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| ==Plot== | ==Plot== | ||
| Hannah Stern is a Jewish girl living in the present day. She is bored by her relative's stories about the past, is not looking forward to the Passover Seder, and is tired of her religion. When Hannah symbolically opens the door for the prophet ], she is transported back in time to 1941 | Hannah Stern is a Jewish girl living in the present day. She is bored by her relative's stories about the past, is not looking forward to the Passover Seder, and is tired of her religion. When Hannah symbolically opens the door for the prophet ], she is transported back in time to 1941 Poland, during ], though she is not aware of the time period. At that time and place, the people believe she is Chaya Abramowicz, who is recovering from ], the fever that killed Chaya's parents a few months ago. The strange remarks Hannah/Chaya makes about the future and her inability to recognize her "aunt" Gitl and "uncle" Shmuel are blamed on the fever. | ||
| Poland, during ], though she is not aware of the time period.. | |||
| Hannah then goes to a Jewish wedding. At the wedding she learns it is "]." When Nazis come and round up the people involved in the wedding she learns that it is October 1941. She tells the fellow wedding goers about the holocaust but they don't believe her. | |||
| At her "uncle's" wedding, the Nazis come to transport the entire population of the village to a concentration camp near Donavin, and only Hannah knows all the terrors they will face: starvation, mistreatment, forced labor, and finally execution. Hannah and the other women are stripped, shaved, and tattooed with a number. Hannah and the other women are forced to dig trenches in the camp. As one of the women is pregnant she clinched in her stomach with a belt. After the Nazis say there is a breakout of typhus in the women's quarters, the rabbi's female family members are taken away, presumably to the gas chambers. Hannah struggles to survive at the camp, with the help of a girl named Rivka. Uncle Shmuel and some other men try to escape; the men are caught and then hanged as everyone watches. Fayge, who was going to be married to Shmuel, is killed because she runs to Shmuel when he is about to be shot with the men that were caught. Yitzchak escapes and lives in the forest with the partisans, fighting the Germans. The woman from Hannah's barracks gives birth. After her baby is found, the mother and her child are sent to the gas chambers along with Hannah's aunt. | |||
| After being brought to a Nazi concentration camp the men and women are separated. the rabbi disagrees with the Nazi leader, who says he will "deal with him later." | |||
| Hannah and the other women are stripped, shaved, and tattooed with a number. They are then thrown into barracks.Hannah and the other women are forced to dig trenches in the camp. As one of the women is pregnant she clinched in her stomach with a belt. After the Nazis say there is a breakout of typhus in the women's quarters, the rabbis female family members are taken away, presumably to the gas chambers. When the men hear about this, the can't take it anymore. | |||
| Later, when Hannah, Rivka, Esther, and Shifre are working, a guard overhears them talking instead of working. Shifre tries to reassure the guard they have been working, but he takes them anyway and leaves Hannah by herself. As the three are about to leave, Hannah takes Rivka's place by putting on her ]. Since the guards don't know their faces, this goes unnoticed by the officer. The women are led to the gas chamber. She is then transported back to her family's Seder. Aunt Eva calls her over. Hannah looks at Aunt Eva's number; it is the same as Rivka's. Hannah (when she was Chaya) was really the woman she was named after, Rivka was Aunt Eva, and Rivka's brother, Wolfe, was Grandpa Will. (Aunt Eva said that they changed their names when they got to America.) | |||
| Some of the men from the wedding, including the groom and the rabbis son, decide to attempt an escape even though Hannah begs them not to. They are caught and hanged as everyone watches. | |||
| The women from Hannah's Barack gives birth. After her baby is found, the mother and her child are sent to the gas chambers along with Hannah's aunt. | |||
| The epilogue at the end of the novel reveals that when the camp was liberated, the survivors were Gitl (weighing a mere seventy-three pounds), Yitzchak, Rivka, and Leye (a worker in the camp) and her baby. Gitl and Yitzchak immigrate to Israel where Yitzchak becomes a politician while Gitl organizes a rescue mission that is dedicated to salvaging the lives of young survivors and locating family members. The organization is named after Chaya, her niece that died a hero. | |||
| == Adaptations == | == Adaptations == | ||
Revision as of 05:12, 15 December 2020
This article is about the novel. For the TV movie, see The Devil's Arithmetic (film).The Devil's Arithmetic is a historical fiction novel written by American author Jane Yolen and published in 1988. The book is about Hannah Stern, a Jewish girl who lives in New Rochelle, New York and is sent back in time to experience the Holocaust. During a Passover Seder, Hannah is transported back in time to 1941 Poland, during World War II, where she is sent to a work camp and learns the importance of knowing about the past.
