This Way For The Gas, Ladies And Gentlemen -Jeremy Ramirez

3. Describe an example of dehumanization in the text.  What about this moment made a particularly strong impression on you? Why?

An example of dehumanization in the text and one that left a strong impression on me is where many of these people were all crammed up inside a train. Text states, “People… inhumanly crammed, buried under incredible heaps of luggage suitcases, trunks, packages, crates, bundles of every description(everything that had been their past and was to start their future).” All of these manmade materials, people possessions, together suffocating one another. None of these things could have saved them or protected them, perhaps if they had guns to equal out the playing field.

4. A tall, grey-haired woman who has just arrived on the “transport” whispers, “My poor boy,” to our narrator.  What does she mean?

In my opinion this tall grey-haired woman may believe that death is a better option or the salvation of the suffering that she and many others in her situation had to endure compared to the conflict that the narrator is dealing with of being kept alive to perpetrate evil. The story creates this vivid imagery that all of these people like herself who were transported from this train are all crammed up inside, with their belongings creating this terrible condition upon arrival just like when fishes are caught in abundance from a fisherman’s net. He states, “Now they push towards the opened doors, breathing like fish cast out on the sand.” In this analogy, I imagine a fisherman’s net as the train and the fishes are the people who are caught by the Nazis, and when the train doors open, the train is like the fisherman’s net, casting out fishes unto the sand, and like fishes, these people are gasping for air and in need of water.  In one part she looks at the narrator and says, “My poor boy”, then the narrator states, “she whispers and smiles at me.” This to me means that its a signal of forgiveness and sympathy towards the narrator because he is just a boy who is following orders doing his job to stay alive, in essence, he is not to blame for perpetuating evil because he’s only doing it for survival and his only other option would be to die. And that the real evil comes from those at the top of command, those who leave him with no other option but to follow orders. Being that people are mortal and having death as a possibility, as terrible or scary death could seem, in this case, is a blessing in disguise because no longer do these people have to stay alive to bear witness, or be tortured, or be forced to be a participant of evil like our narrator, and finally, no longer being trapped by the people who committed these crimes against humanity. 

6. Explain the significance of the story’s title, “This Way For the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen.”  What seems strange about it?

What seems strange about the title is the casualness or the formality or the politeness of inviting people when it says ladies and gentlemen, inviting them to their death by stating this way to the Gas or the gas chamber. It is ironic that the title says ladies and gentlemen because these victims were not seen that way, because in reality they were seen as vermin by the Nazis, so I wonder why be courteous and polite meaning respectful towards them by calling them, ladies and gentlemen? But maybe it is because Borowski wanted to show that these so-called vermins as the Nazis viewed Jews and some of the other groups that are part of society are actually civilized people. In other words, maybe Borowski’s view is that saying ladies and gentlemen humanizes these groups or perhaps redeems their humanity as they were dehumanized by the Nazi regime. They are common human beings like you or me with basic human rights and through and through, even with most of them being forcibly taken to the gas chambers, they were not exterminated because they are bugs or parasites of the world as to how the Nazis reasoning went about but executed and murdered on the premise of being simply people with their own beliefs and values. I also get a sense of deception in the title, in which the title implies for this gas as if this gas is being given away generously or being sold and also I question which type of gas because some gases you have to be careful with, are not meant to be taken, are dangerous and incompatible for people. Once you read the story, you realize that this particular gas being advertised is not meant for ladies and gents.