Dehumanization for identity  

In the novella Dawn by Elie Wiesel, the author describes an eighteen-year-old Jewish boy named Elisha. He was the only survivor during the Holocaust, from his family. Being the only survivor, he was unsure of his identity. To find his identity, he joins a terrorist group called the Movement. The Movement job is to get the English out of their country in order to do this the soldiers must dehumanize their opponents. In the novellas Dawn by Elie Wiesel and Khirbet Khizeh, by S. Yizhar both characters, Elisha and the unnamed soldier had to shift their identity in order to meet the military’s expectation of dehumanizing their opponents. 

Elisha’s state of mind changes throughout the novella because he begins dehumanizing his opponents, making it easier for him to kill his opponents because he compares them to animals instead of real human beings. In Elisha’s point of view “What does a man care if he dies with an empty stomach? (Wiesel 52).” This quote is demonstrating that Elisha does not see John Dawson as a human being but as an animal because humans need to eat in order to survive whereas animals do need to eat but their purpose is to die in order to feed humans. Another quote that shows Elisha dehumanizing his opponents is when he states, “I don’t imagine he’s hungry,’ I said aloud.’ You can’t expect a man condemned to die to have an appetite.’ And to myself I added: ‘Or a man condemned to kill, either (Wiesel 51).” Elisha is dehumanizing John Dawson as an animal and removing his emotions from interfering with his mission. Eventually Elisha begins to start feeling bad for the sins he has done. “Father,” I said, “don’t judge me. Judge God. He created the universe and made justice stem from injustices. He brought it about that a people should attain happiness through tears, that the freedom of a nation, like that of a man, should be a monument built upon a pile, a foundation of dead bodies…. (Wiesel 84).” Elisha begins to feel bad, because he’s afraid of being judged by the people he loves. He starts to have a change of perspective “I’m afraid he’ll make me laugh,” I said. “You see, Ilana, he’s quite capable of swelling up his head and letting it burst into a thousand shreds, just in order to make me laugh. That’s what makes me afraid (Wiesel 77).” This quote shows the relationship between the soldier with himself because he’s afraid of being judged. Throughout the novella it displays how Elisha has emotionally secluded himself from reality by comparing his opponents to animals. For Elisha to outlast as a soldier he is expected to kill his enemies without feeling any type of sin. Dawn is connected to my thesis because it is Elisha’s job to get the English out of his country, and in order for Elisha to accomplish this mission he must see the English as animals. Eventually as the novella comes to an end Elisha realizes he has committed very bad sins and is willing to do anything for forgiveness. This is connected back to my research question because it demonstrates that a person is bound to feel guilty for the wrongdoings they have committed.  

In the novella Khirbet Khizeh, the author explains how a solider reluctantly follows orders to help evict helpless civilians. This means the solider obeyed every command he was given even to the extent of dehumanizing his opponents. According to the soldier’s perspective “like a grasshopper about to leap’…. It paused in this pose for a short while, steely, lithe, seething with restrained power that might burst forth at any moment with uncontrolled desire’…, (Yizhar 55).” Soldiers are trained to dehumanize the villagers by calling them animals by comparing them to a grasshopper. They compare these villagers to animals because they are unworthy to be human because they are disgusting. Another quote that dehumanizes the villagers “Over there, too,’ roared somebody, pointing to another field where, like ants, many figures were running, their jerky haste swallowed up by the larger field.(Yizhar 26).” In the soldier’s perspective the villagers are ants because Palestinians are naturally violent animals and the soldiers are humble/peaceful. From the soldier’s point of view “This here, this isn’t a war, it’s a children’s game,” the one who had been dozing declared, stretching himself out full length; (Yizhar 16),” This quote is implying that when the soldiers are dehumanizing the civilians, they see this as a game because they see them as animals instead of real human beings. Killing animals is like a game because it’s fun and entertaining and they would not feel any emotional pain. Eventually as you get deeper into the novella the soldier show signs of sorrow by stating “I wanted to discover if among all these people there was a single Jeremiah mourning and burning, forging a mouth of fury in his heart, crying out in stifled tones to the old God in Heaven, atop the trucks of exile …( Yizhar 83).”  One can sense that the soldier begins to feel sorrow and regret for the bad things he has done. The soldier started feeling “the silenced weak—would the new settlers not sense that the air here was heavy with shades, voices, and stares? I wanted to do something. I knew I wouldn’t cry out. (Yizhar 86).” The soldier started feeling bad for the civilians but could not do anything because he was afraid of being humiliated, this shows how hard he is on himself. This novella can be used to support my thesis because soldiers are trained to not feel any pain or regret when killing their opponent. Over the length of time the novella displays how soldiers are trained to not feel any pain or emotion when killing their enemy. By giving soldiers the power to dehumanize the villagers it makes it easier for them to kick them out, since they are portrayed as animals. Although the soldier wants to help the villagers, he’s afraid of standing up to the high ranked officials. He’s frightened of speaking up because he feels that he will not meet the official expectations causing the soldier to have doubts about himself on whether he shall obey orders or speak his mind. Khirbet Khizeh is connected to my thesis because eventually the soldier begins to feel culpability for his wrongdoings. For the soldiers to stop killing his enemies, he must see them as humans and not beast.  

