1205bp+Whole+by+Whole+Essay


 * Life-or-Death Rules**

At least once, everyone has had an encounter with rules. Imagine having the most unfair rules possible, and not being able to do anything about it! You don't even know how long you'll have to live by these rules. In the novel //The Devil's Arithmetic// by Jane Yolen, the concentration camp has rules the prisoners need to follow. But not just any rules. These rules can determine whether you stay alive or if you die. Rivka, who is also a young prisoner, has her own rules. Both sets of rules are made to keep order, to warn of danger, and to keep them alive. But that's where the similarities end.

In the concentration camp, there are many people who explain the rules, such as the three fingered woman, the tattooist, the commandant, and Rivka. They all make it very clear that the concentration camp's rules are very strict. Work hard if you want to stay alive. If you slack off or rebel against the rules even just once, the guards at the camp will give you no mercy. No speaking unless spoken to. If a prisoner asks for something, the guards will not listen, no matter how convincing you are or how much you beg. Sc//hnell,// or quickly, is to be obeyed. You need to what you're told fast and the way the commandant wants it to happen. The intent, or purpose, of the rules are to keep prisoners off guard and to deprive them of their hope. If you break a rule, you will have the penalty of a beating or even death!

Rivka is a young prisoner who has been in the concentration camp for about a year. She has seen the worst of the worst, and even witnessed her family die! Rivka has been in the camp long enough for Chaya, who is also the protagonist, to trust her. One of her rules is to stay away from the Greeks because they don't speak Yiddish. When the commandant comes, hide the little ones. If he sees any of the children under fourteen, the child will die. Never go to the hospital because if you do, the guards will assume you're weak and you'd be the first in the gas oven. Yet the most important rule was based on keeping your identity. You see, in concentration camps the guards have prisoners tattoo numbers onto the other prisoners. Rivka wanted to take the numbers you got and make it your own. Change it into your life story, so you still have yourself left in you. The intent of these set of rules are to keep the memories alive and give the prisoners hope, which is all they have at this point.

In //The Devil's Arithmetic// by Jane Yolen, there are so many different people and so many different rules, a prisoner may not know which ones to follow! Both sets of rules are made to keep order, to warn of danger, and to keep them alive. They could help you, or they could kill you... Sometimes rules depend more on detention, or little things like just being scolded, which we are used to. Even though the rules are a bit drastic, they're used to benefit the prisoners in both ways, even camp's rules. In this case, it's a life-or-death-situation.