Saturday, December 20, 2014

Why is fiction more powerful than statistics (especially in regards to The Devil's Arithmetic)?

Please realize that this is an opinion question with no “right” answer; however, in my opinion fiction is more powerful than statistics because moving stories mean more to people than simple numbers.  This is especially true in The Devil’s Arithmeticin that the transformation of Hannah is moving indeed.  Hannah changes from a child who is annoyed by her faith to a young adult who appreciates many aspects of her Jewish heritage.  Further, the sacrifices...

Please realize that this is an opinion question with no “right” answer; however, in my opinion fiction is more powerful than statistics because moving stories mean more to people than simple numbers.  This is especially true in The Devil’s Arithmetic in that the transformation of Hannah is moving indeed.  Hannah changes from a child who is annoyed by her faith to a young adult who appreciates many aspects of her Jewish heritage.  Further, the sacrifices of characters such as the “real” Chaya are meant to tear at a reader’s heart.  Chaya, of course, sacrifices herself in order to save Rivka from death in the gas chamber.  As a result of this fictional story, bravery such as Chaya’s will never be forgotten.  Compare this moving historical fiction with a simple list of numbers.  More than five million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.  That number can be delineated further by country, by sex, and by age.  However, numbers rarely move a reader to tears.  The story of Chaya from The Devil's Arithmetic, however, is much more powerful.  These powerful stories are what remind us of the Holocaust horrors so that we can prevent them from happening again.

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