Does anyone know a reason that the book might be titled Devil's Arithmetic. There may be some obvious reasons, but does anyone have any further insight on this??
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It refers to 1+1=1
In other words, the more people coming into the camps, the more that had to leave, and there was only one way to leave the camps, that was by death. That is what I understood it to be.
There are other explanations on this board somewhere.
Bob
The way i understand the phrase used as the title, it is reffering to the coldness and casualness of the Nazi regime when dealing with the Jews, especially when submiting their reports for number of subjects exterminated, or analysis to how much it costs to gas a man, a woman, or a child.
This refering to human beings as like nothing more than a number to be added, subtracted or divided is what to me is the Devil's Arithmetic.
I'm not sure since i've not watched the movie recently, but i think in the opening scenes there is a discussion that would support my interpretation.
in the book (this is based on a book, in case you didn't know), they describe the ellimination of Jews and the brining in of Jews in the concentration camps as the Devil's Arithmetic. For example:
30 are killed in the concentration camp.
60 are brought in the camp the next day.
"Without lamps there'd be no light."
~Judd Nelson, The Breakfast Club