Primo Levi If This Is A Man Analysis

“If This is a Man” by Primo Levi is a book written by Italian author; Primo Levi, first published in 1947, is a tale that captures the horrors and misfortune happening in the ‘black hole’ of Auschwitz. The novel enthralls readers and helps them imagine the horrors that took part in the holocaust, Levi wanted to educate his readers on these events as well as remind himself of his history and what he’d gone through. Levi wanted to show how the experience had been different for everyone and therefore he created contrasting characters, of different ranges of magnitude who reacted differently to these experience and who followed different survival instincts. He did this with the intent to make the story much more real. During this essay I will
He was a selfish man, who did not stop and think of others in order to get what he wanted, he would see people’s weaknesses and see them as an advantage to later on exploit for his own benefit, however he was one of the most intelligent men in the novel, which is possibly why he could pull off all the stunts he did. From the way Levi described him, it was obvious he didn’t care much for him, possibly because he didn’t care about anyone and he was up for standing up to anyone, whether it was another prisoner, a camp doctor or even an SS officer, he was fearless. “From all my talks with Henri, even the most cordial, I have always left with a slight taste of defeat; of also having been, somehow inadvertently, not a man to him, but an instrument in his hands.” From this quote we can gather that Levi felt used and inferior when addressed by him, however I think all of the attitude was a charade for him, he used that front as a self-defense mechanism in order to survive, and that if he was in other circumstance he would’ve possibly not behaved like