Sunday, April 25, 2010
The Book Thief blog
One of my favorite parts in the book, and also a significant one, is when Hans Huberman gives the Jew walking to Dachau the piece of bread. The passage is extremely helpful in the character development of Hans, and gives the reader a much deeper understanding of his personality. Throughout the book, the reader can see that Hans is a selfless, caring, and patient person through actions like taking in Liesel, teaching her to read, hiding Max, painting neighbors' blinds for free, and many other examples throughout the entire book. With all of these other examples, giving the Jew the bread is important because he does it even through he knows others are watching and will not approve. He also most likely knows in the back of his mind that the soldiers will harm him, and other citizens will call him a "Jew lover" but he does it anyway, which shows his selflessness. Although Hans is a particularly likeable character, this passage also shows the reader he does not always think through his actions before he does them. Giving the Jew the bread means Max has to leave since Hans believes the Nazis will come to search his house. At the end of the chapter, Han's regret about giving the Jew bread is obvious. This passage is also an example of the tremendously hard decisions people like Hans had to make during this time period. He could not just stand there and watch the Jew in the "parade" suffer, but giving him the bread meant Max had to leave. No matter what they chose, they could not win in a place as dark as Nazi Germany.
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TO CLEOPATRA—(Spoilers?)
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said. I liked how you stated: “tremendously hard decisions…people had to make during this time period,” and you were referring to Hans, but it also clearly applies to the victims, Jews, Max. One of his decisions that sticks out to me now was when he made the choice to look at the sky when the town was being bombed. He said he struggled to say it, which shows me that it was hard for him to do and hard for him to admit. This exemplifies growth in Max’s character because he is becoming more comfortable with the family and thus feeling more hopeful and willing to take the risk of glancing out the window. It was a big step in his trapped, lonely situation to do what he did, which shouldn’t be a big deal but that itself helps describe the position he is in. The fact that the stars burned his eyes meant to me that he had to keep that image burned in his mind, because he may not see it again and it was also so significant to him. The line “He had not seen the outside world for twenty-two months” was huge to me. It definitely showed me the strength it took for Max to do such a not-so-little act. Another action of his that I like to think would have taken a lot of evaluating was his leaving the Hubermann family. We saw earlier the kind of emotional boost Liesel and being with a family gave him, not being so alone. It must have been so hard for him to leave that, but he is such a selfless person, like Hans, that he left them for their own good. That act, like Hans that you mentioned, proved to me how pure and innocent Max was, though I knew it already.
I totally agree, it deeply contributes to showing the reader Han's true character. He is genuinely good person, and it really is obvious at this point in the book. Although I love that part of the book, one of my favorite parts of the book is when Max dreams about boxing with the Fuhrer. You would think that when someone is dreaming, they would end the dream in their favor, but it's the opposite for Max. Hitler wins in Max's dream, because for Max, Hitler will always win against him. Hitler uses his power of words after Max has started to finally throw a few good punches in order to turn the crowd against Max. It was so easy for the crowd to buy into Hitler to and want revenge on Max. I think this symbolizes the greater scheme of things in the war, how the citizens were so easily persauded by Hitler to hate the Jews just because they wanted and needed a strong leader. This dream was very interesting to me and that's why it was my favorite part.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think that this is my favorite passage, and it sets a lot of key events in motion. But I disagree with one of your points. I believe that Hans did not truly regret the act of giving the Jew the bread, but he the consequences. As Death says, Hans' soul was thin upon death because "he had given so much of it away". I think that Hans always wanted to give, and he always found a way to. He painted windows for nothing but a cup of tea and a conversation, and he gave his time to Liesel almost unconditionally (even though it meant he lost a lot of sleep). I also thought that it was a very interesting choice by the author to have the Fuhrer win the battles against Max. I wonder if it was because Max was hopeless, or because Max saw himself having to fall and pick himself up endlessly against Hitler. I really liked that Hitler did not fight with his fists, he used his words to get the crowd behind him. It paralled so well with the actual history of the time period, and although Max continually lost, he seemed to be the more courageous man.
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