The Devils Arithmetic is about a Jewish girl named Hannah. It starts off at the Passover dinner. Hannah doesn’t understand why she has to go to this, and why she can’t just eat Easter candy like her friend. Hannah is also confused at why her Grandpop Will is yelling at the T.V because of a program about the Holocaust. She remembers that when she was little she wrote a long number on her arm to match the one her Grandpop had. Her Grandpop picked her up and started yelling at her and shaking her. Hannah never fully forgave him for that. During that Passover Dinner she is asked to open the door to let the Prophet Elijah in. When she does this she is transported back in time, to Poland 1942. There she is known as Chaya Abramowitz. (Chaya is Hannah’s Jewish name. She was named after her Aunt Eva’s friend who died in the Holocaust. Chaya also means life.) She is living with her aunt Gilt and uncle Shmuel, because her parents died from a disease back in her home town. Chaya was also affected by this disease but survived. Hannah thinks this is a dream so when she says anything about where and when she’s from and how she got there it is blamed on the fever. …show more content…
On the day of the wedding a bunch of girls gather around Hannah amazed by her. She tells them stories like Hansel and Gretel, and the Wizard of Oz. When they get to Wedding there are Nazi surrounding the church, claiming that they are just transporting them to a new village, and that their stuff is already there. Everyone is hesitant but believes them, except for Hannah who knows better. Hannah tries telling everyone but it is either blamed on the fever, or one of her stories. They are taken to a concentration camp by a small cattle car where they all are barely able to move, with barley enough oxygen. Many people die from the lack of oxygen including one of the girls Hannah was talking
Hannah has to remember anything and everything. Why? Remembering is a huge part of this story and is represented largeley in many different ways. Passover is an extremely important holiday to the Jewish religion. According to Hannah’s mom, it's all about remembering.
Could you picture around 6 million people? Now how would you feel if all of them were killed right now? All of them being killed because they were African American or they were Mexican. The Holocaust was when the Nazi’s led by Adolf Hitler persecuted, tortured, and killed people just because they were Jewish. People were separated from their families and gassed or burned just to keep up with how many people were coming into the camp, or just to amuse themselves.
What follows is a story of hope, terror, and courage. Hannah meets Rivka
In both books, the main character witnesses the loss of someone close to them, whether it is friends or family. In The Devil’s Arithmetic, as they are in the concentration camps, Hannah witnesses the woman that his uncle is going to marry die on the ground. On page 153, it says, “He bent down and kissed the top of her head as the guns roared, a loud volley that drowned out birdsong and wind and screams. When it was silent at last, the commandant threw the shoes on top of Fayge's body. ‘Let them all go up the stack,’ he said.
It all starts with a young Jewish girl and her family going to a passover meal. After dinner Hannah is transported back to the days leading to the Holocaust. She begins to feel the pain of her past family members who were sent to concentration camps during this tough time for Jews. Hannah had to take risk and put herself in danger to save other family and friends while at the camp. After Hannah is sent
Eventually, Hannah is taken to a concentration camp where not only her family is sacrificed, but so is her identity. The Devil's Arithmetic is a great presentation on how people’s identities are seized just as quickly as their family was. All people have an identity, but the Nazi’s believed otherwise.
What this means is that Hannah knows that she is alive and now knows how the “devil plays” with her mind. The manipulation has not tricked her and this is a point in which she can find light because her
This quality of Hannah’s is more evident as the story
This desire to break the rules might be considered an act of irresponsibility, but in terms of growth it is a pivotal factor in Hannah’s transition towards adolescence. It displays an attempt to connect with society and break apart from the confined life
She willingly endures the unimaginable hardships of the concentration camp to protect her younger brother; her sacrifices exemplify the heights one can reach when putting the needs of others before their own safety. Rivka's acts of selflessness leave an indelible mark on Hannah's consciousness; as Hannah experiences the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand through a time-traveling experience, Rivka's example lingers in her mind, transforming her perspective and awakening her to the preciousness of life and the freedoms she often takes for
Some people that believe Hannah is starting to except where she is living. For example when Hannah talks to girls her age they say “So your Lublin Chaya.” Hannah doesn’t argue with anyone when they say she is from Lublin. I know this is not true because Hannah is still rejecting where she is living. While she was talking to Shmuel she said “I’m not from Lublin, I’m from New Rochelle.”
Her mother makes her go to the Jewish holiday anyway. When she is at the seder her family makes her open the door for Elijah, a Jewish tradition. When Hannah is opening the door she is teleported through time. She ends up in Poland in the 1930’s. Hannah does not know anyone there, but oddly everyone knows her.
Hanna has what the narrator describes as the perfect life. Her parents are together, her house is friendly and her dad even visits their fifth-grade class. The two best friends were perfectly content with their life and no matter what they would not be separated nor turn against each other. “We were the girls with the wrong school supplies, and everything we did after that, even the things done just like everyone else, were the wrong things to do” (Horrock 473). Hanna and the narrator did not care whether they were doing the wrong thing socially, as long as they had each other.
Accept what is, let go of what was, have faith in what will be. In the novel The Devil’s Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen, is a story of a girl named Hannah who isn’t accepting her Jewish heritage. One day when Hannah was at a seder dinner she opened the door and then she found herself in the past. Although some believe that Hannah is starting to change and appreciate her Jewish heritage, I know she isn’t. Even though hannah is being called Chaya by Gitl, Shmuel, and others, she really isn’t accepting it.
Hannah was a very hard worker and by working night and day she became very good at playing the piano. Hannahs talent was shown in the story when it was said that “[she] was playing the music of Beethoven and Liszt with proficiency’’(1). Therefore all these statements show that Hannah was a very devoted ignorant and hard working girl at the start of the