Essay - 920 Words

The suffering of the world is often captivated in the work of the great poets like Robert Frost and W. H Auden. The similarities between Frosts Design and Audens Musee des Beaux Arts include the belief that the world may be blind to human suffering and to that that causes the suffering. Apathy by the part of the human being is explained either by sheer ignorance of a greater power or by lack of time to consider the existence of such a power that controls the fate of humanity and all that is present in the world. Robert Frosts Design describes plainly a picture that contains the outmost rarities in nature. I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, / On a white heal-all, holding up a moth / Like a white piece of rigid satin†¦show more content†¦The assorted characters of death are all the associations of funeral rites that are included in these lines. Even the word right, when read in continuation with the next line, turns into its homophone rite and that rite into the makings of the witches broth by using the ingredients, which include the rare spider, flower and the dead wings of the moth. The design is then most apparent in the next stanza of the poem when Frost questions what has brought the white spider to the top of the rare heal-all flower and what has brought the white moth to the death in the night. What but design of darkness to appall?-- / If design govern in a thing so small (Frost 13-14). The whiteness of the elements in a picture that is painted so dark appalls the narrator and poses the question of the fate of the world in the hands of darkness. If a picture that seems so innocent and so white can hold within itself such darkness and design, then how much design do our own lives hold? Frost believes that if darkness can be at work in such a small design, then certainly darkness must be at the reins of our own fate and that if darkness is so evident on a design so white and apparently good, then any design that holds darkness must be infinitely more dark and evil. W. H. Auden starts Musee des Beaux Arts byShow MoreRelatedMean s Search For Meaning By Viktor Frankl1711 Words   |  7 Pageswhat would happen next. Phase two, Apathy. The reactions from the previous phase began to disappear within a few days. All the prisoners were invaded by a symptom of apathy, which reached a kind of emotional death, their feelings disappear at the sight of dark things that happen every day (like the child who gets his feet to ice and is half pulls the fingers with a pair of pliers), until in the end these scenes become habitual and accustomed to them. This apathy was a necessary mechanism of self-defenseRead MoreAnalysis Of Viktor Frankls Mans Search For Meaning808 Words   |  4 PagesMans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is similar to the previous reading assignment, All Quiet on the Western Front in many aspects. Both are centralized around the gruesome horrors that come with human conflict, in addition, the texts also do a wonderful job at taking a look deep into the human psyche. In light of this, it is important to note that All quiet on the Western Front is considered a historical fiction novel, this is where the sources differ. Man’s Search for Meaning is a historicalRead MoreCompassion Fatigue Essay778 Words   |  4 Pagesby a strong desire to alleviate the suffering† (Compassion, n.d.). Nurses and other health care providers provide selfless service, tireless dedication, compassion, and often neglect their personal needs, which makes them susceptible to experience an emotional problem called compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue has been described as a state experienced by those helping people in distress; it is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degreeRead MoreHomer s Iliad And Thucydides s History Of The Peloponnesian War1375 Words   |  6 Pagessimultaneously. In the respective texts, that which Achilles and the Athenians encounter prove they will not exist in harmony for â€Å"human nature† is â€Å"incapable of controlling passion† and â€Å"the enemy of anything superiorâ₠¬  (HPW 3.84). When Achilles does not receive his earned honor after battle and death’s toll from the war blurs the Athenians’ identity, their grief causes apathy. 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Hamlet is frustrated with his mothers haste marriage and believes he is responsible to avenge his father’s death mercilessly. Hamlet’s arrogance, carelessness and his indecisiveness are the human flaws that influence his mordant behaviour and the hamartiaRead MoreThe American Poster Family For Today s Society1072 Words   |  5 Pagessympathy and apathy? Merriam Webster defines them as follows: Empathy: the feeling that you understand and share another person s experiences and emotions: the ability to share someone else s feelings (Webster, n.d.) Sympathy: the feeling that you care about and are sorry about someone else s trouble, grief, misfortune, etc.: a sympathetic feeling (Webster, n.d.) Apathy: the feeling of not having much emotion or interest: an apathetic state (Webster, n.d.) Let us explore first, the last. Apathy. A lackRead MoreThe Holocaust : The Human Soul And Exposed Its Depths927 Words   |  4 Pages The Holocaust is regarded as one of the worst events in human history. In fact, the vast majority of those who were sent to a concentration camp perished there. When prisoners view the despair all around them, they find it hard to see meaning behind all the suffering. Life is no longer worth living, so many prisoners see suicide as the only option to escape the pain. As a psychiatrist who was sent to Auschwitz, a concentration camp notorious for its crematoriums, Viktor Frankl has a special perspectiveRead MoreThe Goals of Hinduism and Buddhism Essay1368 Words   |  6 Pagesdefinition of right conduct and personal obligation, dhamma is the path which must be taken to escape the suffering of worldly life. Other similarities between Hinduism and Buddhism are more apparent. Both religions maintain a broad perspective of religious worship. Hinduism is polytheistic while Buddhism maintains no structured belief in an independent, sentient god-like entity (especially in human form). Either of these concepts yields a malleable religion which can adjust and conform to local traditionRead MoreThe Nazi Camps And The Stalinist Gulag Essay1586 Words   |  7 Pagesinto the harsh reality of a prisoner’s situation. They only had themselves and their own existence, that there was nothing else left of them. This is where the second phase started. Apathy sets in and everyone gets into the routine of the camp. The main discussion was food because rations were not enough to sustain a human. Food is a primitive psychological drive, however, the author found food discussions dangerous because they were only a temporary distraction from the current situation. Frankl talks