Saturday, March 7, 2009
Discussion Post 2
Unlike most books about the war and holocaust, The Book Thief takes place in the heart of Nazi Germany. In this tense setting, the Nazi party has already proved to be considerably supported by almost all the people. The day of Hitler’s birthday shows this undying support for Hitler, where crowds marched and burned anything they could. The setting of the story also distinguishes the intolerance for Jews. As described in the book, the ‘road of yellow stars’ was a road containing several houses with lacerated windows and bruised walls. These buildings were once the residence for Jews, but now the Nazi regime has desolated them. The book also describes the streets of Germany as a very dull environment: containing concrete, empty trees, and gray air. Although very anti-Semitic and undesirable, the setting shows the reality of Nazi Germany, where you are either with or against the Nazi party. Hans Hubermann, caught in the midst of everything, may possibly be in danger for not completely supporting Hitler. In this case, he is a respectable character caught in the wrong setting.
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I think it's interesting that you mentioned how Hans Hubermann is a respectable character caught in the wrong setting. This is very appropriate, since Hans Hubermann just seems like a man who wants to live a happy life and help the people around him. The setting in this book, a poor neighborhood in Nazi Germany, definately creates obsticles for Hans as he tries to achieve what he wants.
ReplyDeleteI like how you described Hans Hubermann as a "respectable character caught in the wrong setting" because that is a really cool and interesting way to look at it. I never considered him that way before. I also think that the narration of Death sets a more dreary and hopeless feeling in the book.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said, "These buildings were once the residence for Jews, but now the Nazi regime has desolated them", it made me think about how my life would be if I was Jewish and lived during that time period. Life would be unimaginablely hard. It would be awful if some group of people took everything from you, for no legitament reason at all.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Hans is a good character that is just caught in the wrong setting. If he were a character in a book that took place anywhere else, he would probably be one of the main characters that everyone would like.
ReplyDeleteThe Town really is in the "heart of Germany", and you can realy see that Hitlers regime has taken over. THis is extemely evident when it is Hitlers birthday and they decide to hold a burning. Even with the bright fire blazing, the whole even is dark, this really shows the setting as dangerous, and almost that the fire is blinding the people with what the truth is. All they see is this bright fire, but they dont look to really see what is burning, the government has bilnded them in a way.
ReplyDeleteI like how you specifically referred to some descriptions in the book like the 'road of yellow stars' and the 'empty trees and gray air'. I think these descriptions really show how terrible life in that era was and how there was really nothing people could do about it. I also like how you said Hans Hubermann is a 'respectable character caught in the wrong setting', i completely agree and think that he will eventually get in trouble for not following the nature of his own setting.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the heart of Germany is able to more vividly display the resentment towards Jews during this time. I think that with many of the other WWII books about Jews, are set in concentration camps and are not as good at showing this because it is only a few soldiers showing their hate towards Jews. Whereas this book is able to show how most of the citizens of towns are all going along with Hitler.
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