Liesel's Emotions come out

In the chapter entitled The Gambler,z two events stand out to me. The events are connected because they both illustrated Liesel's emotions toward her dead brother and disconnected mother.

Ilsa Hermann writes Rosa Meminger a letter explaining why she must fire her, but foolishly gives the letter to Liesel to give to her mother. After leaving the Herman's home, Liesel immediately opens the letter and becomes furious at Ilsa. She returns to the Herman's house and upon Ilsa opening the door we see the first signs of strong anger from Liesel. Before this point, the audience has not fully realized what has been going through Liesel's mind. There have been hints that she is still mourning over her brother and mother but Liesel has never strongly expressed it herself. She uses extremely hurtful language towards Ilsa, saying things like: "your son is dead...He got strangled and cut up twenty years ago...He's dead and it's pathetic that you sit hear shivering in your own house to suffer for it.". Liesel's remarks after her incessant words about Ilsa's dead son are, "you think you're the only one." Immediately after these words, Liesel's brother appears beside her.

Liesel's anger towards Ilsa has come from the thought of her dead brother and the disconnection from her mother. All of her emotions have been stuck in her head the past few years and she appears to be letting all these emotions lose. Ilsa's actions are the cause of all of the se emotions letting lose from Liesel's head because of Ilsa's selfishness. Ilsa's laundry is one of the only elements keeping Liesel and the Hermanns alive. Without this work and pay, it will be hard to get by for the Hermanns and Liesel.

Later that evening when Liesel returns home with the bad news, she lies, telling Rosa that everything was her fault, that she was the cause of Rosa getting fired. I believe she does this because she wants a physical punishment from Rosa. Liesel thinks that this physical pain will overcome the mental pain that is burdening her. The thoughts that she will never see her brother again and probably will never get a chance to see her mother again is the most tremendous pain by itself. She is trying anything to overcome these thoughts, even if it means bringing more pain upon herself.

In both situations, the reader is getting a strong sense of how hard things still are on Liesel. They both illustrate that the disconnection with her family is taking over her mind and causing her to do things she wouldn't normally do.