A strange tower of babel
At Auschwitz, all European languages were spoken, but thecamp masters only spoke German. It was a matter of survival for the Häftlingeto understand this language from their arrival. Primo Levi was careful totranscribe any dialogues and interjections in their original idiom: this way,the reader experiences the same incomprehension as the prisoners. The languagewas not only difficult to understand in the Lager, but it was also insufficientto express what the inmates faced. As explained by Levi, the vocabularyavailable to them was composed of words created by free men. They did notadjust to the terrible realities of the camp: “If the Lagers had lasted anylonger a new, harsh language would have been born”.
However, language and literature allowed Levi to constructan hour of dialogue with another inmate, Jean. In the chapter entitled ‘TheSong of Ulysses’, Levi and Jean, the Pikolo, had one hour to fetch the soup. Inthe form of free indirect discourse and under the pretext of giving him anItalian lesson, Levi recites from memory Dante’s ‘The Song of Ulysses’ to Jean.Thus, in the space of sixty minutes, the two prisoners make the timeframetheirs and access the world of universal literature. Significantly, Ulysses isa character who makes a long journey full of trials before returning home, justlike Levi. This episode can be seen as a ‘mise en abyme’ (a method of showing awork within a work) of the whole book: like “Ulysses, Levi is confronted by thetorments of hell and returns to bear witness, through the force of literature.
Paradoxically, while the speech at Auschwitz served tohumiliate the prisoners and throw them into the anguish of incomprehension, andvocabulary was powerless in describing their suffering, it was through languageand words that Levi brought his experiences to life.
Laboratory of the human soul
The writer sought to create a work of testimony. To thisend, he adopted sober, poised and precise language, and expresses himself inthe first person. He presented the events he experienced without apparentemotion: thus, in the chapter entitled ‘The Story of Ten Days’, he tells thestory of eighteen Frenchmen who were surprised and murdered by a group ofisolated SS when, believing Auschwitz to be empty, they settled in therefectory of the SS-Waffe. The episode is recounted based on facts and withoutany hint of emotional character. The objective approach adopted by Levi alsoallows him to contrast different tones. The chapter entitled ‘The Last One’begins in an almost joyous tone: the author exposes the tricks and trades hedeveloped with his friend Alberto. However, the text concludes with anextremely harsh scene: the death by hanging of the last of those who tried tostart a revolt, and Levi and Alberto’s shame at their passivity, generated bylife in the camp. By adopting a distanced and sober perspective, Levi allowsthe reader to take a stand, without imposing his own feelings upon them:
“I thought that the more objective and the less emotionaland passionate the words sounded, the more credible and useful they’d be. It’sonly this way that the witness fulfillstheir function at trial, which is that of preparing the ground for judgment.You are the judges.
“As explained in the preface, he is providing an opportunityfor readers to analyze the human soul. Levi therefore exposes the material,mental and moral destruction of the prisoners that operated within theconcentration camps. The material annihilation was undertaken on the trainjourney, through promiscuity and the lack of air, water and food. In thechapter entitled ‘On the Bottom’, Levi also describes the abandonment ofinmates of all their last possessions. The final lines of this chapter depicttheir suffering bodies. Their mental world was also crushed: they were strippedof their name, their identity, which was replaced by a number. Their moralvalues were also completely eradicated. As shown in the chapter ‘The Side ofGood and Evil’, the values of good and evil could not be applied in the camp,where thieves as well as victims of theft were punished:
“To destroy a man is difficult, almost as difficult as tocreate one: it has not been easy, nor quick, but you Germans have succeeded.Here we are, docile under your gaze; from our side you have nothing more tofear; no acts of violence, no words of defiance, not even a look of judgment.”
In a significant way, the author never had the opportunityto establish person to person contact with the Germans. As Levi explains in theappendix, the only contact he had was with a SS officer when the concentrationcamp system was disintegrating, a few days before the arrival of the Russians.Levi exposes the slow demolition of the prisoners while clearly presenting theinhumane attitude, literally, of those who ran the Lager. The book’s centraltheme is already included in the title: If This Is a Man.”
Excerpt From: Bright Summaries. “If This Is a Man by PrimoLevi (Book Analysis)