Journal Entry 17

Chapter 17. The Story of Ten Days

CLIMAX OF THE STORY is show by simply this one quote,
" It was the first human gesture that occured among us. " (pg. 160)

This quote didn't surprise me as much. I was actually expecting it, in some ways ...
After chapters and chapters of Primo Levi writing about how living in Auschwitz wasn't a life, I was hoping for when this kind of quote would appear.

I wondered if we could relate this quote to our society. Levi seems to be implying the 'human gesture' as the kind or the generous act of someone to somebody. Although our society may not be as torturous and violent as were the Germans, we definitely have different degrees of being cruel to others. It may not require killing six millions of Jews, but it's just the little fights and arguments that can portray our darkness.

Noticing - this also seems to be a problem. I'm not saying everyone does this, but many of us tend to notice the bad things that people did to us. We tend to unnotice or forget the good nature of people. I wonder if this is because we don't care much about it. Pain lasts longer is someone's mind that gladness, and it some ways, this is ironic.