1. What is Levi before incarceration? Why?
Levi states in the first chapter that he was a young man without wisdom. This may be due to his young age since he was not had time to experience life. He thinks of himself as an ignorant person who should have taken other chances in life that could have spared him from being deported.
He studied science at a University before his arrival. He is an educated man with a degree.
2. How do environmental changes alter people's behavior? How do they alter Levi's behavior?
As soon as the train takes its passengers to the death camp, many appear hysterical due to the lack of water and other resources. Levi states how many groaned all night and tried to reach out for snow so they could get some type of relief from thirst. Levi appears to remain calm during these times and observes others in their frantic state. He meets an older lady whom he bids farewell to. He does this as a way to make peace with his life before he meets death.
3. What is he like in the camp? Does he change? How so?
At the beginning of his stay, Levi learns to adjust to his new way of life. He is put through an initiation process by being tattooed his prisoner number. Since he is one of the prisoners who is deported later he has a higher number, which signifies his status. Many are crude to him due to his number and treat him poorly. He comes to terms that he has to start over in the camp and many of the things that make him himself are stripped away from him including food, clothing, name, and language.
Later, Levi says that most men fall into two categories being pessimists and optimists. Levi also says that some men have turned their back on religion and considered themselves atheists. Although, depending on the man's mood at a certain time, he point of view might change. He believes that many men have lost fate in their cause while others hold onto hope that they will meet their loved ones again. Thinking back on "Maus," I would say that Vladek would fall into this category because of his undying hope to survive. Levi remarks that he is one of the men on the bottom. He has learned to covet things that he finds on the ground, he works all day, has sores that will not heal and has faced other tragedies since his arrival.
4. Do the inmate have news or contacts with the outside world? How could people after the war claim to not know anything about the camps?
The Polish inmates and those who have been in the camps longer usually know more about the war than others.
Most news of the war floats around the concentration camps as rumors between those who are working there and the inmates.
5. What does he know about the Nazis? Hitler?
From what I understood from the book, Levi only knows the things about Hitler that we knew before he was attained. Most references to the German army in the book are by those who are working in the camp.
6. How hierarchical is the camp? Explain how it functions?
The camp is based on a hierarchy of who made it to the camp first. Those who have tattoos with higher numbers are seen as new meat in the camp that can be treated worse than the others. A sense of seniority is established with the inmates who have been there longer. Factions are also made depending on what type of Jew someone is considered. For instance, Polish Jews are separated from Italian Jews and so forth.
7. Do people resist? What constitutes resistance or acts of resistance?
Some people resist by smuggling and bartering goods with others. This is seen as a crime in the camps and can be punished. Other political crimes by Germans are seen as having relations with Jewish women and political theft.
8. Does anything unite the prisoners? Divide them?
Most of the prisoners are united by their will to live. Each understands the daily struggles that they all have to endure. What divides them are their ethnic backgrounds and the number that is branded on them. Those with lower numbers are seen as the elites and have a seniority over those inmates who have barely
9. Does the behavior he exhibits help him to survive? Why does he survive? Why does he believe that he survived?
Levi has a passive nature that helps him survive. He is very articulate and has many skills that become beneficial later in his stay. Since he knows a lot about science he is asked to help the doctors in the camps. Levi also tries to stay out of the way and averts himself from any dangers that exist within the camp.
10. The end of the war does not mean the end of suffering? Why is that?
After the war, most people are left with a loss of self. They do not know how to continue their lives after they have experienced such trauma. For some, they have no where to go. Their homes might have been destroyed and they have no contacts with relatives that may be living or dead. They do not know which of their loved ones have been killed or where they were deported to. This also goes along with the sense of self because many felt that they could not go on after most of their loved ones died. The only reason they held onto hope was because they thought that they would be reunited with their spouses and families. Afterwards, they don't have a reason for existing anymore or don't know how to continue.
The war does not end the prejudices that were established in the war. It takes time for people to come to terms with the loss of the war and take out their grievances against those who they believe are to blame for the loss.
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