Hangman by Maurice Ogden

The theme of the poem “Hangman” by Maurice Ogden is evil. The title of the poem “Hangman” represents the evil in the world. The people of the town stand idly by while others get executed because they are afraid that if they speak out, they will be next. This was similar to the mentality of the Jewish people during WWII, who kept their heads down and avoided trouble in hopes that it would all stop on its own. Although the hangman represents evil, he uses words that have positive and cheerful connotations, such as, “smiled” and “whistled.” Similarly, Hitler used that method to convince the people to oppress the Jews. The “Hangman” has a theme of evil because it presents the idea that bystanders may not always be victims but criminals in that they do nothing to stop what is going on.

The “Cold Within” poem written by an unknown author conveys themes of prejudice and human nature. Several people are trapped in a cave surrounding a fire. Each has a stick to fuel the fire, but none are willing to use their stick to benefit the others. Ironically, in the end, everyone dies, but not from the outside cold but the cold within. The title of the poem is meant as literal coldness and internal evil such as prejudice and greed. The whole poem represents human nature because it is human nature to be stubborn, selfish, and prejudice towards others.

The overall idea of the movie and the poems is the responsibility of the individual to fight evil. In “Hangman” this idea is represented by the lesson of the poem, which is that we, the silent, may be next. People ought to be thinking that we should not stand silent because standing silent is wrong. This was presented in the movie through the resistance of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto to the Nazis. In “Cold Within” the idea is conveyed through the humans being unable to fight the evil within them. All of them die because they are unwilling to conquer it. The reason for coming