Symbolism In The Devil's Arithmetic

Not only does this change Hannah from being a static character to a dynamic character it changes Hannah as a person because she goes from being selfish, scared,to relieved. However, it is not only Hannah that goes through this. At the opening of the historical fiction novel, Hannah is recalled as a self-centered, insulting person and a rascal. With the trouble some brother that she has, Hannah is unwilling about going to the Seder. The Seder is a family gathering feast that the Jewish families went to.

Rejection is to refuse or disagree. In the Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen Hannah has many new emotions ever since she walked through the door from Grandpa Will’s to Gitl and Shmuel’s house. Although some people believe in Hannah is starting to accept her Jewish Heritage, I know that Hannah is still rejecting her heritage. Hannah’s new name is just one reason why she is rejecting her heritage. Many people are saying that Hannah is starting to accept her new name.

However, it does leave Connie and the readers trapped in the nightmare, no where to escape the horror. This made the readers and the main character truly believe the evil is real and can happen anytime. When Connie wakes up, she will be changed permanently by the dream her subconscious created to save her. In the end of the dream, Connie even knows that something has ended, her habits, and she is going somewhere beyond

In “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” on pages 160-161 it says “She stopped as the dark door into Lilith’s Cave opened before them. ‘And where one day, I bet, a Jewish girl will be president if she wants to be. Are you ready, now? Ready or not, here we come…’ Then all three of them took deep breaths and walked in through the door into endless night. When the dark finally resolve itself, Hannah found she was looking across an empty hall at a green door marked 4N.” A Lot of tension is built here because Hannah just returned home!

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.

To begin, the lack of financial stability in the Walls family has always been problematic, however as the mother of her children, Rose Mary never contributed much to the family income due to her stubbornness and free-spirited nature. A prime example of Rose Mary not providing for her family is a constant lack of food in the house. The children’s hunger is apparent when Jeannette says, “We did eat less. Once we lost our credit at the commissary, we quickly ran out of food. Sometimes Dad’s odd jobs would come through, or he’d win some money gambling, and we’d eat for a few days.

Due to being a woman , Esperanza’s mother was not able to complete her education , instead she was forced to stay at home and look after Esperanza and her siblings while her husband provided for them, she strongly resents this ‘“I could have been somebody, you know? My mother says and sighs. She has lived in this city her whole life. She can speak two languages. She can sing an

(82-83). This proves that she is mute because she doesn’t know what she should say or what anyone would say to her. (SIP-B) Najmah also loses control over her life when she witnesses the deaths of her mother and baby brother. cutting Najmah’s hair and changing her clothes, "I do not resist- nor do I help- when she removed the remains of my tunic and skirt..." (Staples 84) Najmah didn 't choose have her clothes changed, and she doesn 't have control over what she is doing she is just sitting there having her clothes changed by another person. (STEWE-2) Najmah was forced to transform into Shaheed when her head was shaved on page 84, “She picks up- over my head” (Staples 84) This is the exact moment Najmah transforms into Shaheed, and loses a say in her life.

How did some people even make it through this time? Not many people survived the Holocaust and if they did I don’t even know how they were brave enough to recover. If any Jews survived the Holocaust they usually had no family to go back to because their families did not survive or were displaced. They didn’t want to go back to where they lived and sometimes they didn’t even remember where they lived. They had to be brought back to health and learn how to rebuild their lives.

The air stank of sweat and unwashed bodies, of feet, urine, cigarette smoke and antiseptic.” This hospital shows us the terrible conditions in which women were forced to cope with and the pain and agony they had to go through. When Laila is required to have a caesarean she has to do it without anaesthetic resulting in her having to go through immense pain. This shows the power of the Taliban and the terrible ways in which women are forced to live. The symbol of hospitals shows the theme of courage because women are forced to go through fear in order to