There is nothing one can experience to feel the same pain that those who lived through the Holocaust were forced to endure. Scholars and students of history alike often struggle to enter the minds of Holocaust survivors and those who perished during this time because it is difficult to relate to the situations they were in.  The current American culture often produces the idea that something like the Holocaust could never happen within our borders.  Since most readers did not directly experience the Holocaust, it is challenging for them to relate to such horrific acts of evil.  Charlotte Delbo succeeds in letting the reader relate to the victims of the Holocaust through her insightful use of numerous literary techniques throughout her novel Auschwitz and after.  Delbo surpasses the challenge of creating a connection with her reader by implementing literary devices such as the deliberate organization of the narrative, engaging in the ethical appeal of the reader (ethos), and using repetitive literary motif s to create a poetic elegance throughout the text. Delbo blends each of these techniques together to portray a lifelike artistic representation of the story.  This sense of realism throughout the novel allows for the readers to relate to each story and creates a community between Delbo and her audience.

The organization of Delbo's novel is deliberately unconventional in order to allow the reader to truly understand the context of each story.  The reader is thrown into the book in a comparable fashion to that of the Jews who were transported to Auschwitz.  In fact, many of Delbo's poems do not have a title, adding to the seeming lack of order Delbo expresses throughout her writing.  In fact, Delbo's unorthodox writing style engages the reader in the text and forces them to question their original suppositions of Holocaust literature.  Instead of developing her narrative by telling stories in a chronological order, Delbo consistently jumps from the present to the past and from memory to memory.  This organizational technique is exemplified in her vignette "The Dummies."  Within this vignette Delbo begins to retell a story of a "yard full of [frozen corpses]" at the concentration camp she was living at (17).

She follows by describing the men at the gallery "[Delivering] dummies for the display window" during her childhood (17).  She then compares the dummies in the store windows to "the dummies [lying] in the snow", which in reality are "women lying in the snow" (18).

Delbo deliberately transitions from the present to the past and back to the present in order to give context to the story.  By giving context to each story Delbo allows the reader to relate an everyday occurrence to the horrible events of the Holocaust, creating a better understanding of the victim's situation.  This technique brings the readers into the minds of the prisoners and takes them into the world of the concentration camps.  While the reader will most likely never witness the horrid sight of dead bodies piled on top of each other, many readers have seen stacks of dummies at their local department store.  This comparison increases the reliability of the story and allows the reader to begin to comprehend the terrible events occurring throughout the story. The organization of the novel is deliberate and effective with the sole purpose of creating a sense of community between author and audience.  Delbo is forced to move away from life in Auschwitz to allow the readers to relate to the story at hand. Delbo's unconventional organizational style enhances her narration and increases its reliability to the reader.

In order to truly connect with her readers, Delbo must convince them of her character and the factual basis of each story.  Her goal is to create a trusting relationship with her reader in order to create an accessible "bridge" between her poetic words and the reader's personal life.  One of the most important aspects of writing a successful narrative is convincing the reader that the author is a credible source.  Delbo enhances her credibility by engaging in ethos techniques throughout the novel.  Delbo creates an ethical appeal with her audience by admitting the faults of her writing and confesses the disconnection with the events of the past.  Delbo concedes that "[she] is not sure that what [she] wrote is true" (preface).  She later contrasts this statement by admitting she is "certain that [the story] is truthful" (preface).  Likewise, Delbo puts forth another disclaimer later in the book that she has "no idea whether [she] reconstituted this whole scene after the fact" (36).  She again follows this admission with a statement saying she is confident that "it must have happened like this" (37).  The juxtaposition of both of these questions reassures the reader of Delbo's credibility and allows the reader to gain trust in the text they are reading.  By admitting her faults, Delbo convinces the reader that she would not consciously make up any of these stories.  It is important to hear these stories from a first person perspective rather than from a second hand source because it ensures the factual basis of the text. This ethos technique is extremely powerful in increasing Delbo's credibility and creating a sense of realism in the writing. Credibility is essential to successfully gaining the trust of the reader and creating a connection between the author and reader.  These ethical techniques verify that the narration is not exaggerated and permits the reader to create a trusting relationship with the author.

