"I would be dead of exhaustion in half an hour." Pg. 66
""Oh, if one could only affront the wind as we once used to, on equal terms, and not as we do here, like cringing dogs." Pg. 70
"...the low grey sky where the inexorable snow whirls around..." Pg. 70
Primo expresses the work very exhausting. They had to dig holes all day and witness the death of thousands of people each day. I wouldn't have even bear to look at people dying and burned in holes. The depression, downfall, and inhumanity of the SS. The cold wind blowing against the workers just made me almost cry. I watched the video called "Last Days" by Steven Spielberg referring to Survival in the Auschwitz was so unreal and brutal, I closed my eyes half of the time. Many prisoners were skinnier than me and they walked slower than zombies executed with guns, fire, and torture tools. Primo Levi describes the low grey sky showing depression of the day of working and snow remains whirling around with the coldness...
"He is as helpless and vulnerable as a new-born baby, but the following morning he will still have to march to work." Pg. 57
"I always saw, and still see in him, the rare figure of the strong yet peace-lobing man against whom the weapons of night are blunted." Pg. 57
"Nevertheless I am so tired and stunned that I, too, soon fall asleep, and I seem to be sleeping on the tracks of a railroad." Pg. 59
"The sores on my feet reopen at once, and a new day begins." Pg.64
Primo Levi is now tired of waiting for hope and faith. His trust with God slowly fades away. Primo Levi shows that even a new-born baby would have been on work in Auschwitz. The SS would have no soul or mercy over the Jewish people but to give harsh punishments. Primo met new friends and he noticed a special friend named Alberto and Primo Levi senses the peace-loving man against whom the weapons of night are blunted which means that when people are getting killed and murdered, Alberto has no effect on the evil acts. It is significant because in the dark and disastrous life, Alberto is ingenious by evil and death which gave hope and trust to Primo. After Primo Levi is back from work, he is so tired and timorous that when he is sleeping he feels like sleeping on the tracks of a railroad. Nevertheless, I would have felt the same way as Primo Levi lying on the tracks waiting for the train to squash me. The hard work is repeated day after day and as the sores reopen as the new day begins shows that the shoes were useless as Primo begins to rot in prison.
"The days all seem like and it is not easy to count them." Pg. 42
"it is enough to think of how many enter Ka-Be with shoes, and leave with no further need of them..." Pg. 46
"This might easily be my last day and this room the gas chamber of which all speak, but what can i do about it?" Pg. 48
"No one must leave here and so carry to the world, together with the sign impressed on his skin, the evil tidings of what man's presumption made of man in Auschwitz" Pg. 55
Primo Levi was injured with his sore foot he was about to experience the Ka-Be or the hospital is what everybody else refers to... First things first...
A hospital is a place where people heal and taken care of... on the other hand the Ka-Be is well taken care of compared to normal lives in the Auschwitz... No Beating... No Disciplines... No Work... regardless of food and water Ka-Be was heaven to most of the people in Auschwitz. It would be horrible to walk out the Ka-Be without shoes thinking that you're going to die soon. The Ka-Be is just a place to rest temporarily surviving in Auschwitz rules are same anywhere. There is no escape in Auschwitz. Hearing such words would make a person downfall and impact on mental minds. I would of been mentally retarded thinking of which, some people wouoldn't survive these circumstances and die easily.
"We must walk erect, without dragging our feet, not in homage to Prussian discipline but to remain alive, not to; begin to die" Pg. 41
Primo Levi is ready to work and needing things necessary for work. The SS are telling the people how to survive throughout the concentration camp. Brutality, Sin, Survival, and Slavery is in Auschwitz... There is no destiny to avoid but only death. I would have never imagined going to a camp and even thinking of surviving... I would rather die trying to run away...Primo Levi is describing how the Prussian discipline is compared to death than trying to live and survive. The walls and the floor is rocky and a place where i don't want to go...(even before i die) Primo Levi expressed his feelings toward the dying people and started to learn the way of Auschwitz!
"The adventure is over, and I feel filled with a serene sadness that is almost joy."
(Pg. 31)
"Because once the choice is made there can be no second change." (Pg. 34)
"And it was so tiring to walk those few steps and then, meeting each other, to remember and to think. IT was better not to think." (Pg. 37)
As Primo Levi was sent to the bottom of the cells, he remembered his family and his memories from the past. He was regretful of being a Jew but he knew he would want to be more Italian than a Jew. His strong faith to God but still complained why he had to live a grotesque life in deep chambers. If I was Primo Levi, I wouldn't have survived more than a week in the concentration camp and blamed God in all ways... normally people start blaming someone else. Living in a harsh condition of survival wouldn't be a success of life or faliure. Once choice could end a life but Primo Levi kept his faith toward God, suprising me. Hope is lost as well as vitality of life. The Jews couldn't blame Nazis, Germans, or Hitler but to make life more miserable than before. Losing family, valueables, friends, and love would rip my heart before I even would go to a cell. People weren't treated as people in the camps and there was no one to hold on to in Auschwitz.
This Blog is made for Jason and his response of the Book "Survival in the Auschwitz" by Primo Levi
-The Writer-
-The Past-
February 2007
March 2007
May 2007
-The Talks-
Hi~
-Exits-
My Myspace :)
Da Galvanizing Class of 2008
