Hannah and Rivka, both characers in the Devil's Arithmatic novel, are more alike then they are different. Although she was transported to the past, Hannah found herself a friend with whom she could relate. In the following sentences, I will explain how i find the two girlsshare both differences and similarities.
To start off, Rivka and Hannah are both young, jewish women.Theyre too young to be living in the camps, but as Rivka mentions in the book, the Nazis wont realize they are underage since they look older. If they realized that the girls were too young, they would be killed. For instance, all Hannah and Rivka wanted was to survive. It wasnt a matter of living, it was a matter of surviving. They werent fighting against the germans,…show more content… Hannah is fearful, weak, vulnerable and lacking in strength and resilience. Rivka, on the other hand, has a desire to survive and to continue living, no matter what tragedy she witnesses and experiences. As she states after she tells the girls about the death of her family members: " We all have such stories. It is a brutal arithmetic. But I--I am alive. You are alive. As long as we breathe, we can see and hear. As long as we can remember, all those gone before are alive inside us."
Unlike Rivka and the others, Hannah knows what will happen, because shes from the future. But, since Rivka has been living in the camps much longer than Hannah, she has more knowledge of what goes on in the camps. She explains the girls how to survive like tey shouldnt stand next to a prisonner with the letter G in their number. For instance, she states: " You ust listen if you wish to stay alive. i know the things you need to know in this place. Tere is malach ha-mavis, the Angel of Death, hovering overhead. But we can fool him if we follow th rules"
In conclusion, athough at first glance Hannah and Rivka may seem like just two simple girls, they are much more than they appear to be. The are strong, young women who share many common and un common