Initiation
- Primo is assigned to a regular hut (Block 30), and tries to sleep, but he has too many questions: when will they eat? Where will he be assigned for work? The other prisoners, who are trying to sleep, soon get tired of his questions and tell him to pipe down.
- Very early in the morning, the prisoners are awoken, and rush out into the freezing air to get their morning bread.
- No one's satisfied with their small portion, and they begin to trade with others, thinking they'll get a bigger piece. It's just not enough, though.
- The prisoners also use bread as money, and lots of bargaining and trading take place.
- Next, they go wash up in the washroom, which is dirty and disgusting.
- Primo decides it's a waste of time to wash, since he'll just get dirty anyway. He'd rather spend the time thinking and appreciating what life he has left.
- His new friend Steinlauf gives him an important lesson: since the prison is dedicated to making the prisoners into beasts, it's way important to fight that and to hang on to as much of their humanity as they can. Being as clean as possible is one way of doing that.
- Primo doesn't quite buy this premise, and doesn't want to live by someone else's rules. He wonders if it's better to simply acknowledge the futility of having personal rules.