What Is The Theme Of Survival In The Devil's Arithmetic

Have you ever wanted to travel back through time? Although that would be cool, the time period you go back to would be the Holocaust. In the Historical Fiction Novel by Jane Yolen, The Devil’s Arithmetic, a girl named Hannah will end up traveling through time back to the holocaust. While Hannah is there, she experiences all the events that happened in the Holocaust. In order to survive the camp she is deported to, she must use her knowledge of what she knows about the Holocaust to survive. In the camp, Hannah starts to lose her memories about the Holocaust and must figure out how to survive it.

One of two topics I believe is most important about The Devil’s Arithmetic is, survival and endurance. Hannah must use her survival skills combined with her endurance to survive the camp. She already knew how to survive the Holocaust, but she forgets her memories while she is there. She eventually figures out how to move around the camp. Including what she should do, what to do, and what not to do. Another thing she learns is to be quiet around the guards to avoid the attention of them. Throughout the time she has been there, she learns to stay closer to her family as she is not alone in this, and they are the ones who really care about

At the beginning of the novel she says “I’m tired of remembering” clearly stating she doesn’t want to go to the Seder dinner for Passover and remember the events. Although she says that, throughout the novel, Hannah starts to learn why it is important to remember. When Hannah is in the camp, Rivka had taught her many lessons that she must remember to survive. At the end of the novel, Hannah took Rivka’s place and disguised as her. The last words Hannah said to Rivka were: “Run for your life, Rivka. Run for your future. Run. Run. Run. And remember.” Hannah had clearly wanted Rivka to remember and keep on living. Overall, remembering was very important, as Hannah finds