Journal 3 : Initiation

I tend to take a shower every morning before I go to school. It is now a natural habit to me so even though I wake up late in the morning, I skip breakfast and rather take a shower. However, I imagined myself as being one of the prisoners in Auschwitz. Would I even have energy to wash my face or my hands? In Chapter 3, Levi introduced Steinlauf who was washing himself with passion. Although the prisoners did not have any soaps or shampoos, Steinlauf was washing his body. However, Levi had a different opinion of washing. “…Steinlauf sees me and greets me, and without preamble asks me severely why I do not wash. Why should I wash? Would I be better off than I am? Would I please someone more? Would I live a day, an hour longer? I would probably live a shorter time, because to wash is an effort, a waste of energy and warmth. Does not Steinlauf know that after half an hour with the coal sacks every difference between him and me will have disappeared? (pg 40)” After thinking about this quote, I realized Levi was true. Would being clean after using “effort and energy” would worth much better than resting for a while? No one knows when the Jews are going to die. Death might be crawling behind and capture them to death after a minute or an hour passes. Future is always obscure in reality but it is much vaguer in the prison of Auschwitz. Actually, it is scarier since it is “seriously unpredictable.” If it were predictable of knowing when you are going to die, you would have little bit of relief in life than not knowing it. No matter what, the prisoners had the possibility of encountering death anyways. However, they do not know when or how soon they would have to accept the situation. Thus, Levi’s point was miserable but true. There was no existence of energy and time for the Jews to worry about their appearance, since only death was their worries.