Summary Of The Devil's Arithmetic By Jane Yolen

In the story, The Devil's Arithmetic, Jane Yolen reveals things that many have never been aware of, like what took place in concentration camps. On page 122, she states, “From all over the camp came the same clicking, as if crazed crickets had invaded the place. The small children, alerted by the sound, came scrambling from everywhere. They raced toward the midden heap behind the barracks.” This is one example of something new one can learn from reading The Devil's Arithmetic. Since younger kids weren’t supposed to be living in the camps and were meant to be killed straight away, they had to hide whenever the commandant paid a visit. Children had to strip before diving into piles of garbage so they could be spared and not dirty their clothing. This displays how hard people have to work to achieve survival. This is highly shocking and disturbing to think about and it broadens our viewpoints on this topic on how vulnerable these people were during their time at the camps. If they wanted to avoid death, they had to be willing to take risks.

At first, Hannah is confused by the chirps, but with help from her friend Rivka, she can further comprehend why the children must do this so they can continue to live. This exemplifies how even if you are being put in a certain situation, you may not always be able to see something right in front of you. Sometimes you have to dive deep down to get out of it. Even prisoners may not have known all that was taking place. They became disconnected from the public, unaware of the vast amount of deaths and torture being executed in many other camps. This contributes to the loneliness that can be felt by everybody during this time. Solitude was the greatest confinement, and prisoners were trapped in