The novel Fatelessness is about the experiences Gyorgy, a Hungarian Jew, who faced persecution during World War II. He cared little for the world. He had no emotional stake in his family, or his culture. His subsequent imprisonment in German concentration camps initiated an evolution in the outlook of the character. The change was prompted by his own bodily decay and continued throughout his time there. His evolution was spurred again upon his liberation from the camps and the subsequent interactions he has with his family. Through the departure of his father and interaction with his family, the physical deterioration of his body, and his return to Budapest one can map a transformation of awareness in the mind of the narrator Gyorgy.
Fatelessness, …show more content…
To this, Gyorgy admitted he does not understand, “especially what he said about the sins of the Jews and their God...” (16) He saw his family as Jewish, but refused to regard to himself in the same way. “Their God” as he said, is the rejection of this label. More importantly, his inability to understand this responsibility is symbolic of his innocence and immaturity. His bond with the fate of Jews is beyond his comprehension. His existence thus far has given him no context to assess the events and world around …show more content…
His main experiences concerned his health and life. His constant diarrhea, raw ankles from his wooden shoes, and immense hunger preoccupied him. A burning redness developed on his knee and Bandi Citrom, a fellow prisoner and mentor, had to perform painful surgery without anesthetics. The next morning Gyorgy was sent to a camp hospital in Gleina. Here, he developed a more comprehensive understanding of himself.
It was after Gyorgy discovered lice crawling over him and into his new hip wound that he goes through an existential crisis. At first when seeing them on his wound eating his flesh he is startled and annoyed. However, after futilely struggling against them, he began relating to them, “[I]t was as if I knew all this from somewhere else a little bit.” (134) He no longer had any urge to resist them, but felt as if he was disturbing them and quickly covered his injury back up. He no longer felt his body was a representation of him, “I no longer myself live inside it.” (135) he
Fatelessness, …show more content…
To this, Gyorgy admitted he does not understand, “especially what he said about the sins of the Jews and their God...” (16) He saw his family as Jewish, but refused to regard to himself in the same way. “Their God” as he said, is the rejection of this label. More importantly, his inability to understand this responsibility is symbolic of his innocence and immaturity. His bond with the fate of Jews is beyond his comprehension. His existence thus far has given him no context to assess the events and world around …show more content…
His main experiences concerned his health and life. His constant diarrhea, raw ankles from his wooden shoes, and immense hunger preoccupied him. A burning redness developed on his knee and Bandi Citrom, a fellow prisoner and mentor, had to perform painful surgery without anesthetics. The next morning Gyorgy was sent to a camp hospital in Gleina. Here, he developed a more comprehensive understanding of himself.
It was after Gyorgy discovered lice crawling over him and into his new hip wound that he goes through an existential crisis. At first when seeing them on his wound eating his flesh he is startled and annoyed. However, after futilely struggling against them, he began relating to them, “[I]t was as if I knew all this from somewhere else a little bit.” (134) He no longer had any urge to resist them, but felt as if he was disturbing them and quickly covered his injury back up. He no longer felt his body was a representation of him, “I no longer myself live inside it.” (135) he