Summary
In the fourth chapter, Levi describes the working conditions at the camp. He is often paired to work with a very young man known only by his entry number, Null Achtzehn (Zero Eighteen). The two are often paired together because no one else wants to work with either of them. Null Asctzehn moves with indifference, follows all orders, and works hard, while Levi is weak and clumsy. The workers with the easier jobs bully the others, which angers Levi. While working with Null Achtzehn one day, Levi is badly injured from dropping a poorly-placed heavy load. The deep cut on his foot sends him to the infirmary known as Ka-Be. The examination is a terrible experience for Levi because the nurse and other patients humiliate him for being an Italian Jew, and the nurse tells Levi that he will soon be sent to the crematorium (though this turns out not to be true).
Despite the lack of clear communication, Levi becomes accustomed to life in Ka-Be. He and the other patients witness the daily marching band that accompanies the workers as they head to and from work. Levi realizes why the Germans have orchestrated this rite: it is a chance for the SS officers to choreograph "proof of their victory," a progression of Jews who walk without thought or desire. Because the convalescing prisoners do not experience the physical discomforts of work and abuse, they have the opportunity to talk about things other than hunger and work. They visit each other in the bunks and share their memories, their longing for home, and their thoughts about everything that is occurring.
When Levi's wound heals and he is discharged from Ka-Be, he worries about being placed in a new and hostile environment. However, he encounters a familiar face in his new block: his best friend Alberto. Levi is glad to live in the same block as Alberto, though they are not assigned as bedmates. Levi must share a bed with a stranger who is stronger than him and leaves him little room to sleep, though later he is assigned to sleep with a kind prisoner named Resnyk. Levi also has a recurring nightmare that his sister and a big group of people ignore him as he recounts his experiences in Auschwitz.
Analysis
The themes of survival, hierarchy, and the need for human contact are apparent in these chapters. Levi distinguishes the men in the camp as being slaves or masters, but then says that the masters are slaves themselves. All are motivated by fear or hatred, which causes everyone else to be an enemy or a rival. In order to keep their easier jobs, the prisoners who are in more desirable positions bully the workers with harder jobs. In this way, they help the German officers maintain order in the camps despite the fact that they are still prisoners themselves. Levi states that the social structure of the camp is based on the universal human law of privileged people oppressing the underprivileged. Levi's statements about the greater implications for humanity are placed among recollections of the specific experiences he had, and this combination helps communicate a warning of what humans are capable of.
Levi experiences a reawakening of his conscience while in Ka-Be (the infirmary). Without the exhaustion and abuse that accompanies the normal drudgery of work, the convalescing prisoners reenter themselves, share their memories, and conjecture about everything that is happening. This invaluable time is a reminder to Levi that no one in the outside world will know of "what man's presumption made of man in Auschwitz" unless some of the prisoners survive to tell this egregious tale. When Levi leaves Ka-Be, he fears that his vulnerability in a new and hostile environment (a block complete with its own rules of life) will lead to his downfall. Instead, however, Levi encounters his best friend Alberto, who is described as "a strong yet peace-loving man against whom the weapons of night are blunted." This metaphor bestows an actively hellish quality on the Nazi's efforts while also demonstrating Alberto's resistance. Human resilience, resistance, and kindness existed in the camps despite the horror.
Levi's recurring nightmare that people (including his sister) won't listen to him recount his harrowing experiences in Auschwitz demonstrates the power of storytelling. The hope to one day share his story is a salvation for Levi as he faces the everyday horrors of life in a concentration camp.
