Journal #7: Chapter 7

Hope is an essential element in life that brings joy and happiness. Without hope, the life would be very miserable and gloomy. Hope has miraculous power. It makes people feel better and go through hardships. It enables people to imagine and to expect better life. Moreover, hope sometimes gives people extra strength and makes difficult situations easier.

What would be like to live without hope? Would people have desire to live one more day? For me, if I no longer have hope in my life, I would be devastated. I would not see any purpose of living. If I can’t expect bright days in my life, how and why would I enjoy the present?

Primo Levi had to go through hopeless time in Auschwitz. Auschwitz is such a hopeless place. Even Primo Levi himself wrote, “… everything is grey around us, and we are grey” (71). The color grey has negative connotation. It implies being gloomy, depressing and hopeless. Therefore, I can infer that Auschwitz was a very depressing place and a lot of men did not have hope of future. There was no life in Auschwitz.

In such a miserable situation, the slightest improvement can trigger hope. For example, when the weather became warmer one day, the workers rejoiced. It was a small change in temperature, but it meant one less enemy to the workers. The work, which used to be really hard, seemed even easier after the weather change. Furthermore, I think the workers feel new hope of surviving in Auschwitz.

However, hope may be turned into too much desire when we hope for something badly. Then the beauty of hope is gone. Human desire is endless and it is not easily stoppable. Primo Levi wrote “… one hears it said that man is never content” (73). People are never satisfied. Theye desire one thing but once they get it, they usually want another thing. I think it is important to have balance between hope and desire in order to live a content life. We should never lose hope but we should never have too much desire, either.

Memorable Quotes:
“The Buna is not: the Buna is desperately and essentially opaque and grey. This huge entanglement of iron, concrete, mud and smoke is the negation of beauty … and the only things alive are machines and slaves – and the former are more alive than the latter” (72).

“We are the salves of the salves, whom all can give orders to, and our name is the number which we carry tattooed on our arm and sewn on our jacket” (72).

“The Lager is hunger: we ourselves are hunger, living hunger” (74).

“If there is one thing sure I this world it is certainly this: that it will not happen to us a second time” (74).