The Devil's Arithmetic Comparison

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The hopelessness, the fear, the death, and the horrific violence of the camp. The counting of each day one lives; the counting of another day of survival. The slow, eliminating of each the innocent villagers one by one, every day. The lack of sufficient food, and the mortifying fear of starvation. The vile, watery soup and the stagnant, stale bread that they are fed every day. The deep desire for freedom and escape. Yet the apprehension of capture is standing in the way every time. Such is the Devil’s Arithmetic. This is what makes the Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen so much like the movie the Devil’s Arithmetic. Yet both share their differences from one another.

The differences between Jane Yolen’s novel, written in 1988, of the Devil’s Arithmetic and the movie, made in March of 1999, are both far and wide and yet rather meager at times. The differences were anything from Hannah’s cousins at the Seder to Hannah being Rivka’s cousin. But each difference was included for a purpose. No change was made without thought or reasoning behind it. Both however clearly broadcasted the same message. We must never forget what happened in Europe throughout the …show more content…

She helped keep Chaya going in the camp, and cared for her before the camp. In the movie Gitl doesn’t even exist. Along with Hannah’s younger brother Aaron, and Yitzchak the village butcher. Each of these characters had an enormous impact of Hannah time and time again in the novel. The plot of the novel and movie is nearly identical, with a few exceptions. The most primal and obvious were the wedding was finished in the movie before the Nazis showed up to take them away. The camp the villagers were sent to was not near as crowded as it was portrayed in the novel. The interaction of the prisoners with the guards, commanders, and other officers in the camp was more common and open than it ever was in the