Prisoner B-3087 By Alan Gratz

406 Words2 Pages

In the novel Prisoner B-3087, the author, Alan Gratz, uses both symbolism and first-person narrative voice to convey the themes, "Never give up, even when times are tough," and "Always make the most of your life, because you never know what might happen next."
In the novel, Gratz uses both symbolism and first-person narrative voice to help develop a theme. They use bread as a symbol of life because bread is one of the few foods they had to eat. "Bread. The wonderful, beautiful smell of bread! The aroma alone made my stomach growl." (Page 22) "'Once more then, Yanek, to home. And then we shall have fresh bread for breakfast. How does that sound?' 'Delicious,' I said." (Page 25) Bread is the only food he is eating because he and his family …show more content…

The hyperbole he uses is, “Eat black potatoes? No! Not I!” (Line 4) The potatoes that they feed the children probably aren’t entirely black, just rotten. The author also uses a metaphor to emphasize how bad it is as well. The metaphor the author uses is, “Here in Terezin, life is hell.” (Line 13) Terezin isn’t literally hell, but the author is comparing it to hell. The author also uses a rhyme scheme to add a childish type of writing to show that the people in Terezin are only children. The rhymes they use are, “What, on the ground I have to lie? / Eat black potatoes? No! Not I!” (Line 3-4) and “I’ve got to stay? It’s dirty here! / The floor - why, look, it’s dirt, I fear!” (Line 5-6) and “Here the sound of shouting, cries, / And oh, so many flies,” (Line 9-10) and “Here in Terezin, life is hell / And when I’ll go home again, I can’t yet tell.” (Line 13-14) This poem uses different techniques but still has the same theme as the novel, “Always make the most of your life, because you never know what might happen