Chapter 16 "The Last One," Summary and Analysis

By Christmas, Levi and Alberto have become prominent inmates, and their work group has two large soup tureens of camp manufacture. Lorenzo, Levi's civilian friend, brings daily soup rations and occasional bread. The powerful Henri openly greets them as equals and occasionally includes them in some "organization" activities. Even the nearly-criminally insane Elias considers them powerful enough to publicly acknowledge. Levi finds his moral compass adrift but ignores the problem in favor of survival. Some of the chapter is given over to a detailed description of three methods of "organization" practiced by Levi and Alberto. They demonstrate the novel thinking required for survival and illustrate how even tiny advantages—in one case a few sheets of colored paper—can be worked into considerable amounts of food.

One day, the inmates are...