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Making A Reaction Statement

Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning discusses his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and his theory of Logotherapy. Logotherapy states that finding meaning is the primary motivation for humans. Frankl observed that prisoners who were able to find meaning, such as through love or unfinished work, were able to endure greater hardships than those without meaning. After the war, Frankl applied this theory to psychiatry by helping patients find meaning in their lives.

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Kharisma Anastasis
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119 views

Making A Reaction Statement

Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning discusses his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and his theory of Logotherapy. Logotherapy states that finding meaning is the primary motivation for humans. Frankl observed that prisoners who were able to find meaning, such as through love or unfinished work, were able to endure greater hardships than those without meaning. After the war, Frankl applied this theory to psychiatry by helping patients find meaning in their lives.

Uploaded by

Kharisma Anastasis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Making a Reaction

Statement
OUTLINE
• Part 1: Summary
• Topic sentence for summary paragraph
A Report on Man's Search for Meaning

• Dr. Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning (New York: Washington Square Press, 1966) is both an
autobiographical account of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps and a presentation of his
ideas about the meaning of life. The three years of deprivation and suffering he spent at Auschwitz and
other Nazi camps led to the development of his theory of Logotherapy, which, very briefly, states that the
primary force in human beings is "a striving to find a meaning in one's life" (154). Without a meaning in life,
Frankl feels, we experience emptiness and loneliness that lead to apathy and despair. This need for meaning
was demonstrated to Frankl time and again with both himself and other prisoners who were faced with the
horrors of camp existence. Frankl was able to sustain himself partly through the love he felt for his wife. In a
moment of spiritual insight, he realized that his love was stronger and more meaningful than death, and
would be a real and sustaining force within him even if he knew his wife was dead. Frankl's comrades also
had reasons to live that gave them strength. One had a child waiting for him; another was a scientist who
was working on a series of books that needed to be finished. Finally, Frankl and his friends found meaning
through their decision to accept and bear their fate with courage. He says that the words of Dostoevsky
came frequently to mind: "There is one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my suffering." When Frankl's
prison experience was over and he returned to his profession of psychiatry, he found that his theory of
meaning held true not only for the prisoners but for all people. He has since had great success in working
with patients by helping them locate in their own lives meanings of love, work, and suffering.
• Part 2: Reaction
• Topic sentence for first reaction paragraph
• One of my reactions to the book was the relationship I saw between the
“Capos” and ideas about anxiety, standards, and aggression discussed in
our psychology class. The Capos were prisoners who acted as trustees, and
Frankl says they acted more cruelly toward the prisoners than the guards
or the SS men. Several psychological factors help explain this cruelty. The
Capos must have been suppressing intense anxiety about “selling
themselves out” to the Nazis in return for small favors. Frankl and other
prisoners must have been a constant reminder to the Capos of the courage
and integrity they themselves lacked. When our behaviors and values are
threatened by someone else acting in a different way, one way we may
react is with anger and aggression. The Capos are an extreme example of
how, if the situation is right, we may be capable of great cruelty to those
whose actions threaten our standards.
Topic sentence for second reaction paragraph
• I think that Frankl’s idea that meaning is the most important force in
human beings helps explain some of the disorder and discontent in the
world today. Many people are unhappy because they are caught in jobs
where they have no responsibility and creativity; their work lacks meaning.
Many are also unhappy because our culture seems to stress sexual
technique in social relationships rather than human caring. People buy
popular books that may help them become better partners in bed, but that
may not make them more sensitive to each other’s human needs. Where
there is no real care, there is no meaning. To hide the inner emptiness that
results from impersonal work and sex, people busy themselves with the
accumulation of material things. With television sets, stereos, cars,
expensive clothes, and the like, they try to forget that their lives lack true
meaning instead of working or going to school to get a meaningful job, or
trying to be decent human beings.
Topic sentence for third reaction paragraph
• I have also found that Frankl’s idea that suffering can have meaning helps
me understand the behavior of people I know. I have a friend named Jim
who was always poor and did not have much of a family—only a
stepmother who never cared for him as much as for her own children.
What Jim did have, though, was determination. He worked two jobs to
save money to go to school, and then worked and went to school at the
same time. The fact that his life was hard seemed to make him bear down
all the more. On the other hand, I can think of a man in my neighborhood
who for all the years I've known him has done nothing with his life. He
spends whole days smoking and looking at cars going by. He is a burned-
out case. Somewhere in the past his problems must have become too
much for him, and he gave up. He could have found meaning in his life by
deciding to fight his troubles like Jim, but he didn't, and now he is a sad
shadow of a man. Without determination and the desire to face his
hardships, he lost his chance to make his life meaningful.
Concluding paragraph
• In conclusion, I would strongly recommend Frankl’s book to persons
who care about why they are alive, and who want to truly think about
the purpose and meaning of their lives.

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