Mother Character Analysis in The Devil’s Arithmetic

Hannah’s mother brings Hannah to the Passover Seder where Hannah gets sent back in time to the Holocaust. Although Hannah’s mother wants Hannah to participate in Jewish culture, unlike Hannah’s older relatives like Aunt Eva and Grandpa Will, Hannah’s mother still wants to protect Hannah from some of the dark parts of adult life, as when she doesn’t want Hannah to have wine during the Seder.

Mother Quotes in The Devil’s Arithmetic

The The Devil’s Arithmetic quotes below are all either spoken by Mother or refer to Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).

“I’m tired of remembering,” said Hannah to her mother as she climbed into the car.

Related Characters: Hannah/Chaya (speaker), Mother

Page Number and Citation: 3

Explanation and Analysis:

“Never mind, little Chaya, never mind,” Gitl said. “Shmuel and I—we are your family now.”

Related Characters: Gitl (speaker), Hannah/Chaya, Rivka/Aunt Eva , Shmuel, Mother, Father

Page Number and Citation: 31

Explanation and Analysis:

Mother Character Timeline in The Devil’s Arithmetic

The timeline below shows where the character Mother appears in The Devil’s Arithmetic. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...is eating Easter candy during a car ride from New Rochelle to the Bronx. Hannah’s mother reminds Hannah that it in addition to Easter, it’s also Passover, so they have to... (full context)

After a while, Hannah says her head hurts, and her mother says they never should’ve given Hannah wine when she was still just 12. According to... (full context)

Hannah still remembers her old life, including her mother and father, but somehow, she also feels like Chaya. She realizes that Gitl and Shmuel... (full context)

...to understand her new situation. When Hannah goes to bed, she asks Gitl about her mother and father, but Gitl just comforts her, saying that she and Shmuel are taking care... (full context)