The Devil's Arithmetic Book Report

Over 6 million jews were killed during the holocaust! It is so inhumane how the jews were slaughtered so carelessly by the nazi’s. Even though this horrible period came to happen the survivors never want to forget. Why? They do not want to forget the horrible time and how hope spread like wildfire through the camps. How loved ones can throw away their lives to save their families. This is what Hannah did in the book and the movie. You should never forget as well.
The Book’s Title is The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. The movie is titled The Devil’s Arithmetic and was made in 1999. The book starts out with Hannah not wanting to remember. She does not want to go to the family Passover. She is forced to go with her little brother Aaron. Although it was the same old Passover, but this time Hannah took part in the wine part. She drunk too much and was asked to open the door for Elijah. Then she ‘passes out’ which we do not realize till the end of the book. She goes back in time to Chaya who was taken in by Gitl and Shmuel. Shmuel was getting married and it was about time for the wedding when Yitzchak and his kids showed up early. Hannah wanders off and meets Rachel, Shifre, Esther, Yente. They get to know each other. Hannah leaves after telling stories and goes and gets dressed for the

wedding, Which she is wearing Gitl and Shmuel dress from when they first interacted. After that they are on their way to get married and they get stopped and ‘relocated’ and they watched as the Nazi’s burned the synagogue. They end up having all they own stolen by the Nazi’s and they are sent to the concentration camps. They are put to work, but Hannah starts to notice that it is the same old thing every day. Then one day, Shmuel and Yitzchak try to escape and they fail they are executed and Fayge goes with Shmuel. Then Rivka is chosen, but Chaya acts like Rivka and Chaya dies saving Rivka. When Hannah Returns to the real world she talks with Aunt Eva (Rivka) about all that happen and Hannah appreciates her religion and the horror that happened.
In the movie Hannah a little older does not care about anything her religion is about. While at the Passover she has too many glasses of wine and passes out. She goes back in time as Hannah, Aunt Eva’s dead friend. She goes to the marriage of Shmuel and another boy. Just as they get married, they get taken away by Nazi’s and the synagogue is burned. Once they get to camp it is horrible they are treated like dirt, live in cramped beds and have no warmth. They work digging at rocks in the mud. One lady is pregnant and has a baby. It is found by the evil Nazi general and is taken away along with the mother. The next day Hannah’s love, the Rabbi’s son, tries to escape by bribing the guard they are caught and Hanged. Rivka becomes ill and is noticed by the general. Hannah takes Rivka’s place by acting like her and stealing her hat. Hannah is put in the gas chamber and is killed. Then she wakes up and confronts Aunt Eva about Rivka and her dead friend Hannah. She understands Aunt Eva and becomes one with the religion and never wants to forget the Holocaust.
Even though those characters are missing in the movie the movie does keep the meaning of the book. Though some of the minor characters are gone there are a lot of characters the same. For instance Rivka is still Aunt Eva, and Shmuel is still there too.
in the same way another way they are the same as they are still treated like pieces of dirt and the Nazi’s make them suffer so much in both the book and movie. In both the movie and the book you have Hannah going back in time to play the character of Aunt Eva’s dead friend and experiencing the Holocaust through that person’s eyes. This changed Hannah’s view on the Holocaust and made her realize that she should never forget about this event. Both of the theme’s had a person having to make the ultimate sacrifice to save their loved ones. Which gave the person that they saved courage to keep living and to live on and have humanity. To the Nazi’s it was a shamless waste of blood. Another way they were similar in theme was that the violence of the Nazi’s was the same. They had no humanity or pity for them. To the Germans if you could not work you were no good and were killed in the gas chambers. They had no remorse that they were killing someone. They did not think twice about killing someone.
Although there was an abundance of similarities there are many more differences.

Such as Gitl was not there at all as she was in the book. Yitzchak, Reuven, and Tziporah are all missing in the movie. Also their is Aaron, Hannah’s brother, who is not there. They were an important bunch of people that should have been included because I think they built the plot a lot better when they were there in the book. Plot was different too, important plot details in the book were left out of the movie such as different jobs in the camp. In the book there was a bunch of variety when it came to jobs such as sorting, cleaning, digging. In the movie there was only

digging.