Pianist an Analysis of Wladyslaw Szpilman's "The Term Paper

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Pianist

An Analysis of Wladyslaw Szpilman's "The Pianist"

In Wladyslaw Szpilman's novel "The Pianist," the author details his account of his survival in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, and how he managed to make it through the horrors and atrocities that were committed there during the seven years he writes about in "The Pianist." There is no question that the life that Szpilman was forced to endure during the period from 1939 to 1945 was painful for him and many others who were there as well.

However, Szpilman managed to survive the terror while many others succumbed to it and lost their lives during that period in history. Many people wonder why, and they wonder how one man can be strong enough to live through the hardships while so many others did not. That is what will be explored in this paper, and hopefully new light can be shed on the subject.

For purposes of this analysis, no emphasis will be put on the evils of the occupation and evacuation. They are part of history, but the interest here is not what Szpilman had to endure, but what made him go on and endure it instead of going to his death to be rid of the awful tortures that were often inflicted on him and many others. Rather, the paper will discuss the factors and forces that Szpilman describes when accounting for his survival so that an understanding of his desire to live, and the forces both internal and external that spared his life, can be more easily examined and understood.

Survival Circumstances Outside His Influence

One of the things outside of his influence that still contributed to his survival was the help of other music lovers who repeatedly saved him from great peril. Often, 'these people were Polish, but they were not Jews.' They shared Szpilman's love of music, and so they helped him. They could not let a fellow musician go to his death, especially at the hands of the brutal Nazis, who had made it their mission to systematically eradicate the Jewish race from the earth (Wladyslaw, 2002).

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Another circumstance that accounted for the survival of Szpilman but was also outside of his influence was the kindness of one officer who discovered Szpilman hiding in Warsaw late in his ordeal. He should have killed Szpilman, but instead he brought him food and a quilt. To say that Szpilman was incredibly lucky on that day would be an understatement of the largest degree. This was probably the only kind officer that Szpilman had ever met, but yet his novel does not reflect bitterness or hatred toward the Nazis (Frank, 2000). He saw the German officer that helped him out during that time as the 'only human being in a German uniform that he ever met', and he tried to find out what happened to the man. He eventually learned that the German had been imprisoned by the Russians for sympathizing with the Jews, and remained a prisoner until his death (Pleszczynski, 1999).

Survival Circumstances Affected by His Influence

One of the biggest ways that he made it through the Nazi occupation was by using his music as an influence on others. There is a very dramatic scene in the book where he plays a Chopin nocturne for a Nazi officer. Because of the beauty with which Szpilman plays the piece, the officer decides to spare his life. That does not mean that Szpilman had a free ride because of his music, but it did occasionally help him out of tight spots….....

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