Choices

This blog post isn't so much about the choices made by characters as the drastic choices that Markus Zusak made. Love or hate his writing style, you have to admit that Zusak is a talented author. But he not only masterfully uses language and word choice to his advantage, but also sets up the plot and twists the story line in order to benefit how he wants the story to be told.

The reading from last night (p. 478-515) had many, many things going on. Liesel & Rosa learned that Hans was coming home, Rudy, upset about his father's departure, attempts serious stealing but doesn't follow through, Frau Holtzapfel (almost) refuses to go into the bomb shelter during a raid, a plane crashes, (and we finally see the second time Death actually comes across Liesel) Hans comes home, Michael Holtzapfel commits suicide, and Liesel finds Max once again, but he is walking to Dachau this time. Also, and this chapter is the one that I think most comes as a shock, we get a sneak peek at exactly how Himmel Street is transformed into "a mountain range of rubble."

In regard to the chapter The End of the World (Part I)... The most distinct question that comes to mind is simply: why? Although we are well aware that Zusak does have the habit of disclosing snippets of what is to come, (e.g. Rudy's death, Hans's avoiding Death during both World Wars, etc.) he has never gone into such detail before. Typically it is just a statement made in bold type before returning to the timeline of the story. This chapter, however, was entirely dedicated to our seeing how "the world ended for Liesel Meminger." (p. 497) So why did Zusak add it on to the story? It could've easily been taken out and the story would have flowed just as well. Death offers an excuse: "I offer you a glimpse at the end. Perhaps it's to soften the blow for later, or to better prepare myself for the telling." (p. 497) If it were just Death telling the story, these reasons would both be plausible.

However, Zusak probably had different motives. It could be, as we have said in class before, that it is to add a variety of suspense to the story. You know what will happen, but you don't know how, and therefore you are intrigued. This trick is similar to our knowing the ending of Romeo and Juliet, or when you're watching a horror movie and you know something the main character doesn't know about how he/she will die.

Another possible theory is that Zusak has given the reader an opportunity to let the ending sink in. As the actual chapter The End of the World (Part II) doesn't take place until near the last few pages of the book, it would be easy for the reader to walk away from the book remembering solely the heaviness of that very final scene. But when the readers are given time to digest what is to come, they will not only be able to see past the violence of the bombing, but will also hang on more closely to the chapters before the bombing, as these pages are the rest of Liesel's story, and are just as important.

Zusak could have styled the other chapters much differently, as well. Did he have to show the deceased pilot who had just bombed Germany? Did Michael have to die through suicide? Did Liesel have to continue to chase after Max after she was whipped? Personally, I believe the way Zusak planned out these pages was done very dramatically, and that he did the right thing by making these plot choices. Yet the story could also have done without them. Not quite as moving a story, perhaps, but still the story of the book thief.