The Devil's Arithmetic Essay Topics

The Devil’s Arithmetic is a book and a movie that truly exposes what it was like for the Jewish people in Nazi Germany during the time of Hitler’s reign. The movie starts off with Hannah Stern, a teenage girl in the 1990s who is very rebellious. She is at a tattoo shop and her mother calls her because she is late for Passover Seder with her family. Hannah has no interest in her Jewish culture and does not want to go, but she is forced to. Somehow during the dinner she is transported to the 1940s to Germany during the time of Hitler and she and her cousin Rivka are captured by the Nazis and forced to work in concentration camps. She learns of the hardships her ancestors had to go through during their time in the camps and gains a respect for her family. Hannah saves her cousin by pretending she was Rivka when she coughed and she is brought to the gas chamber. In the end Hannah is brought back to present day and reunited with family, which she will never take for granted again.

The theme of loss is very apparent in The Devil’s Arithmetic because the Jews lost everything; their home, their family and they were ripped of their pride.

When the Nazi’s came to the Jewish village where Hannah, Rivka and their families and friends were staying they were forced to leave their home and all of their belongings behind. Once they got to the camp they were forced to strip off their clothing and give away any personnel belongings that they may have had with them. Including Leah, the bride, she had to take off her wedding dress and put it in the possession of the Nazis. Loss was also exemplified when the Nazi’s took Rivka’s mother away after she stood up for the women who had recently had the baby. Rivka was very distraught, especially because her mother was taken away, one of the only women she had to confide in. Rivka lost Hannah when she sacrificed herself to save Rivka and she was never the

same.
Faith was a major theme in The Devil’s Arithmetic; it was kept the Jew’s strong. Rabbi Boruch wants everyone to put their faith in God, he is continually praying and asking for peace because faith can guide people through anything. When the three men are hung because of their attempt to escape the Rabbi prays and chants, knowing that God will bring them to Heaven. Hannah learns about her faith during her time in the camps and realizes that it can guide her. She asks Ariel how to pray because it may be the one thing that can get her through the camps. She starts to believe that God is punishing her, but Rivka assures her that he is not. Hannah plans a Seder for her and the other prisoners in the camp and this brings everyone together to celebrate their faith. In the end, Hannah’s opinion of her faith changes dramatically and she discovers just how important it is.
The Devil’s Arithmetic describes the life of a prisoner in the concentration camps. Although it is now over, the affects of it still live with the world today. If it were not for the prisoner’s faith, persistence and strength, nobody would have made it out alive. Hannah learned to respect and love her religion and she became grateful for family because she now knew what they had overcame.