Survival as Social versus Individual: An In-depth Look at the Drowned and the Saved

Survival as Social versus Individual: An In-depth Look at the Drowned and the Saved Levi says the Lager was a “gigantic social experiment” A social experiment by definition says that it deals with how people relate to each other. One question that may be asked about this social experiment is whether survival in an extreme environments is dependant physiologically on the support of others. Levi answers the question in the negative. He says that survival is a “human animal struggle” and points to survival as an instinct which implies that it is intrinsic of human beings and not dependant on others. In other words, we do not need others to still desire to live on. Levi goes on to say that this instinct does not make humans bad by nature but that extreme environments take away our “social habits” He goes on to say that the saved are defined as people who have, and give up everything humane or social, for absolute power. The drowned are simply those who cannot survive and go to the Gas chamber. Interestingly, he quotes a biblical verse, “to he that has will be given; to he that has not will be taken away.” Levi says that the paths to salvation are “many, difficult, and improvable” , but I would say that all require the person to give up their social nature (Levi 78). Even though he says that the intrinsic survival instinct does not make human beings bad by nature, Levi talks with disgust about the saved or the survivors. The first person Levi talks about turns in his stealing companion to gain favor in the eyes of the Germans The second person engineer L., is thought to have survived, but Levi thinks that he is “still living a life of the determined JOYLESS dominator” –he says this with a tone of almost hatred The fourth person, Elias, is nothing but a dirty, insane thief. He says that all roads that lead to salvation end in “…insanity and deceitful bestiality” What Levi never expressly says is that he is one of the saved, I don’t know if he considered himself one or not. I believe he was one. After all, he says “all other roads are dead ends” (Levi 85). Do you think Levi was one of the terrible saved or the drowned that merely beat the odds by chance and not by “…insanity and deceitful bestiality”? After all Levi did supposedly commit suicide eventually. So, the leading question is, can the saved ever become un-saved? Can those who lost their humanity, reverted to that survival instinct, ever assimilate and become human-social again? Copy Right Kort Linden