The story, "Love in a Concentration Camp", is a heartrending account by Victor Frankl about how he survived cruel treatment in Nazi concentration camps only by thinking about his wife. This kind of delusional love experienced by Frankl is somewhat different from the real, everyday love that couples share. Both of these situations have their benefits as well as their disadvantages. This essay will go further into discussion by depicting which scenario is better and more satisfying.
Frankl's piece shows why "love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire" (348). This story makes anyone who has ever experienced love realize how much he/she would go through just for that person he/she cared about. Frankl did not know whether or not his wife was still alive, nor did this affect the strength of love that he had for his wife. This is because "love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self" (349). Because of this, he continued to struggle and survive the harsh treatment he was suffering. Sometimes, being apart from a loved one makes individuals realize how important they are to each other. After a considerable amount of time, this will make that individual appreciate his/her loved one even more and yearn to be with him/her.
Unlike with the real, everyday love that people share, Frankl was not able to talk, touch, or show any such love in a physical manner to his wife. However, he did so mentally. His love for his wife was so strong that he held a delusional conversation with his wife in his mind. If a person today truly loved their spouse and were put into a predicament where they would be split up for a long time, he/she would reminisce all the good they shared with that person and strive to make it through anything in hopes that, someday, they will be with that person again.
These days, there are probably quite a few people going through the same ordeal, except less harsh, that Frankl experienced.
