The Devil's Arithmetic
The Devil's Arithmetic is a 1988 Historical Fiction novel by Jane Yolen about a teenaged Jewish girl named Hannah, who is transported through time to a 1942 Polish concentration camp. Hannah goes from being disrespectful of Jewish beliefs to realizing the importance of remembering after seeing the horrors of the time.
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"You are a name, not a number. Never forget that name, whatever they tell you here. You will always be Chaya -- life -- to me." |
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It was made into an Anvilicious movie starring Kirsten Dunst in 1999.
Tropes used in The Devil's Arithmetic include:
- Adult Fear
- As the Good Book Says...
- Cassandra Truth: Hannah when telling the men about the failed escape attempt.
- Chekhov's Gun: Subverted with Hannah knowing the outcome about the escape attempt. The men don't listen to her and end up getting hanged.
- Complete Monster: Commandant Breuer.
- Composite Character: In the film, Rivka becomes Hannah's cousin and replaces the relatives she meets when she first journeys to the past.
- Fan Disservice: Twice. First when the women are ordered to strip to their underwear when they enter the camp. Secondly when they are about to be gassed.
- Faux Symbolism: At the start of the film, Hannah is about to get a tattoo but is stopped because she is late for dinner.
- Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Gitl does this several times to Chaya.
- Grandfather Clause
- Heroic Sacrifice: Chaya who Hannah has been reincarnated as saves Rivka this way.
- High Octane Nightmare Fuel
- Identity Amnesia: While Hannah's hair is being cut off, she realizes she can't remember her old life at all, and eventually just believes Hannah never existed.
- Infant Immortality: Averted completely. The Rabbi's young children are killed early on and 11-year-old Sarah is gassed at the end.
- Meaningful Echo: Not explicitly stated but left in with a bit of Fridge Brilliance. When Hannah is speaking to her Aunt Eva she remarks "the way you speak, I will never get over it." Rivka says the same thing in the past once which makes sense since they're the same person.
- Also about the photo "someday I will make you a copy."
- Meaningful Name: As the quotes says above, Chaya means 'life'. Ironically, she gives her life so her future relative can live.
- Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: The point of the book and the movie, to introduce young teenagers to the the Holocaust.
- Shot At Dawn
- Tear Jerker
- Together in Death
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia
- Traumatic Haircut: Truth in Television as all the Jews have their hair shorn when they enter the camp. In the book Hannah remarks she has trouble telling the other women apart.
- War Is Hell
- World War II
- You Are Number Six