In the Book Thief, Liesel, probably due to the fact that she is the main character, seems to be the most interesting. She starts as a little girl, with primitive thoughts and feelings. She seems innocent and naive. As the book progresses her innocence is quickly shattered, probably quicker than any child's innocence in this day of age. Upon realizing that Hitler had probably done something to take her biological mother away from her, Liesel's view on the was and the world go from being mostly apathetic to quite interested. she hates hitler and because of the relationship she builds with max, she sympathizes with the jews of germany. she sees past all the supposed good hitler is doing and just sees the hunger of her family and friends.
i think liesel is a very strong character. in the face of adversity she pushes herself to learn to read, she doesn't take crap from the neighborhood kids when she first moves in, she stands up to the mayor's wife, and, i think, she would be completely capable of taking care of herself if she ever needed to. she is a loyal friend, a good daughter, and a great scholar. her thirst for reading and the will to keep practicing her words until she memorizes them proves her intelligence. Personally, i think because of the hard times she faces such as the loss of her brother, biological mother, and eventually her foster mother's loss of business has cause this girl to grow to a level of maturity beyond that of an 11 year old. I thoroughly enjoy her character simply because she seems like a really tough cookie.
I totally agree with what you said about Liesel quickly losing her innocence once her brother died and her mother left her. However, I'm not sure I agree that Liesel completely hates Hitler as much as, say, Hans or Rosa do. I think she has made a general connection between him, communists, and her mother, but I don't think she is completely aware of what Hitler and the Nazis are doing to the Jews. She just knows that Max isn't a bad person and that the German regime does strange things and has orders that she has to obey.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Liesel if a very tough character in the book, she has been through more tough times than a full grown and at only 11 years old. She unfortunately has to learn to be mature and grow up much quickly then most children are accustomed to. Though she isn't fully mature enough to understand why all this is happening, to understand what exactly Hitler is doing and why. She just knows enough to know that Hitler is connected to all the mishaps in her life. But I understand completely why you like this character the best.
ReplyDeleteLiesel is definitely someone who had to mature very quickly in order to survive her own situation. Though some of her actions (such as wetting the bed) speak otherwise, she is on the level maturity-wise of many twenty year olds.
ReplyDeleteAlso, i think her inability to comprehend exactly what Hitler was doing on a global scale, in combination with her age, makes her see her opinion of him as either she loves or hates him, and i'm sure she is leaning more towards hate.
Liesel takes huge strides in growin up after her brother dies and her mother leaves her with the Hubbermans. This has somthing to do I think with Rosa and Hans and what kind of people they are. Rosa's toughness definitely starts to have an affect on Liesel in a good way I think. How Hans handles Liesel also starts to help her out in good ways by making her a good person and showing her that there are other ways to live than the Nazi way.
ReplyDelete