Analysis Of Primo Levi

Primo Levi, on his journey around Europe, saw many of the same occurrences that Rossellini documents; he sees people selling their personal goods, their ties to normality, for whatever food and fuel they can gather, he accompanies others as they wander around looking to establish a new home, and he witnesses the frustration that caused the war in the first place. But Levi takes a different outlook on his experience than Rossellini — instead of seeing a helpless and broken assortment people, he sees a deep resolve in those who he encounters, desperate to make life right and normal again, through whatever means necessary.

Levi’s story begins in January, 1945, at Buna-Monowitz, a sub-camp of Auschwitz. The Germans have begun their retreat from the Silesian peninsula, and have abandoned the Auschwitz complex, taking any able workers with them, and leaving the sick and old to die. What is left of the prisoners are a group of hopeless individuals, many resigned to death, be it through the action of the Germans, or the inaction of those that might rescue them. Levi is one of these left behind, and so within days of

The Greek understands the desperation of those around him, and how the law has broken down enough to be hardly enforced. He steals shoes, scalps and resells goods, and sets vendors up against each other to provide him the lowest price. The Greek is the epitome of ingenuity, and despite his obvious hesitation to exploit those around him, the Greek takes Levi as his sporadic companion. After time with the Greek, Levi regains his spirit, the spirit to return his life to what it was before the war. It had been violently suppressed by his time in the lager, but it had never left him