Oskar Schindler's Character Analysis

Throughout the history of literature, stories have been told about dreams, wishes coming true, or stories about great noble challenges with treacherous evil. Within these stories, there is usually a protagonist or a hero with a huge role to play in the story. These type of characters develop dramatically from the beginning of the conflict until the resolution of the conflict. Oskar Schindler from the novel Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally dramatically changes from being a greedy man to becoming a man of humility through the development of Schindler’s character, the challenges he faces, and the resolution of World War II.
Schindler’s character development begins as World World II goes underway. Schindler does not begin as a virtuous man. …show more content…
He has to protect his workers from any German soldier who decides to execute them or from even worse, mass executions. Some of the cruel killing methods the Germans use include gassing the Jews in enclosed spaces such as buildings or trucks or the Germans just line them up and shoot them all at once. With the cruel treatment the Jews suffer in mind, he decides to bribe Amon Goeth to have permission to build a sub camp with the intention of protecting his workers. In addition, he has to keep a watchful eye out for his workers so that the Germans do not round them up for mass execution elsewhere such as Auschwitz so he decides to ban all S.S soldiers from entering the work areas in hopes that nobody decides to shoot his workers. Furthermore, he has to keep his workers as healthy as he can so he needs to sneak bread into his factory for his workers. He does this by using his contacts who have access to black market for extra bread and money in order to get bread into his camp. In addition, he has to keep his operations secret from the Nazis soldiers. This can be difficult when people inspect his camp such as Amon Goeth who comes every now and then. If he were to be caught, he would be persecuted and then imprisoned, or killed since Germans do not tolerate any kindness for Jews. Unfortunately, he gets caught partying with his workers (and for kissing a Jewish …show more content…
He saves approximately one thousand two hundred Jews from execution places such as Auschwitz, or other camps. He is given a reference that summarizes his accomplishments highlighting the fact that his camp was the only camp “where a Jew was never killed, or ever beaten, but always treated as a human being.” (Keneally 391) In return for his services, Schindler is helped by the support from the people he saved. Schindler is not good with his money so as he became bankrupt, the Jews help him at their own expense. This is due to the fact he “spends like a compulsive gambler” (Keneally 235) The government decides to give him a pension of two hundred marks which is about the equivalent of one hundred and twenty dollars (U.S) a month. His heroic efforts cause him to become a better person as he stops caring for only himself. He dramatically changed from being selfish to someone who was truly charitable through supporting the right people. He has sacrificed his chances of becoming really wealthy to becoming a hero he is now. He lives his life until around 1973 as he passes away at the age of sixty six as he has advanced hardening of the arteries. He was buried at Jerusalem. These are examples of how Schindler became a man of humility.
In conclusion, through the analyses of Oskar Schindler’s as someone who developed drastically, had to face challenges, and