Up until Max Vandenburg was welcomed into the Hubermann's household, Liesel has settled into her little town of Molching. She has almost gotten over the death of her brother, she has befriended Rudy, and she even had a job for her mother. It may not be a glamorous life, but she was liking the routine. Later, she found out that the Mayor's wife has a whole room of books which fill her with delight. She has also liked her life of stealing apples and potatoes.
However, when Max comes into the story, all things start to go downhill for Liesel. It begins with the anxiety of hiding a Jew in her basement. She, as well as everyone in the household, feels worried about the Nazis finding out that they are hiding a Jew. Also, Hans and Rosa continue to argue while Liesel listens upstairs. Liesel feels rejected in her family. When everyone starts to fire Rosa dry cleaning, as well as the Mayor's wife who holds the only salvation in her life, a mountain of books, she feels rejected by every adult in the town. In this reading, she and Rudy are rejected from the Stealing group by its new leader. All these leaders are influenced by the Nazis. It feels like that the Nazis are tearing up Liesel's world. Eventually Rudy will die right in front of her.
This s just a method to raise tension in the book. The author makes the main character feel alone, so that the conflicts later will be stronger.
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ReplyDeleteI like the way you state this, and I agree - these events are the price that the Hubermanns pay for hiding a Jew. Remember the section about the seventh side of the die - "You hide a Jew. You pay. Somehow or other, you must." (page 258.3). Liesel and her family are against the Nazis, and, just or not, their way of life is on the casualty list. Of course, other methods are used to heighten tension, such as the limited facts we are given about events to come (Rudy dying). However, this slow, methodical destruction of Liesel's world is Zusak's main method of tension-mongering (if that's even a word.)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I removed my original comment to change the wording.
You both have a valid point about the increase in tension, however as we have seen the book progress the tension seems to have subsided. In our recent reading, Max became sick, but he got better, Liesel finally resolved her fight with the Mayor's wife, and Max almost got caught, only he didn't in the end.
ReplyDeleteIn all of these episodes, tension ramped up, but it came back down again. The Book Thief both annoys and interests me because I don't exactly see where Death (or Zusak) is going. I know Rudy will die, but how will he end up there? Every hint we are given about the future only opens up more questions, which is probably the point.
Actually, I would say that the main reason the tension is building (now) is that we know where we are going, and the reader has begun to suspect that the ride going there won't be smooth.
~Erika