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What is Levi's reaction to Kuhn when he prays to God for sparing him from selection?

a. Levi spits at Kuhn.
b. Levi begins to pray.
c. Levi imagines God spitting at this prayer.
d. Levi ignores all of his actions.

User Don Lun
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Final answer:

The correct answer is option c. Primo Levi's reaction to Kuhn praying after being spared from selection is to imagine God spitting at this prayer, reflecting his complex view on faith after surviving the Holocaust.

Step-by-step explanation:

The reaction of Primo Levi to the prisoner Kuhn's prayer after being spared from selection in Auschwitz is captured in Levi's memoir, If This Is a Man. In the scene depicted, Levi observes Kuhn praying and giving thanks to God for his own survival. Levi's reaction is one of profound cynicism and disillusionment. He does not spit at Kuhn, begin to pray, or ignore Kuhn's actions; rather, Levi himself imagines a divine reaction: he thinks of God spitting at this prayer.

This powerful metaphor conveys Levi's inner conviction that in the face of such human atrocity, the act of giving thanks to God for individual survival seemed inappropriate and almost objectionable to him. This reaction reveals the complex relationship that survivors of the Holocaust may have had with faith and the divine, illustrating the moral and spiritual upheaval wrought by their experiences.

User Lorenzo Rossi
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