Genre
History; Memoir; Philosophy
Setting and Context
The setting is predominantly in the deathcamp Auschwitz during the last years of World War Two.
Narrator and Point of View
Primo Levi is the narrator. He is writing from his perspective, and also from the perspective of other Holocaust survivors.
Tone and Mood
The tone is reflective and thoughtful.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists are the prisoners at Auschwitz, the antagonists are their Nazi guards.
Major Conflict
The conflict throughout is World War Two. There is also internal conflict in Levi himself when it comes to certain philosophical and ethical questions he still struggles with, for example, he is conflicted about his feelings towards the prisoners who worked for the Nazis and helped keep their fellow prisoners in order.
Climax
The climax is the liberation of the camp.
Foreshadowing
The need to preserve ones own safety foreshadowed the willingness of some of the prisoners to work for their captors.
Understatement
No specific examples.
Allusions
Levi alludes to various incidents that occurred in the camps and also alludes to the plan that the Nazis were implementing, which was to wipe out Jews from Germany entirely.
Imagery
The imagery is dark and foreboding and conveys to the reader the overwhelming picture of death at the camps. There are also descriptions that activate our senses of smell and hearing as well.
Paradox
The prisoners feel a closeness to each other because of their shared experiences, yet they feel antagonism towards prisoners who saved their own skin by working with the Nazis and doing what they wanted them to do.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the passing of time and the diminishing in the clarity of the memories the men share.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The camp is the word used to encompass all of the people within it.
Personification
No specific examples.
