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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. How is humor characterized in camp life?
2. Why did the Capo in the author's working party do him favors?
3. Why does the author decide not to try to escape the concentration camp?
4. Under what conditions does Frankl describe the SS beating prisoners?
5. What were the exceptions to the "cultural hibernation" in camp?
Short Essay Questions
1. How did the SS respond to changing the list of prisoners who would board transport that would transfer prisoners to another camp or would send them to the gas chambers?
2. After the initial mental phase that was characterized by shock, what characterized the second phase that Frankl noticed in his fellow prisoners and in himself?
3. What were the initial conditions of camp life for the prisoners that arrived to Auschwitz with Frankl?
4. In the section on "Experiences in a Concentration Camp," Frankl describes a physical condition that affected "nearly all the camp inmates." What was this condition? How did it affect Frankl?
5. How did Frankl win the favor of the Capo in his working party? Why was this important for him?
6. According to Frankl, what were the communal showers like? What was the attitude of the prisoners as they entered their first communal shower? Why is this important to Frankl?
7. How were prisoners separated when they arrived at Auschwitz?
8. Frankl writes that because of the harsh realities of camp life and the "constant necessity of concentrating on the task of staying alive," some of the prisoners "regressed" to a more primitive form of mental life. How does he see this manifest itself?
9. What does Frankl write about the sense of humor that developed in the concentration camp?
10. According to Frankl, what characterizes the prisoners' thinking when they first arrive at camp?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Frankl describes the importance for the individual of finding meaning of life. He writes, "Man's search for meaning is a primary force in his life and not a 'secondary rationalization' of instinctual drives." How does he define the meaning of life? How does he suggest that people search for the meaning in their lives? What role does he give to the conditions in life that seem to fully determine behavior?
Essay Topic 2
Frankl writes of how two men who were contemplating suicide seemed to have lost meaning in their lives. He writes, "In both cases it was a question of getting them to realize that life was still expecting something from them; something in the future was expected of them." How does Frankl understand and describe those who commit suicide? What role does finding the meaning in their lives play for him? Does he sympathize with their despair over their feeling of meaningless and suffering? Does he understand suicide to be a choice, or a simple reaction to unfavorable circumstances? Is this understood as characteristic of neurosis?
Essay Topic 3
Frankl's description of life in camp deals mostly with his own experience and the experiences of the men he was surrounded by. Women and children are nearly absent. Describe how you imagine life for a woman or child living under these circumstances might be different. Do you believe they would live through the same mental stages?
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This section contains 1,342 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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