Theme Of Courage In The Devil's Arithmetic

Imagine waking up to a pungent odor and thousands of grim, lifeless faces. Imagine losing friends one by one, then eventually even family members. Merciless Nazis surrounding the camp, making escape impossible. The only thing one can do is to hope and to be courageous. Courage is a dear friend; fear, however, is a vicious enemy. It was necessary to have courage for Hannah and nearly all of the prisoners in the concentration camp. Lacking courage would cause Hannah to not at least attempt to save Reuven or Rivka. Rivka would not be alive if Hannah was not courageous. Courage is needed to accomplish the majority of task or goals. In The Devil’s Arithmetic, the prevailing theme is courage. In the novel, The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen, Hannah demonstrates a type of

The courage is Standing Up For What is Right. On page 64, the text states, “They killed-kill-will kill Jews. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them. Six million of them...We have to run!” Though Hannah had only met all of the villagers less than a day ago. Shmuel, Gitl, Yitzchak, and the other children and adults were no better. Hannah certainly could have ran away and saved herself when no one was paying attention. Additionally, Hannah keeps trying to inform other prisoners of the future. Even though she’s been called “lucid” and still “ill”, she continues to tell Gitl, Shmuel, Rivka, Shifre, and Esther to believe her. Even after Hannah saves Rivka, Rivka still refuses to believe her. Hannah even tries to convince her again. Chaya is standing up for the safety and future of people she does not know well. To some extent, she is ignoring her own safety, such as when she impersonates Rivka. Furthermore, Hannah demonstrates courage on page 89, “They aren’t mine to give. You can’t have them.” Hannah knows of the horror prisoners faced if they were to refuse orders, as she had already learned about the Holocaust in school.