Susan Griffin Our Secret (Summary) - Book Report/Review Example

This abuse may be physical, psychological or as in this work, it is the abuse of power. Susan Griffin delves into the life of the Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler, to explore the distinct relation between childhood experiences and environment which shapes an individual’s life and personality. The author feels that when we acknowledge our past life experiences we are made aware of our inner self and thereby are also led on the path of change. Griffin’s search for her identity, repressed by her own grandmother, makes her delve deep into Himmler’s identity, hoping that she may stumble upon some clue to her identity which is locked in her past.

Most readers of Susan Griffin are left puzzled after reading the book, since it does not seem to have a clear story or an objective to reveal. Her account of Himmler’s life though redeems her novel, because of the extensive study of this man, who was one of the most important components of the Nazi death factories. The novel starts with Griffin describing a nucleus, which is the centre of human existence and likens it to Himmler’s father, who is at the core of Himmler’s identity. Himmler’s father was a strict disciplinarian who did not hesitate to mete out corporal punishment on him and his siblings.

Himmler, who came from this same seed, was bound to have some of this violent strain in him, because “all the… cells have identical DNA” (391). . With infinite precision and mechanical methods, Himmler sorted out the inferiors from all around him and sent them to be snuffed out in the gas chambers of his Secret Service. Griffin's other thread in the story combines the analogy of a rocket with humans. Once a rocket is built and launched, its inherent mechanism will disallow any change in course and purpose.

The rocket is made for destruction and that is what it will do, much like Leo, the other subject of Griffin's keen observation. Leo's life was built around the tales of torture related by his brother, a torturer in the dreaded SS. Soon Leo had assimilated these torture stories and looked up to the soldiers, "their strengths, their ideals, their willingness to do violence." (pg. 383) Without his knowledge, he was turning into a beast, who during the Korean War became the torturer for the US government, just like his idealized brother before him.

But in Leo's case, at the end of the war he was forced into an "ordinary" life and has no clue of what he was supposed to do or become. Instead, he become a criminal and killed a man. Like the rockets, which have a pre-determined course and an inability to stop the destruction for which they are created Himmler and Leo too were set in the path of destruction of society and their fellow beings. Their programming was the result of their childhood experiences and stories told to them, while in the process of destruction they lost their own selves.

Susan Griffin's book on "Our Secret" is almost a study in psychology, because it deals with the minds of people, how they react to different circumstances and why some people commit acts of great violence. The era during the Second World War forms the basis of all her study.