Analysis Of The Girl Child Of Pompeii By Primo Levi

Humanity is the quality or condition of being human. Primo Levi tries to answer this question through his poetry through the lense of surviving the Holocaust. the works of Primo Levi gives insight to the world of Nazi hatred and terror, but also gives insight into the capacities of , and conditions for, own humanity. With this in mind, Primo Levi tries to come to terms with humanity through his writing particularly his poetry.
When looking at the Holocaust, one must look at the humanity of the perpetrators and the victims. The SS had to rationalize why they were killing innocent people, while the victims would have to rationalize why they survived. Primo Levi discusses this rationalizations in his two poems The Girl-Child of Pompeii and For Adolf Eichmann.
The first girl that Primo talks about in his poem is the girl that died at pompeii. He said that it was a natural disaster that killed her and the her body is a symbol and monument to the days of old. Then he talk about the two girls that did not die by natural causes, rather by humans. The dutch girl in his poem was killed by the nazis. The girl of Hiroshima was killed by the atomic bomb. Then proceeds to say that there are no monuments to these girls and that they were victims of fear. “Victim sacrificed on the altar of fear.” And tell the world to “stop and consider” the consequences of our actions before “your finger pressed