His works
"Those who have adapted s, everything has surv cu,
but the majority does not have one, is capable of it and has died."
Primo Levi
If it’s a man
II Analysis
We have a few passages in the original version of If it’s a man and we have compar their French translation. So you will find here an analysis of the four chapters that seemed to us, the most important...Sul fondo (creation2)
In this chapter, the prisoners undergo a process of personal destruction: they are ras s, tatou s, they are given a port outfit. Primo Levi covers all the horror of shumanisation, the violence of deprivation and unimaginable living conditions. In a sordid heart with no possible temporal relations, in a hell whose essential value is understood; here there is no reason. The title of this chapter, "Sul fundo," is li; the expression "<il fondo" (to touch the bottom): upon arriving at the Lager, Primo Levi cannot imagine that there could be anything lower than this bottom, worse than hell. Hell that Primo Levi will compare, that of Dante, in La Divina Commedia. This is a comparison that comes back throughout the book, and which clearly shows the influence of Italian culture in its writings.`azione (3rd chapter)
This chapter describes the arrival of Primo Levi in the camp, or more precisely in the 30 AD bloc, with many transfers. While waiting for solidarity, he is surprised by the hostility of the others held and the atmosphere there. Anxious, lost, he proves human feelings. After the distribution of the soup (that they are r duits, eating without a loaf, like dogs), o the men find themselves humili s, d grad s morally as physically, he concludes with a great lucidite: here, "l'uomo perd la sua umanit." This is a first call to the title of the book, which asks if those he sees around him are indeed men.
One thing is also shocking: the fact that communication is almost impossible, with everyone speaking their own language. Primo Levi makes a connection with the Tower of Babel’s Pisod in the Old Testament, this time making reference to Jewish culture. Indeed, in this passage God punishes men by giving each of them a language so that they can no longer communicate. At the end, Primo Levi therefore considers these differences as a punishment, but we will see that this will not always be the case...I Sommersi e i Catéchus (chapter 9)
Litt also "Les Submerg s et les Sauv s" ("The Chosen and the Damned’s" in the French version): this chapter title is a reference that can be found throughout the book: it’s to say that he thinks he has "touch, the bottom", and also to show that the Lager is divided into two groups: those who will get away with cunning, relationships, or theft: rescaps; and those who will sink by wanting to maintain a certain civilit, the "Muslims." The study of these two cases is a second r flexion on the humanit. Thus, he will see four people, and finish in which part they are.
Central Chapter, he did not write the Lager but rather took stock. It marks the moment when the narrator moves from an image of a "big num ro" (the new, na f and weak); to that of an "old", more hardened, who is part of the privil gi s (working in the laboratory). Primo Levi has chosen here which part he was going to be in: that of the "Sauv s"., read them, and always by a very scientific reflection. This "sorting" could be compar, this time, the Bible of the saints, still in the Old Testament, except that the jug is from hell...
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Il canto di Ulisse (chapter 11)
This "walk" marks a moment of comparison with the rest of the book: it is not only in the other chapters that there is an atmosphere. The sc does not seem to belong to the concentration camp universe. Jean (il Pikolo) and Primo Levi being able to communicate, they escape from the "world bab lien" and vol their studies, their families, their countries (and therefore their cultures). It is then a riable psychological experience of the Lager. An hour neither of us will forget.
When Primo Levi went there Divina Commedia, he offers, Jean a piece of his culture: in Italy, all the ves were learning by heart the Divina Commedia. It’s at that moment that he "covers up" these words from another angle; they then take on an even stronger meaning for him: he "covers up" himself, me, as a man.
We must particularly insist on two verses that Primo Levi quotes, because they have a particularly deep meaning in the context, and it is these two verses that allow us to understand what is happening in Primo Levi’s mind: this moment.
The first has a special meaning, because it contains reflections on humanity (see chapter 9 for example): "Considerate la`exte semenza; conjecture not present at all to be seen, my virtuous behavior to be seen." * Moreover, this sentence has a particular meaning for Primo Levi, because it seems to shout at him, by using the words he himself used in his personal reflections ("bruti": b tes, brute; "semenza", which here has the original meaning) and by adapting to his own universe: "—<."
The second, the last line that Primo Levi quotes, ends the chapter: "...infin he mar fu sovra noi richiuso." * This verse is fraught with meaning, because everyone can understand it from a truth to a truth: we see in this last sentence the sad end of the work of two men who saw the sun for a few moments, but who are suddenly covered by a reminder: the truth... It is also possible to compare "the sea" with the Nazi harsh procedure: this phrase would then have the meaning of: "Until we become b your." But there are indeed interpr tations...
It is also, at this moment, that Primo Levi understands that, instead of being a punishment, the diversity of languages and cultures is a riable chance: on the one hand, it allows each person to distinguish themselves from the others and thus to have a persistent aspect, the shumanization. On the other hand, it allows many changes, and for cons are moments of vasion like this one.
* : "Conid rez, what is your origin : You are not made to live like b your, But to follow science and virtue."
* : "... Until the time when the sea over us will return."