Journal Entry 12

March 9, 2007

Chapter 12. The Events of the Summer

" ... there still existed a just world outside our own, something and someone still pure and whole, not savage, extraneous to hatred and terror; something difficult to define, a remote possibility of good, but for which it was worth surviving. "

Through Lorenzo, Primo Levi managed not to forget that he was still a man. Lorenzo's pureness from the world of negation was why Levi felt that way. Lorenzo in the story symbolizes hope and balance that Levi needed to survive. Although Levi knew that trying to read the future was a waste, the fact that he was able to identify himself as a human seems to be the reason he survived. Based on the italicized passage above, I wonder even if now there is a world that is pure and whole. I believe that every single person is seeking for 'trueness'. We are always looking for something better and something that exceeds our limits. This indeed is the nature of human beings. However, the camps blocked men from desiring and hoping for a future, and so I can see why Lorenzo was a significant figure in Levi's life.

If I relate the passage to my life, I believe it is the eternal life that makes me strive to become a good person. The guarantee belief in a living God and knowing that heaven exists gives me hope to live on earth and be confident. If only the men in the camps knew of this, I wonder how the story would have changed. If all of the men in Auschwitz knew that there was a God can give them eternal life - a life of true pureness - would men have feared and died hopelessly?