The Drowned and the Saved

In The Drowned and the Saved, Levi describes both his own deportation journey to Auschwitz as well as the journeys of other prisoners to other Lagers. Though he does not directly compare the figurative journeys of the prisoners to their literal ones, the parallels are clear. For example, as the deportees travel towards the camps, they become more and more immersed in suffering; the difficult journey in the unfurnished cattle cars foreshadows the strife the deportees will soon be forced to endure, provided they aren’t immediately selected for the gas upon arrival to the camps. The train journey, much like any arduous process a person might endure, has a discernible beginning and end. Though the end point of the train journey is in actuality an even worse nightmare than the journey itself, the knowledge that it would eventually end may have provided some deportees with a degree of ironic comfort.

Levi writes about his survival of Auschwitz factually, describing the movements and decisions that led to his survival in precise detail. Even as death surrounded Levi while he was imprisoned, he chose to focus his limited energies on living, displaying a remarkable capacity for resilience. The humanism of Levi’s writing on resilience and survival is apparent in his focus on his own powers of observation.