By applying the literary techniques of repetitive motif, Delbo is able to enhance her poetic rhythm and gives the reader a sense that they are reading spoken words.  Spoken words is a form of poetry that promotes the idea that the text written on paper has the elegance to be read aloud to a live audience.  Delbo's use of repetition to emphasize the physical suffering of the prisoners emulates the effectiveness of spoken words.  In her vignette, "Thirst", she emphasizes the "thirst of the morning, [a] thirst of the day, and [a] thirst of the night" (70).  The raw thirst of the prisoners is expressed through the repetition of this statement.  It is as if the survivor was verbally reliving this harrowing thirst once again. This allows the reader to truly grasp how parched the inmates were. Similarly, in the vignette "The Men", Delbo poetically expresses the emptiness of each victim by describing "[the] naked eyes, [the] naked flesh... [the] naked heart, [and the] naked body of the one leaving to die" (123).  This poetic vignette shows both the physical and emotion nakedness of the victims being put to death.  Even if they are still physically alive, many of the prisoners are in fact emotionally dead.  Repeating the idea of nakedness forces the reader to picture such a deprived human being.  The use of imagination increases the physical effectiveness of story and strengthens the overall emotional impact of the novel.  Reading these passages aloud will allow the reader to recognize the elegance of Delbo's text.  In fact, Delbo comes back to this idea of dehydration later in her narrative within the chapter properly titled "Thirst."  Within this chapter, Delbo reminds the reader the intense feeling of thirst that the victims felt on a daily basis.  Delbo consistently talks about the idea of thirst because each person can relate to being thirsty at some point of his or her life.  By repeating this same idea numerous times within separate chapters it forces the reader to put themselves in the victims shoes.  The only way to relate to the victims of the Holocaust is to understand the times they lived through.

The power of repetition not only allows Delbo to enlighten her audience about the specific feelings of the victims of the Holocaust, but more importantly connects her with the audience by taking advantage of the rhythmic flow of spoken words poetry.  Repetitive motifs allow Delbo's readers to enter the mind of a Holocaust survivor and create a sense of realism in each story.

Delbo's poetic writing technique allows for her readers to gain insight on her stories and creates a sense of realism throughout the narrative.  While many Holocaust writers simply state in their narratives that they were extremely thirsty, Delbo artistically uses descriptive stories to express the idea of dehydration.  Delbo says after waking up in the morning with no water to drink her "lips move but no sounds come out. A mouth cannot form words when it is dry, with no saliva" (70).  The Nazis deliberately deprived the prisoners of water in order to weaken them both physically and mentally.  Without water the prisoners could not "form words," and therefore did not have the strength or the will to fight the Nazi regime (70). The reader begins to physically f eel this intense sensation, creating a sense of realism in the text.  While reading the story, one's mouth begins to feel dry and they can slowly sense the moisture run out of their tongue.  Delbo plays on the reader's emotions and forces them to go into the minds of the prisoners.  The connection with the author engrosses the reader in the text, resulting in a better understanding of the narrative.  Each of the literary techniques that Delbo uses combines to bring a realistic feeling to the text.  Delbo artistically crafts a lifelike sensation throughout her novel allowing for her readers to relate their everyday activities to the appalling events of the Holocaust.

Delbo enhances the reliability of her narrative by creating a sense of realism by combining these literary techniques. The lifelike representation throughout the text allows the readers to use their imagination to portray the image of the text they are reading.  The imagination of the reader is allowed to flourish through reading written text rather than viewing a visual representation of the Holocaust.  By consistently using the pronoun "I", Delbo is able to bring her readers into the text.  Delbo expresses the intense feelings she felt by uttering, "I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm cold" (33).  The incorporation of such a simple statements changes how Delbo's audience reads the text.  By using the pronoun "I" Delbo combines the power of imagination with the feeling of realism throughout the text.  The readers start to physically feel the intense hunger, thirst and sense of coldness that Delbo is talking about.  In addition to word choice, Delbo increases her reliability by admitting she is removed from the events during the time of her writing.  She takes the time to pause and mention that she is "presently writing this story in a cafe- it is turning into a story" (26).  This multifaceted quote proves two things: that Delbo has the character to admit she is distanced from the Holocaust, allowing for her credibility to flourish, and it shows that her collection of memories is now "turning into a story" (26).  This sense of credibility once again adds to the connection she has with the reader.  The memories she is telling are beginning to weave together to suck the reader into the text.  Rather than just being a collection of separate memories, Delbo has begun to form a story that is a representation of the Holocaust as a whole. The text begins to jump out of the book and have a lifelike feeling to it.  Delbo brings the reader into a new world and allows them to feel what she felt.  This idea of personification within the text brings the narrative to life and forces the reader to take a deeper look at each word they read.

Delbo combines each literary technique to create a connection with her audience.  This mutual connection between author and audience allows for the text to have a stronger influence on the reader.  Successful writing is accomplished by connecting with your reader, and effective reading occurs when you can relate the writing to your own life.  Delbo accomplishes both of these tasks in her novel and is successful in portraying the Holocaust in a factual and relatable manner.  Delbo makes her readers revaluate their presumptions of the Holocaust and allows them to use their imagination to relate to the stories being told throughout the narrative. Delbo brings the reader into the concentration camp and forces them to suffer with her. By incorporating the literary techniques consistently throughout the narrative Delbo creates a community with her audience.  This relationship with her reader creates a sense of reliability with the victims of the Holocaust and allows the reader to have a better understanding of the text as a whole.