If I Should Die Before I Wake Essay Example For Students

If I Should Die Before I Wake Essay In the book if i should die before I wake, the author, Han Nolan, portraysChana to be a very strong person emotionally. Chanas strength is shownthroughout the book from losing her family one by one, to the consequencesdealing with escaping Lodz. Chana lost her father first; he was shot byNazis.(16-18) Next Chanas little sister Nadzia left the family to live withnon-Jews.(43-44) In the ghetto Zade died of old age and malnutrition.(89,90) Anna and her mother were next; they were taken to concentration camps.(137-140) Jakub was the last person she and Bubbe saw before they tried to escape from Lodz to Germany.(154-156) Chana and Bubbe escaped Lodz only to be jailed, tortured and sent to concentration camps. Only a strong willed person could mentally and emotionally endure such tragedy and horror as Chana did. Chanas character was also very caring and compassionate towardsothers. Although she was miserable in the concentration camps, she wasrespectful towards the other inmates.(220-221, Another example of this waswhen she was living in the ghetto with the Krengiels. It took all herstrength to be nice to them, and inspite of her kindness, they were hostile toChana and her family.(80-83)A noticeable trait shown in Chana as her character developedthroughout the book was her religious and spiritual self. In the beginning itwas only her grandmother, Bubbe who had total faith in God, and who triedto encourage Chana to have faith also. Chana did not believe Bubbe, shethought that God was not on her side and that he was nowhere.(34,196) Sheresented God until she looked into the eyes of her shvester and then feltashamed of her anger with God.(236) Towards the end of the book she prays to make Matel well.(253) Next she puts on a Jewish ritual ceremony to thank God officially, by the request of Matel .(254) This shows that Chanas faith in God had developed throughout the book during a time of crisis. A major problem Chana faced was survival. She dealt with thestruggle for food each day and torture and hard labor in the concentrationcamps. Chanas family dealt with the struggle for food each day by workingas hard as they could. While in the concentration camps Chana was torturedand forced to work. She couldnt just rebel because the camp officialswould harm her more. Another great conflict Chana had to deal with is the ghetto life. Shelived where it was very crowded and often needed a way out. She solvedthis problem by hiding in a hole of the roof of the House of Culture andlistening to music. She often thought of escaping and running away andsuggested to her family that they should hide in the House of Culture, butBubbe decided to take Jakubs advice and get fake papers and go toGermany. If I was faced with Chanas problems I wouldve done some things thesame as she did, but some different. Regarding the struggle for food, Iwouldve brought things that are very valuable and rare like coffee andcigarettes to trade for food. If worse came to worse, I would have sold theviolin for food. With the problem of survival in the Concentration camp, Iwouldve tried to make friends with alot of people in the concentration campbecause like Dvora, if one of them became an assistant to someone important, they could have pull into putting me somewhere else where the work and torture are less. If I had to make the decision whether to run away from the ghetto life, I wouldve done the same as Chana and Bubbe, but I wouldve hid while in public places so I wouldnt be as noticeable to people. Overall Chana made good decisions considering the atmosphere she was living in most the time.