Plot
Hannah Stern is a Jewish girl living in the present day. She is bored by her relative's stories about the past, is not looking forward to the Passover Seder, and is tired of her religion. When Hannah symbolically opens the door for the prophet Elijah, she is transported back in time to 1941 Poland, during World War II, though she is not aware of the time period. At that time and place, the people believe she is Chaya Abramowicz, who is recovering from cholera, the fever that killed Chaya's parents a few months ago. The strange remarks Hannah/Chaya makes about the future and her inability to recognize her "aunt" Gitl and "uncle" Shmuel are blamed on the fever.
At her "uncle's" wedding, the Nazis come to transport the entire population of the village to a concentration camp near Donavin, and only Hannah knows all the terrors they will face: starvation, mistreatment, forced labor, and finally execution. Hannah and the other women are stripped, shaved, and tattooed with a number. Hannah and the other women are forced to dig trenches in the camp. As one of the women is pregnant she clinched in her stomach with a belt. After the Nazis say there is a breakout of typhus in the women's quarters, the rabbi's female family members are taken away, presumably to the gas chambers. Hannah struggles to survive at the camp, with the help of a girl named Rivka. Uncle Shmuel and some other men try to escape; the men are caught and then hanged as everyone watches. Fayge, who was going to be married to Shmuel, is killed because she runs to Shmuel when he is about to be shot with the men that were caught. Yitzchak escapes and lives in the forest with the partisans, fighting the Germans. The woman from Hannah's barracks gives birth. After her baby is found, the mother and her child are sent to the gas chambers along with Hannah's aunt.
Later, when Hannah, Rivka, Esther, and Shifre are working, a guard overhears them talking instead of working. Shifre tries to reassure the guard they have been working, but he takes them anyway and leaves Hannah by herself. As the three are about to leave, Hannah takes Rivka's place by putting on her babushka. Since the guards don't know their faces, this goes unnoticed by the officer. The women are led to the gas chamber. She is then transported back to her family's Seder. Aunt Eva calls her over. Hannah looks at Aunt Eva's number; it is the same as Rivka's. Hannah (when she was Chaya) was really the woman she was named after, Rivka was Aunt Eva, and Rivka's brother, Wolfe, was Grandpa Will. (Aunt Eva said that they changed their names when they got to America.)
The epilogue at the end of the novel reveals that when the camp was liberated, the survivors were Gitl (weighing a mere seventy-three pounds), Yitzchak, Rivka, and Leye (a worker in the camp) and her baby. Gitl and Yitzchak immigrate to Israel where Yitzchak becomes a politician while Gitl organizes a rescue mission that is dedicated to salvaging the lives of young survivors and locating family members. The organization is named after Chaya, her niece that died a hero.
Adaptations
The novel was adapted into a 1999 Showtime television film with the same title, starring Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy.
Awards
The Devil's Arithmetic was nominated for the Nebula award for best novella in 1988 and won the National Jewish Book Award (in the children's literature category) in 1989. The script for the television movie was also nominated for a Nebula Award.
References
- ^ "Year 2000 Nebula Nominations (Press Release)". SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America). April 15, 2000. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "(Awards & Nominations)". Jane Yolen. May 18, 2003. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
- "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved January 20, 2020.