Dehumanization and Guilt as Distinct but Related Predictors of Support for Reparation Policies the author describes how real-life situations involving national or ethical groups cannot be resolved because one side is bound to disagree causing conflict to appear. This is connected to Israeli and Palestine issue because even after the war of 1948 tension still exist between these two nations. According to Zebel et al., “It has been shown scientifically and in real life contexts that conflicts between national and ethnic group do not end with their potential resolution (194).” According to the authors perspective it means that no matter how bad the tension is between the two nations or countries the issue can never be resolved since one side is bound to disagree. This is connected to the idea of dehumanization because by disagreeing with your opponent one doesn’t see them as humans but as animals. According to Zebel et al., “…perceiving other persons as being equally human makes us more likely to empathize with their suffering. In contrast, perceiving others as less human leads to the disengagement of moral principles when we inflict harm… (195).” During battle soldiers perceive their opponents as animals to make themselves feel better. According to Zebel at al., “related to interethnic antagonism. Moreover, perceiving others or outgroups as animals debases them to a position below the self or the ingroup, making them an object of contempt or disgust (197).” Giving the soldiers the power to compare their opponents to animals they have a feeling of disgust and hate towards their enemy. because they aren’t equal to humans. Humans are unique because we can talk and speak our opinion whereas animals cannot make’s civilians an easy target. In the article it explains how dehumanizing your opponent during combat affect a soldier’s perspective of themselves later in life. This display how when we see our enemies, we portrayed them as animals, our viewpoint of them is to see them as objects and have a feeling of disgust. A logical explanation for this is due to our moral conscious of feeling less guilt for their harm doing, by having this perception guilt is eliminated. Since the soldiers have the power to see their enemies as objects, they aren’t considered superior to humans because humans because they are not unique, to humans. Dehumanization is one of the factors displayed in this article because it is a human’s duty to exterminate animals making it easier o kill them and not feel any pain Eventually the soldiers began to see reality and viewing their enemies as humans and not east.  

Dehumanization and Support for Retaliatory Aggressive Policies in Asymmetric Conflict describes terrorist attacks were not considered a big issue until the attack of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.This terrorists attack made civilians realize that people can kill another human being without feeling guilt. According to McCauley and Mao’s research it states that “Often the response to asymmetric violence is increased support, within the stronger party, for retaliatory aggression against the weaker, vulnerable, and often dependent out-group (Bar-On 1998; Bar-On and Kassem 2004(McCauley and Maoz 94).” Some people believe depending on the state they can misuse their power for their own benefit by hurting the weaker. This is related to the idea of Dehumanization because in order to have that much power one doesn’t think about their opponent. From the authors point of view “…support of aggressive retaliatory policies toward an out-group can also result from perceiving the out group as essentially and morally inferior to one’s own group? As inhuman or subhu man and thus not within one’s realm of moral consideration (Opotow 1990) (McCauley and Maoz 95).” This quote is explaining that when it comes to killing your opponent one must not see them as humans but as animals because it’s easier for humans to kill animals than humans because animals are on the lower food chain then humans and see animals as a source of food which is why they are meant to be killed. Ifat and Clark article “Threat, Dehumanization, and Support for Retaliatory Aggressive Policies in Asymmetric Conflict” it states by allowing a person or group to have authority to control a country or an economy they can misuse that power for their own good. By offering soldiers the authority to use a weapon against you, you become weaponless and usable to protect yourself, your only option is to be killed. Soldiers are educated to kill during combat without feeling any pain because it is a given command. In order to be a successful soldier, you must disconnect oneself from your sentiment allowing manslaughter to be unchallenging.  

Dehumanization is a major strategy in the military because soldiers are trained to see their opponents as animals, making it easier for the soldiers to kill their opponents without feeling any pain. The novella Dawn and Khirbet Khizeh are two sources that display how dehumanizing people affects a soldier’s relationship with themselves later in life because both characters eventually begin to see the reality of what they did to these innocent people and try to find a way to seek forgiveness.  

 

 

 

 

Work Cited 

Maoz, Ifat, and Clark Mccauley. “Threat, Dehumanization, and Support for Retaliatory Aggressive Policies in Asymmetric Conflict.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 52, no. 1, 2008, pp. 93–116 

Wiesel, Elie Dawn, U.S and Canada, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc 1982.  

Yizhar, S Khirbet Khizeh, Nicholas de Lange and Yaacob Dwack 2008  

Zebel, Sven, et al. “Dehumanization and Guilt as Distinct but Related Predictors of Support for Reparation Policies.” Political Psychology, vol. 29, no. 2, 2008, pp. 193–219.