If This Is a Man

Levi claims that language is written by the privileged to describe experiences within privileged conditions. Suffering, in what he calls a “free” world, is entirely different than suffering in Auschwitz. A different language is needed, then, to communicate the suffering of Auschwitz. Are there any moments in the memoir where you see this new language being created?

The title of Levi’s memoir is If This Is a Man. Levi defines manhood in Lorenzo’s care for him, so why is the title not simply This Is a Man? How does the “If” change the meaning of the title and the memoir, too?

Surviving the Lager is unbearable. In the last chapter Levi declares that the Lager is dead, yet his care of the sick seems excruciating. Is this care for others as difficult as self-preservation in the Lager?

Consider any knowledge you had previously about the Holocaust. How does Levi’s memoir contribute to your knowledge? Why are memoirs, especially of the Holocaust, important records of history?

Ultimately, Levi seems to become one of the “saved,” as he survives the camp. Does Levi’s memoir ever offer first-person insight into the experience of being drowned? Does Levi ever seem drowned in his own memoir?

Levi and many of the prisoners consistently have nightmares about no one being interested in their stories. Is publishing If This Is a Man a way to ensure an audience, or does Levi risk not being heard? What does it mean for a story to lose its readership and go out of print, like Levi’s memoir did shortly after its initial publication? What does that mean for events like the Holocaust?

Is the suffering in the last chapter, after the Lager dies, different than the suffering that occurs in the Lager? Is the suffering in this last chapter the suffering of a “free” world or not?

Levi writes that he becomes a man in the last chapter. How does this occur? Does “becoming a man” mean the same thing as developing humanity, or is there something specific to be attributed to the gendered phrase? What would it take for a member of the SS to become a man?