Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Devil’s Arithmetic, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory
Sacrifice
Jewish Culture and Identity
Hope
Summary
Analysis
Hannah travels in the crowded boxcar for four days and nights, with only two stops along the way. Some of the very old or very young people in the car die, and the soldiers simply throw them out.
The shift from normal life in the shtetl to people dying on train cars happens very quickly, showing how precarious society can be, particularly for vulnerable groups like Jewish people in the 1940s.
Themes
On the fourth day, the train stops for good, and Nazis begin ordering everyone to get out. Shmuel tells them that more people have died, but the Nazis tell him to just leave the bodies behind. The soldiers lead everyone to barracks. Over the gate is a sign that says (in German) “Work makes you free.” The rabbi takes this as a good sign, feeling that the people of his shtetl have never been afraid of work.
In the afterword, Yolen mentions that she combined elements of different concentration camps for the fictional one depicted in this story, with “Work makes you free” inspired by a sign at Auschwitz. Based on the horrors that Hannah and the others experienced on the train, the sign seems to be a lie, showing how the Nazis used disinformation to try to keep prisoners in line.
Themes
While walking to the barracks, Fayge collapses, and Shmuel goes over to help her. Hannah laments that they didn’t run when they had the chance, but Gitl says there’s nowhere to run now.
Gitl’s comment about there being nowhere to run shows how powerful the Nazis were at this point in history, but it’s also a broader comment on the force of prejudice like anti-Semitism in general.
Themes
A tall woman in blue with dark hair greets the newcomers, calling them “the lowest of the low.” Hannah points out that the woman herself has the tattoo of a prisoner, but the woman specifies that she isn’t Jewish. She is a blokova, a prisoner who oversees the other prisoners. To punish Hannah for speaking up, the woman takes the blue ribbons from Hannah’s hair.
The blokova demonstrates that the Nazis weren’t the only ones with anti-Semitic feelings. The blokova is herself being imprisoned by the Nazis, as her tattoo shows, but she nevertheless has a little bit of power over her fellow prisoners, and this causes her to be almost as cruel as her own captors.
Themes
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The blokova orders everyone to undress to shower together. When many are uncomfortable with this, she tells them to pretend it’s a mikvah (a type of ritual bath in Judaism). Hannah tries to warn everyone that the showers will actually be lethal gas chambers, but Gitl and the others again think Hannah is getting reality confused with fairy tales.
The blokova ridicules Jewish culture by comparing it to the shabby conditions in the camps. Once again, Hannah finds that it isn’t enough just to have knowledge of dangers like the gas chambers—she also has to be able to convince other people of the truth of her knowledge. In a reversal of Hannah’s experience in the novel’s present, as Hannah resisted learning about Jewish history, the prisoners resist learning about what Hannah knows from the future.
Themes
As they wait in the showers, Hannah realizes she hasn’t seen Rachel in a while. Esther mentions that Rachel used to have trouble breathing every spring. Hannah asks Esther if Rachel had trouble breathing in the boxcar, but Esther cries and refuses to answer.
This passage suggests that Rachel has a breathing condition, perhaps asthma or seasonal allergies. In addition to learning the cruelty of the Nazis, Hannah also learns that the past could be difficult due to the lack of modern medicines and other technology.
Themes
Hannah decides not to tell other people everything she knows about the Nazis, believing that she can’t convince anyone and that at least it’s better for people to have hope. She is relieved, however, to find that the showers are actually water. Afterwards, a barber cuts off everyone’s hair to prevent lice. Hannah struggles to recognize people without hair, but she eventually finds Gitl. Hannah is sobbing, but Gitl makes her promise to never cry in front of the Nazis again.
Hannah’s decision to let the other Jewish people remain ignorant may seem like she feels defeated and is giving up. While that may be partly true, Hannah is also beginning to realize the importance that hope plays for people in a concentration camp and how prisoners had to believe in the possibility of a better future even when their own odds of survival were slim.
Themes
