Stories of a New Bible - Rebecca Belew

"But are they not themselves stories of a new Bible?" (Levi).

Incomprehensible stories, shared among "Haftlinges"/prisoners, are making up a world - multiple worlds in reality - outside of the one they all share. Variations of the same story come together in languages unknown and mixed up with other languages. "... one is surrounded by a perpetual Babel..." (Levi). A new Babel, no understanding, all in the same boat.

Yet, how often do we feel just like our narrator? We aren't under nearly as much if any physical torture the way he is, but still, we feel heard and not listened to. We feel seen and examined and prodded and shown off, but not understood in any way at all. How often do we feel like we should be a story in a new Bible? Our actions, like Israel, constantly show the movement away from God and then the sudden realization of the wrong we've committed. The labor camps feel like continuous movement away from God, and our souls feel locked up in this situation, toiling on aimlessly and infinitely until it's finally time to die. We may not be physically locked away, but our souls are tortured with different methods of our own creation.

Do we qualify as a story worth placing in a "new Bible"? Are our stories worth hearing and our testimonies worth sharing?

Others have suffered greater injustices than a downcast soul, but oh how dangerous a downcast soul is.

"... for he who loses all often easily loses himself" (Levi).
"It was better not to think" (Levi).
"We are only tired beasts" (Levi).
"... the only things alive are machines and slaves - the former are more alive than the latter" (Levi).

A downcast soul leads to a broken spirit and an easier broken body. The soul, the psyche, must be protected at all costs. Our stories are worth something, and if we don't hang on to hope and live to tell them, then who will?

Our narrator finds pockets and glimpses of hope, even though his bones are sore, his hope is still high. He knows it's wrong to be living like this, under oppression, but things are different here, not "much of our ordinary moral world could survive on this side of the barbed wire" (Levi). Because of this idea that his world right now is different than his old world, he remains hopeful for the end of this and the regulation of "normal" life once it's finally finished.

Comments: AnnaKate & Jamie

Comments

Luke Killam said…
It was unbelievable to see how numb these people became. One day they lost their homes, the next, their families, and the next, the clothes and few possessions they had left. They were truly bereft. This was an interesting take on the reading, Becca!