Week 6: The Long Walk Ch. 1-5

The first chapter of The Long Walk describes Slavomir Rawicz experience as a prisoner of the Soviet Union. He explains every detail from the clothes on his back to the detailed description of his prison cell. Rawicz was interrogated and tortured on a daily bases. The Russians were persistent in their search for the “truth” and believed that Rawicz was a polish spy because he was able to speak Polish and Russian. They wanted him to sign a release form that stated his identity as a Polish spy. The Russian secret police used several torturing device on their prisoners and often succeeded. One of the device that Rawicz described was called a kishka—a cell-like chimney. The kishka was often filled with bodily fluid, waste and had a horrific odor left by other prisoners. The second chapter describes Rawicz sentence and trial. The judge too was persistent in his search for the truth. Other officials in the courtroom kept questioning Rawicz identity and trying to convince him to tell the truth. Rawicz has spent days and weeks in prison and being tortured. He logically explained to himself that even if he tells the truth and conforms to the identity perceived by the Russian that his life would not get any worst. In fact, after Rawicz confessions, the Russians treated him a lot better than usual, but it did not last as he was to be transported to another prison. Chapter three, four, and five are similar because his experience in the truck, train, and another truck were all conflicted with the same harsh environment. There were little food, clothes, and it was always cold. The three trips he took were not wasteful as he build friendship with other prisoners and found that they had similarities. Most of the prisoners were force to plead their guilt as a threat to the Soviet Union.
The essay Cannibalism was a rather gruesome topic to research. Cannibalism can be divided into many subcategories. The only category that I would approve is the survival cannibalism in which the consumption of human flesh was a last resort to avoid starvation.