Symbolism In The Devil's Arithmetic

“All Jewish holidays are about remembering, Mama. I’m tired of remembering.” (4) In Jane Yolen’s novel, The Devil’s Arithmetic, Hannah says this as her family arrives to Seder and emphasizes the tiredness in her voice and how she feels like there’s no point in remembering, but by the end of the book, you can tell that the main theme is remembering. This impacts the book because it’s setting is in the place of the holocausts and is about Hannah, a girl who doesn’t care about remembering, and how she realizes that it’s important to remember because it can help you in many ways like recalling things that may help you in the future and learn things from the past.

Devil’s Arithmetic Movie vs Book Death, sickness, and torture among humans. The Germans were extremely cruel people during WW1. Jews were taken from their homes and put into concentration camps where they were forced to do work or die. In The Devil’s Arithmetic the tragedy and harshness of these camps was brought to life.

The Devil’s Arithmetic, a novel by Jane Yolen, is very inspiring to me. It explains the feelings of not only just Hannah, but many others. It lets me know that in any situation, you can always persevere. Although this book can be sad, the sadness is powerful. It takes you to a whole new perspective of the Holocaust, not just through facts, but actually living it. Hannah has to remember anything and everything. Why? Remembering is a huge part of this story and is represented largeley in many different ways.

The Book is Always Better than the Movie The Holocaust was a genocide that occurred almost one hundred years ago. As the number of survivors dwindles, it’s become more necessary than ever to remember. Books, documentaries, and other forms of media are one of the best ways to preserve history.

Hannah was ignorant about the world around her and was only concentrated on learning the piano and dreaming about becoming a concert pianist. “[Hannah] dreamed of [herself] in flowing dresses with [her] long black hair grown out to [her] waist and a string of pearls at [her] throat”(horton.1). This shows that Hannah is living in her own world with her hopes and dreams. Hannah realized that she has a great talent and she can become a famous concert pianist one day. Hannah believed when Tant Rose said “ If [she] made a few sacrifices and worked hard [she] would be famous’’(1).

In the Devil’s Arithmetic--both the book and the movie--Hannah, a young Jewish girl, begins the story by heading off to her Seder Dinner, much to her dismay. She doesn’t care much about her past, and she doesn’t want to remember what happened to the Jews. She greets her favorite aunt, Aunt Eva, at the door, and unenthusiastically goes along with the celebration, drinking too much wine and treating everyone with disrespect. When asked to go open the door for the prophet Elijah, Hannah reluctantly gets up and opens the door. In an instance, she is transported back in time to 1942, the peak of the Holocaust. What follows is a story of hope, terror, and courage. Hannah meets Rivka

The book and movie of The Devil’s Arithmetic have similarities and differences, and they help the viewer gain more understanding of the story, the Holocaust, and the way that the mistreated Jews dealt with adversity. Both of the forms of media benefit the execution of their respective genres.

First of all, Hannah doesn't want to go to the Seder dinner since she thinks it is unimportant. When Hannah was with her family at the Seder dinner, she got to open the door for the prophet, Elijah. When she opens the door she gets transported back through time and meets Shmuel and Gitl. Shmuel is getting ready for his wedding and his engagement to Fayge. When they are on their way to the village to celebrate, they see vehicles parked outside the entrance and the village are empty.

She does this by doing whatever makes her happy which means remaining unmarried like Sula, having sex for the sheer pleasure, and not being too concerned with motherhood. According to Morrison, “She would fuck practically anything, but sleeping with someone implied for her a measure of trust and a definite commitment” (44). Hannah can be seen as an individualistic woman because she has sex with men but doesn’t actually sleep with them because that would mean trusting and committing to them. The only motive that Hannah has sex with these men is for her own pleasure from the sex and not for loyalty or devotion. Through these motives, Morrison portrays Hannah as being self-reliant and engaging in actions that bring her self-pleasure.

As Hannah opens the door, she is transported to 1941 Poland and unknowingly becomes her Aunt Ava’s, formally known as Rivkah, cousin as she steps into the life of a prisoner in a German concentration

During the “New Girl” Era, women in Germany suffered discrimination because of the fact that they were not men. They lived in an era that was almost entirely run by men. Women were given less job opportunities and were finally given women’s rights, but were not able to fully use them because they were still restricted from doing many things. This lead to Hannah’s creations of her photomontages that were inspired by her social and political views on this era.

Accept what is, let go of what was, have faith in what will be. In the novel The Devil’s Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen, is a story of a girl named Hannah who isn’t accepting her Jewish heritage. One day when Hannah was at a seder dinner she opened the door and then she found herself in the past. Although some believe that Hannah is starting to change and appreciate her Jewish heritage, I know she isn’t. Even though hannah is being called Chaya by Gitl, Shmuel, and others, she really isn’t accepting it.

The behavior that Sula’s mother, Hannah and Nel’s mother, Helen upheld in their community, were assimilated by their daughters Sula and Nel, which lead them to a life of despair. In their community, Medallion, Hannah was viewed as a whore. She engaged in frequent sexual relations with any man that she came across.

Hanna has what the narrator describes as the perfect life. Her parents are together, her house is friendly and her dad even visits their fifth-grade class. The two best friends were perfectly content with their life and no matter what they would not be separated nor turn against each other. “We were the girls with the wrong school supplies, and everything we did after that, even the things done just like everyone else, were the wrong things to do” (Horrock 473). Hanna and the narrator did not care whether they were doing the wrong thing socially, as long as they had each other.

Ha also has to learn a new language because she had to move to a new home in a new country with a new language. Ha states, “MiSSS SScott points to me, then to the letters of the English alphabet. I say A B C and so on.” This quote shows that even though Ha found a safe home with no potential threat of war, she faces challenges such as learning one of the most difficult languages in the world. Ha found a home in Alabama that is safe with no threat of war as there is in Saigon, but she faces several challenges a day and one of them is missing her father and wishing he will soon appear in her classroom one day.