"For it often happens that when I carelessly speak of "my life," I am forced to ask, "which life?" the one before the world war, the between the first and the second, or the life of today?" Stefan Zweig experienced so much in his one life it would seem that he had lived multiple. I found the quote above to be extremely powerful, showing how the world changes before, between and after the world wars and how Zweig adapted his life to the situation.
             The world of security was a time in which only the possession of security made life seem worth while for people. People of this era believed that they indeed were living in an actual would of security. Nothing from the outside world could penetrate this, not war, famine or any other tragedies. It was almost as if people were living in a type of fairy tale and the only way to break them out was war. Even when war did arrive they somehow molded into something to be proud of and celebrate. This secure world that they believed they were living in couldn't possibly carry anything that would lead to suffering.
             The attitude toward the youth of this time period was also very interesting. Although the education of a well off families' son was deemed very important; Zweig explains his childhood as if he was constantly in a circle of mistrust around adults. Zweig explains how the physical shape of children was also not important as school assigned so much homework there was little free time for children of that time period. As these children begin to mature they now also would have to fight to hold back their new found sexual temptations. Authority figures demanded secrecy on the topic of sex, if one couldn't resist the urge you were not allowed to talk about it anywhere. It was not even appropriate to speak about the topic to parents. People were forced to act as if nobody else had the same temptations and no one ever pursued sexual d...