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Chapter 25
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Prisoner B-3087, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Determination and Luck
Anti-Semitism and Cruelty vs. Humanity
Connection vs. Isolation
Coming of Age, Trauma, and Remembrance
Identity vs. Anonymity
Summary
Analysis
This time, Yanek travels by train—though many prisoners still die on the trip. Yanek hardly notices the death all around him anymore. He tries to sleep as much as possible to take his mind off of starvation. Yanek hears planes flying over the train and a bomb exploding nearby. For a moment, Yanek thinks that he wants the bombs to strike the train, so this nightmare would end.
Yanek’s momentary lapse in determination, as he hopes that the bombs hit their train car, makes it clear just how grueling his journey has been. Even after surviving so much, he wavers on whether he wants to keep going. But the fortune that a bomb does not strike the train allows Yanek to keep going.
Themes
When Yanek arrives at Gross-Rosen, however, his determination kicks in again: he wants to work and survive. Yanek builds more barracks, but with the Allies so close, he thinks that one day there he’ll have a “bright, shining, beautiful future,” where he can have three full meals a day, a family, and laughter. He works so that one day he could have that future.
Yanek’s thoughts illustrate his determination as he passes a turning point. With the Allies approaching, he finally lets himself be a little optimistic about having a “beautiful future” beyond his suffering. These tangible desires—being able to recover his humanity, connecting to people again, and having an identity and meaning in his life—spur Yanek even further.
Themes
A kapo interrupts Yanek’s reverie, asking where the top button on his shirt is. When Yanek realizes it is missing and says he doesn’t know, the kapo explains that the penalty for losing a button is 20 lashes. At roll call, a Nazi soldier lashes Yanek with a whip, instructing him to keep count. When Yanek starts in Polish, the soldier says he should count in German, and starts again. Yanek gets 10 lashes, his back erupting in pain. But Yanek forgets the German word for 11 and the soldier criticizes his “Jewish schools,” making Yanek start the count over.
This is yet another example of the Nazis’ cruel games: for such trivial mishaps as missing a button or not knowing the German word for eleven, Yanek is brutally punished. It’s also clear from the soldier’s comment about “Jewish schools,” that their actions are motivated by anti-Semitism as he discriminates against Yanek’s heritage.
Themes
Yanek remembers very little after the lashes are finished, not even knowing how many he eventually had. When he is carried back to the barracks, he immediately passes out. He dreams that he is in a bright field on a beautiful summer day. But then clouds roll in, and thunder rumbles. Lighting flashes, and the ground cracks open. He falls into a black abyss, and rocks fall in after him. He counts the rocks in German as they strike him.
Yanek’s dream serves as a metaphor for his dire situation. He hopes for and is determined to reach a future in which he can simply enjoy a beautiful sunny day—but the storms and the rocks (which symbolize the Nazis and the other obstacles in his way) threaten that future.
Themes
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Suddenly, Yanek wakes from his dream and discovers that bombs are falling all around. The prisoners are all awake, waiting to see if the bombs will hit them. But eventually, the prisoners go back to sleep despite the shattering sound, knowing that there is work tomorrow. Yanek lays on his stomach, his back in agony, and remembers his dream. He is determined not to fall down the hole. He wants to be there when the Allies arrive.
Yanek’s dream incites his intention to survive even further, as he vows to overcome the obstacles in his way. The irony in Yanek’s dream is that what he interpreted as thunder in his nightmare—the sounds of the bombs—actually represent his salvation as the Allies get closer, providing a glimmer of hope for him.
Themes
