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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Survival and Morality
Faith, Love, and Optimism
Unity, Sacrifice, and Empathy
Knowledge, Uncertainty, and Power
Summary
Analysis
Sunday morning finally arrives, and Lale waits anxiously for the moment he can finally speak to the woman he’s been thinking about so much. Finally, he finds her outside and he gives her a piece of bread and a letter telling her that he hasn’t stopped thinking about her since he reinked her tattoo. In person, though, Lale simply asks her name, and she tells him that it’s Gita. Before they can say more, Gita’s friends whisk her away in a swarm of whispers. In bed that night, Lale lies awake and he repeats Gita’s name over and over, thinking about how beautiful it is. Meanwhile, Gita sits up in Block 29 with her friends Dana and Ivana, rereading Lale’s letter until she has memorized it, though she keeps peering at it even after she’s committed it to memory.
Even in the dire circumstances of the camp, Lale’s attraction to Gita blooms. This suggests that his optimism is still intact, for he clearly still believes that it is worthwhile to love another person despite the horror he has seen. Life, for him, is still worth living.
Themes
The next morning, an SS officer hits Gita to the ground for smiling and he deprives her and Dana of breakfast. “Don’t forget where you are,” her kapo says. Nonetheless, Gita simply turns to Dana and she says, “I told you Lale’s going to talk to me next Sunday, didn’t I?”
Like Lale, Gita feels as if the prospect of a new romantic relationship is enough to keep her hopeful and strong. To that end, she refuses to think of anything other than Lale, even after an SS officer strikes her and her kapo tells her to focus on her dismal reality. In turn, love emerges as a lifeline of sorts, one capable of buoying emotional resilience and hope.
Themes
The following Sunday, Lale and Gita meet once again, this time going behind the administration building. When Gita asks if it’s safe for them to be back there, Lale checks to see if the guards are watching from their towers but he notes that they will never truly be safe. Moreover, he says he simply needs to be with her, even if this puts him in danger. Lale then asks Gita how her day is going, and she mocks him for asking such a naïve question. Laughing, he changes the subject, wanting to know her last name and where she’s from. However, Gita refuses to tell him anything except her first name, identification number, and the fact that she is a prisoner in Birkenau. Hearing this, Lale makes Gita promise that she’ll tell him her name and hometown before they leave the camp, and she agrees.
When Lale says that he and Gita will never be completely safe, he suggests that his desire to be with her is greater than his fear of what might happen to them if a guard catches them spending time alone behind the administration building. According to this mindset, Lale’s developing love for Gita is more important to him than anything else, a fact that underlines the extent to which he believes in the value of human connection and romance. On another note, Gita’s unwillingness to tell Lale about her personal history suggests that she is hesitant to embrace the idea that their relationship will ever be able to transcend the context in which it has taken root. This, in turn, adds uncertainty to their bond, though it also prompts Lale to make her promise that she’ll tell him this information when they leave Auschwitz-Birkenau—a promise that may encourage them both to persevere with the mindset that they really will survive.
Themes
