The novel The Periodic Table by Primo Levi is one of his most well known works. In this book he relates pieces of his and also some other important figures in his life to certain elements in the periodic table as you may assume. For each element he uses, Levi dives deep into his memory bank and pulls out detailed descriptions of his past, where we get to see how the mind of this brilliant man relates his life to the chemistry that once helped save him from the horrors of WWII. However, Levi states that this is not an autobiography as there are other inputs besides his own and that every element means something different to everyone.
ArgonArgon is a rare gas that is 20 times more abundant on Earth than carbon dioxide; it makes up about 1% of the air we breath and life would be unsustainable without it. In this chapter of Levi's The Periodic Table he relates this element to his family as he talks about how little he knows about them and his ancestors. This, to him, is easily relatable and similar to argon.
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CeriumCerium is an element that is normally used in order to form flints for cigarette lighters. In this book, Levi relates this element to a time with his fiend Alberto and stealing materials in the lager to make these items to be sold and traded. In this case he used the flints to trade for bread, which kept them alive until the Russians liberated them.
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GoldGold is an element, which is red and yellowish in the purest form. It was highly sought out for its value during the 1900's. This element brings Levi back to a day before he was captured as he was fighting for the rebels. The main point in this chapter is his conversation with a prisoner about the Dora (Dora Baltea, water source where gold was located in Europe). Levi talks about how, in those days, he had a piercing desire for everything, and all imaginable human experiences, including searching for gold someday.
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