Tuesday, January 30, 2018

How do we know that the Warden and Mr. Sir were not expecting the two boys?

At the end of chapter 44, the Warden ends up catching Stanely and Zero in the act of digging out a mysterious suitcase in one of the holes. At the beginning of chapter 45, the Warden shines her flashlight in the direction of the two boys as Mr. Pendanski and Mr. Sir arrive on the scene. Mr. Sir is walking barefoot and is only wearing his pajama bottoms. The Warden is also in her bedclothes but is wearing boots. The fact that both the Warden and Mr. Sir are not fully dressed in their normal, everyday attire indicates that they did not expect Stanley and Zero to show up in the middle of the night. Since the boys had not returned to camp for an extended period of time, both the Warden and Mr. Sir assumed that they had died of dehydration in the vast desert.
The Warden then proceeds to create an alibi and make sure Mr. Sir and Mr. Pendanski corroborate their stories before they speak with the Attorney General. One can infer that the Warden, Mr. Sir, and Mr. Pendanski would not have to create a new story regarding Stanley and Zero's whereabouts if they were expecting them to return.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the theme of the chapter Lead?

Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...