The aesthetics and function of a society fit into a category called “civilization”, unfortunately, our civilization has thrown away various features to appreciate and have common knowledge of out the window. Today’s civilization is garbage compared to something similar Borowski’s This Way for the Gas, Ladies, and Gentlemen. Well, maybe not complete garbage for the setting and the circumstances of the main character is much worse than ours. The main character of the story is in an unfortunate dilemma of being a prisoner of the Nazis in a sorting facility. Even so, he still respects art, and his mannerisms aren’t the equivalent of a savage; even when being compared to faultless beings such as Nazi soldiers. Civilization is factored down to the people. People who regard art, disciplines, and have proper manners. As a simple translation, it comes down to what people call “decent individuals”. Individuals who bathe, maybe, though not required, have a positive religious attachment, have decent knowledge over several different topics and have a quality that the majority nowadays would find a nuisance, fascination. In Borowski’s short-story, however, a few of these…show more content… The main character and the young girl who willingly departed the train seem to be the only civilized ones in the short-story. The Nazis and the character’s fellow prisoner companions are more similar to beasts than to people. The Nazis bark out orders to them even if they are exhausted while the prisoners themselves succumb to their greed and treat the victims like rubbish; they rip coats and belongings out of their frightful hands, and herd them like cattle that are about to be thrown into the carnage house “… But before they have a chance to recover, before they can draw a breath of fresh air and look at the sky, bundles are snatched from their hands, coats ripped off their backs, their purses and umbrellas taken away” (Borowski
