If This Is A Man - a book by Primo Levi If it is a man You who are living in all quietude Snug in your houses, You on returning home in the evening find Hot food and friendly faces, Consider if this is a man He who labors in the mud, Who knows no rest Who must fight for every crust of bread, Who dies because of an yes or a no. Consider if this is a woman She who has lost her name and her hair And with all her forces remembers, With empty eyes and a cold womb Like a frog in wintertime. Do not forget what it was, Meditate that this came about: Engrave these words upon your heart. Think of them in your home and on the street, On going to sleep and upon awakening; Repeat them to your children. Lest your house crumbles, Lest sickness strike at you Lest your children turn away from you. The book, If This Is A Man, is introduced by this poem. The curious construction If .. invites the reader to make a judgment. It alludes to the treatment of people as Untermenschen (German for sub-human), and to Levis examination of the degree to which it was possible for a prisoner in Auschwitz to retain his or her humanity. The poem explains the title and sets the theme of the book: humanity in the midst of inhumanity. The last part of the poem, beginning meditate, explains Levis purpose in having written it: to record what happened so that later generations will ponder the significance of the events he lived through.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 21:19:31 +0000