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
When Hannah’s adjust to the darkness, she the hallway to an apartment building. She walks in to a table where she struggles at first to recognize the people, before eventually remembering that the old man at the head of the table is Grandpa Will. Aunt Eva notices that Hannah looks pale and asks if there’s anything she can do. Eva raises a glass and says “L’chaim.”
Hannah’s long journey through the past causes her to temporarily forget her own family, showing how people can forget even the most important things if they aren’t vigilant. L'chaim is a Jewish toast that means “To life!”—a phrase that has special significance in this case because it can also be seen as a way to honor Chaya (whose name meant life).
Themes
When Aunt Eva raises her glass, Hannah notices that she has a tattoo on her arm—J18202, the same one as Rivka. Aunt Eva notices Hannah staring and asks if Hannah would like her to explain the tattoo. But Hannah reveals that she already knows what the tattoo means, repeating Rivka’s memory trick. Aunt Eva reveals that she used to be called Rivka, and that her brother Wolfe also changed his name when he came to America. When Eva says she used to be Rivka, Hannah says, “I remember.”
Hannah finally understands her Aunt Eva now and doesn’t need an explanation for the tattoo. Just as Hannah begins and ends her journey to the past with a door, the frame story in the present day begins and ends with Hannah talking about memory. When Hannah tells Aunt Eva that she remembers her as Rivka, she is confirming Eva’s specific admission about her past but she is also making a larger statement about how she has finally learned the importance of the Holocaust and Jewish history in general.
Themes
