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Introduction:- “ A Man’s Search For Meaning” is a Novel written by therapist and Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl. The book explains his time in Auschwitz , the environment that the oppressors had created for the captive Jews at that time and his perspective on his unjust persecution as a Psychologist. This book visualizes the grim dullness of Auschwitz and challenges themes of not losing hope or being positive when trapped in what is essentially a slaughterhouse waiting for your body to be of no use to the despots and to be cruelly discarded.

Plot:- The Story begins with a brief clarification that this book should not be described as a personal memoir but a unanimous experience of millions.The book is about survival and the apathy that comes with hopelessness.The events mentioned in the book are of small individual concentration camps and not of famous ones. The author mentions the hierarchy of the people at the camp. The Schutzstaffel or SS guards were the authorities at the extermination camp; they monitor the prisoners ,segregate them and occasionally “discipline” them. The Capo Prisoners were certain voluntary or coerced inmates that supervised the other prisoners. The Author describes them to be more aggressive and callous than the SS guards. The Inmates were the ones who did the labour and were exterminated after they grew weak.The author describes his transfer to Auschwitz as nerve wrecking. The train that travelled to the destination was overloaded with about eighty people alone in one coach. Till then , the author did not know where they were heading, only after the haunting confirmation from one of the inmates that the nearest sign read “Auschwitz” were the author's nerves calmed. The news was horrible but reality was easier than the crushing feeling of anxiousness the author felt.

“Auschwitz” was an eyesore , a line of gallows were adorned by the limp bodies of hanging inmates , and several buildings that looked like gas plants emitted an evil , ominous smoke . The place was like a dry , raspy cry for help. After being accustomed to the Purgatory by the name of Auschwitz, the author realized a few things. One that there were elite members among them , tough , brutal brawlers that would become Capos. Two ; The Place had its own currency system which was liquor. After the sorting of the prisoners, the author was sent to the right side which meant he could live , the left side was for old , diseased inmates put to death via a gas chamber.

The author describes a phenomenon in psychology called the delusion of reprieve meaning that the moment that a person is certain of their fate is the moment they believe they can avoid it through some intervention and to the prisoner’s delight. The SS guards at the hut they were assigned were charming and friendly but the smarter ones already knew their smiles hid a deep greed for the shiny watches and jewelry that adorned the hands of the new arrivals. After a good blow to the head after asking for his doctorate notes to be exempt from the forceful seizure , the author felt it was best to keep his mouth shut.

The inmates were stripped from their clothes , humiliated and given rags to wear. A kind-hearted inmate snuck into their hut once to tell them of the unwritten rules the prisoners had to follow. They were told to shave daily as it made them look ruder and younger , even if they had to use broken pieces of glass and they must not act or behave sluggish even if they are tired or are impaired because The SS guards are always looking for new entries in the Gas Chamber. A weak , emaciated person was a Moslem who cannot do hard labour and whose fate was the gas chamber. Every man in the room was told to be at ease except for the author who was told to be aware of the next selection.

After spending weeks at the camp , the author realized he did not resent the tolerable beatings and verbal humiliation he would receive but contempt and scorn from guards who didn't even use words to belittle him . To him it felt like he was a pitiful creature unworthy of even punishment.This was what gave life to the burning fuel inside his human body. Through thick and thin and scorch and snow the author worked and he did so with a smile. Maybe it was his apathy that manifested him into a sadistic lunatic but maybe it was his helplessness that amused him. Even after being told he was probably going to get selected to be exterminated , he couldn't help smiling at the absurdity and unjustness of everything , of how he ended up here. The thought of his wife Therese lovingly called Tilly was the only force helping his body survive both mentally and physically. During his time , he caught the eye of a boastful Capo who admired his patient listening and was granted special privileges along with a handful of men.

Starvation, forced labor, and constant selections deciding who would live or die was a daily occurrence for the author . He watched friends and fellow prisoners collapse from exhaustion or be sent to the gas chambers, their fates sealed by the SS guards’ tiny , unbothered gestures.Yet through all this the author never seemed to act with reason. An abnormal situation that he was put into demanded abnormal reactions from him , so he laughed and smiled when he should be mourning and was blunt when he should have been cunning. Even though he himself was stripped of his identity, his clothes, possessions, and even his manuscript he clung to the thought of his wife, not knowing if she was still alive. After an altercation with an SS guard he was punished and his rations were cut for the remainder of his punishment , but amidst the scarcity of food someone gave him a little piece of bread to have.

As the months passed, Frankl was moved to various labor camps, including Dachau, where he shoveled snow, laid railway tracks, and battled despair. He studied all the different prisoners at Auschwitz and found some that gave up on life and were waiting for their inevitable end and those who battled through , those who persevered had their own reasons which the author describes as a compulsion to live. Through that will alone they were able to survive the hellish nature of the camp and survive till liberation. In the end , even though tattered by his wife’s death , Viktor survived and so did his philosophy of logotherapy that the search for meaning is the deepest and strongest human motivation.