In the response to Simon Wiesenthal’s book titled “The Sunflower”, Jose Hobday explains why he would have forgiven Karl if he was in the same position as Simon. He does this through a narrative of his own life and beliefs as a Native American who has seen prejudice and discrimination his whole life. Although he did not personally live through the Genocides and wars of his people, American history is built on these atrocities and the native people teach their children of it as it was a part of their culture. In the beginning of Jose’s essay response, he poses the question of “What right does Karl have to ask forgiveness” but then immediately answers by stating whether or not Karl had the right is irrelevant; The fact of the matter is that he DID ask …show more content…
Jose then goes on to explain a personal experience a time when he was badly wronged and wished for a chance at revenge but his mother told him not to be “so ignorant and stupid and inhuman as they are”. His mother’s words are a powerful tool used in this essay as it shows why Jose leans the way he does in Simon’s ethical question and maybe helps the reader to relate back to their own mothers and what they may say if they were placed in a similar problem although the specific wrong that has been done is not mentioned in the essay. Jose states that forgiveness and forget may be two different things, but they are hand in hand. This is an interesting variance from the belief of the other responses as the main consensus seemed to say that even though they would forgive, forgetting is out of the question. But Jose iterates that no matter what choice is made, it will ultimately creep back to you in the future and make you question if you made the right choice. His solution is to find peace within yourself and to wipe the memory from your mind if it should bring you