50 pages • 1 hour read
Jane YolenThe Devil's Arithmetic
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Stories as Symbols of Hope and Deception
In the novel, stories often symbolize opposing things. Stories can represent deception. The Nazis try and trick Jewish individuals into believing that they won’t lethally harm them. The colonel says: “[A]nyone who wants to work will be treated humanely.” He adds: “And you will be happy among your own people, just as we will be happy you have followed the government’s orders” (70). This is a lie, a story that represents an imaginary account. The true story is that Nazis kill Jewish individuals as a part of their genocidal policies.
Hannah’s knowledge and memories about the Holocaust ostensibly represent deception. She’s not lying, but the Jewish individuals she meets believe her story is false. They’re unable to fathom that the Nazis will put Jewish individuals in gas chambers, cremate them in ovens, and kill around six million Jewish people. Gitl scolds Hannah: “This is not one of your stories that ends happy-ever-after” (70-71). At this point, Hannah’s story doesn’t end happily—there’s no hope. Many of the Jewish people she meets dismiss stories that don’t symbolize hope. On the train, Jewish individuals pass along stories of mass executions and wanton violence. An unnamed woman replies: “It is just a story. A nightmare. Do not tell us any more of your awful stories” (79). Stories that point to the stark reality are deemed falsehoods and ignored.
The stories that represent hope are heeded. Fayge’s story about young Israel and the werewolf seems to provide Jewish individuals with courage. If Israel can confront the werewolf and take his devilish heart, then Jewish people can survive their evil predicament. Before Hannah sacrifices herself for Rivka, she says: “Listen. I have a story to tell you” (149). This time, the story is hopeful. Hannah says: “In the end, in the future, there will be Jews still. And there will be Israel, a Jewish state, where there will be a Jewish president and a Jewish senate. And in America, Jewish movie stars” (149). The new story evokes a prosperous future. The narrative becomes a symbol of optimism, so the girls pay attention.
The Motif of Media and Distance
References to media pervade the novel. Early in the story, Hannah tells her young brother a zombie story based on a movie she watched on TV. Later, in Poland, Hannah tells the girls stories from mass media: Little Women and The Wizard of Oz are popular books with equally popular movie adaptations, and Yentl is a well-known movie. The idea of media links to themes of Privilege, Suffering, and Life or Death and The Preservation of Identity.
Hannah’s identity connects to media, and her knowledge of media makes her popular among the girls in Poland. Hannah is also fortunate that she has the time to consume media, and that the violence she sees on TV isn’t a part of her real life in New Rochelle.
The idea of media connects to the idea of distance. Media creates knowledge, but it doesn’t automatically help a person understand other people’s suffering. Hannah sees the images of the concentration camp on TV—she knows about the Holocaust—but the media doesn’t evoke empathy or make her feel close to Will. Hannah says to her mom: “[W]hy does he bother with it? It’s all in the past” (17). For Hannah to empathize with Will, she has to collapse the distance fostered by media representations—she has to experience the Holocaust firsthand.
The Motif of Family, Community, and Sacrifice
The idea of family doesn’t initially appeal to Hannah. She doesn’t want to go to the Seder and celebrate Passover with her family. At the Seder, she’s predictably annoyed and somewhat rude. She seems to envy Rosemary. Hannah thinks: “Rosemary gets to eat jelly beans and I get to eat horseradish” (21). While Hannah likes Aunt Eva and is relatively nice to her brother, neither her family nor the Jewish community appears to mean much to her. She wants to get the night over with.
In Poland, Yolen continues to explore the idea of family and community. Gitl tells Hannah: “Shmuel and I—we are your family now” (35). The inclusive wedding festivities illustrate how Hannah has a place within her new family and the Jewish community. The concentration camp furthers Hannah’s appreciation for family and community. Hannah suffers, and so does her community, and the life-or-death environment fastens her to her collective. She stops thinking about herself and tries to look after the younger kids, like Tzipporah and Leye’s baby. Hannah starts to see the relationship between her identity, her family, and the Jewish community. Her evolved idea of family and community compels her to sacrifice herself for Rivka.
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By Jane Yolen
