After getting through about half the book, I’ve been noticing a trend. It seems like the author had become more and more comfortable with the new way of life he had been dropped into. By now, it was as if nothing fazed him. For example, I thought the concept of referring to people as numbers was cruel and inhumane. However, it seems the author had gotten used to it: “A-7713” “That’s me.” “After your meal, you’ll go to see the dentist” (51). It’s as if he had been accustomed to being called “A-7713.” I see this as a lack of optimism quite honestly. He has basically given up his identity, and how can you maintain dignity without an identity? This doesn’t point in a good direction for the events to come.

     Although I am enjoying the book, not a chapter goes by where I don’t wince in horror multiple times. Two examples stick out in my mind from the last section of reading. One is the part where the author gets his gold crown removed. This isn’t done delicately or even with proper instruments. Instead, “That evening, in the latrines, the dentist from Warsaw pulled my crown out with the help of a rusty spoon” (56). I can’t even imagine the pain from such a grotesque procedure. Even with the right tools I’m sure it would hurt but this dentist uses a rusty spoon, I mean come on. The other part I was horrified at is a scene I know everyone who reads this will remember; it’s the execution scene. It’s bad enough that a child is being executed, but it takes an even more horrifying turn. He describes the scene as two of the victims are swallowed by death almost instantly. But then he describes the third victim, the child: “the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing… And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes” (65). A death like this is exponentially worse than a normal hanging death. I honestly cannot understand why the executioner wouldn’t take into account the child’s weight difference. I saw a show on the history channel where there was a chart used in medieval times which dictated the proper length of rope to use for different weights of the victims. This kept incidents like this from happening. But to think that more modern executioners would neglect to check that seems preposterous. Perhaps they did it on purpose to serve as a warning for disobedient prisoners?