Monday, February 6, 2017
Identity in The Book Thief
One passage that comes to mind in this novel
about the nature of identity is on page 161 when Leisel and Ma’x situations are
being compared. The quote is as follows: “You could argue that Liesel Meminger
had it easy. She did have it easy according to Max Vandenburg. Certainly, her
brother practically dies in her arms. Her mother abandoned her. But anything
was better than being a Jew.” Liesel and Max both live contrasting lives, and
Max makes the best of his isolation in the basement of the Hubermann house by keeping
himself entertained by living out his fantasies about fighting Hitler and his
Nazis. Max lives his life in constant fear, while Leisel goes out and goes to
school and lives the life of a girl as normal as war-time Germany can give. Max
seems to be constantly fighting something, if it isn’t survival, its boredom,
and he never tires of the thought of leaving the Hubermann’s basement and making
their lives easier. He feels that his identity is making the lives of Hans and
Rosa Hubermann difficult, and rightfully so. But they are doing it out of the
kindness of their heart, and Hans feels a connection to the son of his wartime
constituent. Many Jews died of thie
things that Max survived, mainly the crippling coma that he was in and nearly
died of, but also the fact that the basement gets inspected by Nazi soldiers and
they don’t manage to find Max. He has the realities of sickness and death at
his doorstep, but he has the added burden of dealing with them in a great deal
of isolation, where Liesel becomes his only solace and his only reason to stop
fighting and relax for a bit. Liesel can
go freely and steal books and Max has to stay in hiding alone when the bombing
raids begin and the neighborhood people had to hide separately. Max lives his
life in solitude because of the identity placed on him at birth, and as a
result of the Nazi regime and his need to go into hiding, he has to spend a lot
of time alone, pretending to fight off the very people that are oppressing him,
and trying to take what he has been given, both in sickness and in his time at
Dachau, and live his life despite all the odds being stacked against him.
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I find the passage you chose interesting. I had to go back and reread this section of the book because I feel like I didn't fully grasp it as I should have when I first read it. I didn't pick up on the fact that the book was narrated by Death.. I think Max's character is one fully motivated by survival and it is remarkable that he survived everything that he did in the book. The odds were stacked against him, but somehow Death didn't conquer him.
ReplyDeleteLiesel has to fight her own battles, certainly, but of course when you weigh the struggles Liesel has compared to what Max has to deal with, it is not as tough. Though Liesel does have problems from others about her birth mother. If I'm not mistaken, she had a connection with Communism. I do think that the quote is interesting, as being a Jew during that time was difficult. I viewed Liesel as the protagonist I felt compelled to feel sorry for. As I was reading the book, I felt the gravity of being a Jew was lost in light of the main character Liesel. After reading this, I realize there is more depth to that quote than I first thought.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the passage you selected and the character development of Max does make a statement about identity, particularly religious or ethnic identity, but I need you to tell me specifically what that statement is. You select a compelling quote and you list the ways in which Max suffers that Liesel does not, but the response never comes to a clear statement of argument. What does all of this say about the importance of Jewish identity then?