Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - Book Report/Review Example

?Topic:  Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl The book was written in 1946 and is Viktor Frankl’s account on his quest to find reasons to live while he tried to survive in concentration camp. The novel chronicles his entire experience in the concentration camp with his inmates and how he found psychotherapeutic ways to survival. Frank believes that the novel reflects the mind of an average prisoner due to his daily experiences in the concentration camp. It is divided into two parts. In the first part Frankl documents his experience in the concentration camp while in the second part he introduces his own ideas and meanings while explaining his theory of legotherapy. The novel was immensely popular and is currently one of the most widely read books on holocaust. Various surveys have been conducted in this regard, some by Book of the Month Club and Library of Congress and they have rated this book amongst the top ten most influential books in the United States. Viktor Frankl died in 1997 and by then 10 million copies of the book had already been sold out in at least twenty four other languages. In his novel, Frankl has explained three psychological reactions experienced by every inmate to some degree. The first reaction experienced by them was the shock phase that they would land into after being administered into the camp. This was followed by the apathy once they would become accustomed to camp existence. In this phase, the inmate would find only those things valuable which will help him survive and others dependent on him survive. The final phase in the concentration camps was symbolized by their gradual retraction into de-personalization, bitterness and disillusionment after they had been liberated. Frankl, as he draws from these experiences in the concentration camps finally concludes that life can be extracted from every moment we live in. It will never cease to have a meaning, be it in life or in death. Frankl told his camp inmates during a group therapy session that everyone had someone or the other looking down at them. They could be anyone, friends, family or even God who wouldn’t want us to be disappointed. Frankl conclusively explains from his experience that the psychological reaction of a prisoner is not directly dependent on the overall conditions of the life that he leads. They emanate from the freedom of choice to which his life has been subjected to. The onus is on the prisoner and the direction in which he wants his self belief to tread on to. If he is able to hold on faith in himself, that ray of hope for future will keep him moving on in life but once he loses faith in himself, he is bound to go through the path of inevitable self destruction. This can’t be denied. He also explained that every race of mankind has two kinds of people, the decent and the indecent. A society will have them and neither society is free of them. The same was the case with the Nazis. Thus, there were those decent Nazi guards and the infamous abhorrent prisoners. They would seek sadistic pleasure by torturing and abusing their fellow prisoners for personal gains. In his concluding passage in part one; he co-relates the psychological reaction of his inmates to their liberation. He recalls a friend who had a fairly pleasing and decent disposition and demeanor but due to the pain and abuse inflicted upon him by his abusers, he dispensed the same violence on other. Thus the life in concentration camps tended to revolve around in these vicious circles. In their first encounter with the outside world, most of them felt the outside world was alienish. They were oblivious to the notions of pleasure and could not comprehend it. Small acts of kindness like flowers from their guards and the reality of freedom that they had long foreseen seemed surreal to them. They had become de-personalized to that an extent. Even after resorting to normal life, the bitterness would never completely go away. He would feel that other’s kindness was superficial. His new found freedom was definitely not the end of unhappiness for him. And with time, the experience in the concentration camp grew on to become more intense and equivalent to a living nightmare in Frankl’s words. Somewhere, the prisoners could never completely snap out of it. Frankl’s experiences in the camp led to the development of the theory of legotherapy. He developed his theory around triangles. Three prime events in his life influenced the development of the theory of legotherapy. Gestapo’s arrest of him and his family (parents, brothers and newlywed wife) was the first event. The entire family was taken to the concentration camp in Terezin outside of Prague. The second event took place on his way to Auschwitz. This was when he had to give up on his first book on legotherapy and the third event was when he was head towards the concentration camp with the rest of the prisoners and realizes that his wife lived within his soul. It was at that instant did he realize how even in the most adverse and trying times, people can feel instant joys with the mere thought and reflection of a loved person. The aforementioned events were symbolic in their occurrence and the way they were linked to the development and evolution of the theory of logotherapy. Three triangles develop the concept and meaning of logotherapy. The first triangle revolves around the concept of freedom of will, the will and its association with meaning and the association of meaning to life. Freedom of will and fate run in opposite directions. This emanates from Frankl’s belief that even in the concentration camps, there was a certain amount of freedom: the freedom here was the will to surrender or to choose to adapt to living conditions-in essence the reactions. Some prisoners gave into apathy and succumbed to despair while the rest died because they saw no purpose in their lives. Frankl would try to convince his fellow prisoners that there was an inherent meaning even in all their sufferings. He said that they need to derive their solace in the inherent belief that someone was watching over at them, someone want them to bear through this patiently and not let anyone trample or kill their human dignity. He emphasized on how circumstances can make humans resolve to both extremes of being devils and demons and also angels. It was a matter of reaction and perception from one person to another and what meaning he wanted to extract from life. Read More