Ready Reference Treatise: The Devil's Arithmetic

By Raja Sharma

“The Devil’s Arithmetic” by Jane Yolen was first published in 1988. It is a historical fiction novel. The story revolves round a Jewish girl, Hannah Stern. She lives in New Rochelle, New York.

During a Passover Ceremonial Dinner (Passover Seder), Hannah Stern is sent back in time to 1942 Poland, during the Second World War.

Hannah finds herself in a death camp that is thought to be Auschwitz. She begins to live the life of a girl named Chaya in the concentration camp. At this point, she realizes how important it is to know about the past.

When she comes back to the present day, she recounts the story of her time in the concentration camp to her Uncle and Aunt. Her Uncle and Aunt inform her that they had been saved by a girl named Chaya, who was actually Hannah herself.

Ready Reference Treatise: The Devil's Arithmetic
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: May 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310000461

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: The Devil's Arithmetic

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: The Devil's Arithmetic

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen was first published in 1988. It is a historical fiction novel. The story revolves round a Jewish girl, Hannah Stern. She lives in New Rochelle, New York.

During a Passover Ceremonial Dinner (Passover Seder), Hannah Stern is sent back in time to 1942 Poland, during the Second World War.

Hannah finds herself in a death camp that is thought to be Auschwitz. At this point, she realizes how important it is to know about the past.

In 1988, the novel was nominated for the Nebula Award. It also won the National Jewish Book Award in 1989. The novel was also adapted into a Showtime television film in 1999 with the same title.

Hannah Stern, the protagonist of the novel, gets tired of hearing her older relatives talk about the past. She continues to be taught by her elders how important it is to know about the history of where one comes from.

When she is transported back in time to Poland that was during the Second World War, in the concentration camp she is presented as a girl named Chaya Abramowicz.

During her time at the camp, she recognizes her future Aunt and Uncle. She has to endure the horrors of the Holocaust.

When she comes back to the present day, she recounts the story of her time in the concentration camp to her Uncle and Aunt. Her Uncle and Aunt inform her that they had been saved by a girl named Chaya, who was actually Hannah herself.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

As the novel opens, we are introduced to a young Jewish girl named Hannah Stern. She lives in New Rochelle, New York. Hannah, her parents, and her younger brother Aaron, are going to attend a Passover Seder at the home of her grandparents.

Hannah does not want to attend that ceremonial dinner because she is tired of hearing the old relatives who keep talking about the past.

She feels quite uncomfortable when her Grandpa Will begins to rant about his experiences in the concentration camp during the Second World War.

During the dinner, Hannah rises from the table to symbolically open the door for the prophet Elijah. She is suddenly transported to Poland in 1942. In Poland she lives the life of Chaya Abramowicz.

She keeps telling that her name is Hannah Stern and she lives in American, but Gitl and Samuel, Chaya’s aunt and uncle, dismiss what she says. They think that it is the effect of Chaya’s ordeal with cholera, from which she has hardly recovered.

It transpires that Chaya’s parents had died of cholera. The elders, her uncle and aunt, believe that Chaya is probably still sad because of the great loss she has suffered.

The narrative shifts to a man named Shmuel. He is going to marry a woman named Fayge, from the neighboring village.

While they are travelling to the neighboring village, the Nazi soldiers stop them and insist that they must come with the soldiers to be relocated.

Hannah already knows what is going to happen to them. She tries to stop them from going with the soldiers, but it transpires that they do not have any other choice. All the people are made to climb onto trucks.