His works
"Those who have adapted have surv cu,
but the majority is not capable of it and is dead.
Primo Levi
If it’s a man
II Analysis
We have written some passages in the original version of If it’s a man and we have confirmed their French translation. You will therefore find here an analysis of the four chapters that seemed to us the most important...Sul fondo (chapitre 2)
In this chapter, the prisoners undergo a destruction of their personality: they are exhausted, prisoners, we give them wearing clothing. Primo Levi covers all the horror of humanization, the violence of deprivation and unimaginable living conditions. In a sordid place with no possible temporal consequences, in a hell whose essential rule is understood. Here there is no why. The title of this chapter, "Sul fundo", is the expression "rains down on the bottom" (touching the bottom): upon arriving at the Lager, Primo Levi cannot imagine that there could be lower than this bottom, worse than hell. Hell that Primo Levi will compare that of Dante, in La Divina Commedia. It is also a comparison that comes back throughout the book, and which clearly shows the influence of Italian culture in its writings.©azione (chapitre 3)
This chapter describes the arrival of Primo Levi in the camp, or more precisely in block 30 after numerous transfers. While he is waiting for solidarity, he is surprised by the hostility of others held and the atmosphere that lives there. Anxious, lost, he proves human feelings. After the distribution of the soup (which they are forced to eat without a trifle, like dogs), where men find themselves humili, from a moral as well as a physical standpoint, he concludes with a great lucidity that here, 'the man loses his humanity'. It is a first call to the title of the book, which asks if those he sees around him are indeed men.
One thing also shocks him: the fact that communication is almost impossible, each speaking their own language. Primo Levi makes a connection with the portrait of the Tower of Babel in the Old Testament, this time reflecting 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 Arises (chapitre 9)
Litt ralement "The Submerges and the Sauves" ("The Elected Officials and the Damn’s" in the French version): this chapter title makes r f rence a m taphora that is found throughout the book: it’s the time to say that he thinks he has 'touched the bottom', and also to show that the Lager is divided into two groups: those who are going to get by with cunning, relationships, or theft: the rescaps; and those who will sink trying to maintain a certain civilit, the "Muslims". The study of these two cases is a second reflection on humanity. Thus, he will present four people, and finish in which part they are.
Central Chapter, it does not write the Lager but acts as a report. It marks the moment when the narrator switches from an image of a 'big number' (the new, new and weak) that of an 'old', more hardened, and who is part of the privil gi s (working in the laboratory.) Primo Levi chose here in which part he was going to be: that of the 'Sauv’s', of the read, and always through a very scientific reflection. This 'sorting' could be this time the same as the Words of Mine, still in the Old Testament, except that I am from hell...
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Il canto di Ulisse (chapter 11)
This 'walk' marks a moment of validation compared to 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 'link world' and discover their studies, their families, their countries (and therefore their cultures.) It is then a psychological experience of the Lager. A time neither of us will forget.
When Primo Levi goes there Divina Commedia, he offers Jean a piece of his culture: in Italy, all the students learned by heart the Divina Commedia. It is at this moment that he 'covers up' these words from another angle, they then take on an even stronger meaning for him, he 'covers up' himself 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 at this moment.
The first has a particular meaning, because it contains reflections on humanity (see chapter 9 for example): 'Consider your self; you will not understand how to brighten up your day, my virtues and skills.' * Moreover, this sentence has a particular meaning for Primo Levi, because it seems to shout for him, by using the words that he himself used during his personal flexion ("bruti": b tes, brutes; "semenza", which here has the original meaning) and by adapting his own universe: "conférer".
The second, the last verse that Primo Levi quotes, ends the chapter: "...infin che'l mar fu sovra noi richiuso." * This verse is full of meaning, because everyone can understand it by saying something else: we see in this last sentence the sad end of the life story of two men who saw the sun for a few moments, but which is suddenly covered by a reminder the day ... It is also possible to compare 'the sea' with the Nazi proposal: this sentence would then have the meaning of: 'Until we become b tes.' 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 viable opportunity: on the one hand it allows everyone to differentiate from others and thus to have an aspect resisting shumanization. On the other hand, it allows many changes, and therefore moments of validation like this one.
* : "Conid rez what is your origin : You didn’t make you live like some b tes, But to follow science and virtue.
* : "... Until such time as the sea f t on us brings back e."