Formal Reading Response 1 Although it is brief, and its tone seems in contrast with the rest of the book, The Canto of Ulysses is one of the most engaging chapters from Primo Levi’s Holocaust memoir If This is a Man. In The Canto of Ulysses, Levi recounts an intriguing experience that he had during his time in Auschwitz. He is given a short respite from his normal labor to help his friend, Jean the Pikolo, retrieve the daily ration from the kitchens. During this journey which lasts only an hour, Levi attempts to give Jean a lesson in Italian. When he attempts to recall the verses of Dante’s Inferno, he is overcome by memories from before his imprisonment. It is in this fleeting moment that we see Primo Levi the man, not the slave, for the first time since he was deported to Auschwitz. In this chapter, you can feel the mood start to lighten as Levi relaxes and remembers his life before the war. When Levi and Jean begin to walk toward the kitchens, Levi writes that:
We spoke of our houses, of Strasbourg and Turin, of the books we had read, of what we had studied, of our mothers: how all mothers resemble each other! His mother too had scolded him for never knowing how much money he had in his pocket; his mother too would be amazed if she had known that he had found his feet, that day by day he was finding his feet. (Levi, 111) …show more content…
He does not want to lose this singular moment in which he has the chance to forget the atrocities of the concentration camp. As the chapter comes to an end it seems as though he is grasping desperately to hold on to his humanity, which he has regained through his recitation of the canto and his recollection of life before the war. Levi ends the chapter, fittingly, with the last line of canto XXVI of Dante’s Inferno, “And over our heads the hollow seas closed up.” (Levi, 115) In an instant, he is reminded of his present situation and his mind is returned to the dehumanizing despair of
We spoke of our houses, of Strasbourg and Turin, of the books we had read, of what we had studied, of our mothers: how all mothers resemble each other! His mother too had scolded him for never knowing how much money he had in his pocket; his mother too would be amazed if she had known that he had found his feet, that day by day he was finding his feet. (Levi, 111) …show more content…
He does not want to lose this singular moment in which he has the chance to forget the atrocities of the concentration camp. As the chapter comes to an end it seems as though he is grasping desperately to hold on to his humanity, which he has regained through his recitation of the canto and his recollection of life before the war. Levi ends the chapter, fittingly, with the last line of canto XXVI of Dante’s Inferno, “And over our heads the hollow seas closed up.” (Levi, 115) In an instant, he is reminded of his present situation and his mind is returned to the dehumanizing despair of