Chapter 14

“Kraus misses his stroke, a lump of mud flies up and splatters over my knees. It is not the first time it has happened ,I warn him to be careful, but without much hope: he is Hungarian, he understands German badly and does not know a word of French. He is tall and thin, wears glasses and has a curious, small, twisted face; when he laughs he looks like a child, and he often laughs he works too much and too vigorously: he has not yet learnt our underground art of economizing on everything, on breath, movements, even thoughts. He does not yet know that it is better to be beaten, because one does not normally die of blows, but one does of exhaustion, and badly, and when one grows aware of it, it is already too late. He still thinks... oh no, poor Kraus, this is not reasoning, it is only the stupid honesty of a small employee, he brought it along with him, and he seems to think that his present situation is like outside, where it is honest and logical to work, as well as being of advantage, because according to what everyone says, the more one works the more one earns and eats.(132)”

When in Rome, do as the Romans. We’ve all heard that saying, but how many of us follow that. Well, it all depends on whether or not you choose to succumb to others belief’s or not. You could say that you will not change yourself no matter what people say, or you can change what you think every time says something. Both have positive and negative effects. If you don’t change yourself, you cannot be corrected, and will have trouble in many environments as you cannot change to fit in. But on the other hand, if you change yourself constantly, how can anyone determine what you believe, and is it possible to believe anything? What is happening to Kraus is that he is no changing to his environment. He is using the same techniques found in the real world as in the concentration camp. He works hard, expecting more food. That is why he won’t survive. If he wants to survive, he has to change himself. He has to work as if this work is nothing to him, he has to work slowly as to conserve energy. Work yes, but if the people you are trying to please will not reward you, what is the point? Yes, it sounds bad to lower your standards, but in a place that has no standards, is it really necessary to have any at all? I guess my point is this. The main point in life is to survive. Sometimes you have to go against your standards, and adopt true standards. We need to put our own ideas behind us, and rely on what will help us get through life.