THE END!

My favorite character in The Book Thief is Rudy. What happened to Rudy at the end of the book, was that he died during the bombing. Rudy was sleeping probably dreaming that he was Jesse Owen or something this is what death thoughts about Rudy’s death, “I watched the contents of his soul for a moment and saw a black-painted boy calling the name Jesse Owens as he ran through an imaginary tape”(Zusak 531).  I felt very upset, when Rudy died. The reason I liked Rudy so much, because he was loyal, dependable, down to earth and honest. For example from that time he rescued Liesel’s book from the river, “Soon, he peeled off his coat and jumped in, wading to the middle of the river”(Zusak 302).

If I was writing this book, I would change the ending to Rudy life line. There would be still be bombing at Himmel Street. Rudy would have been hurt badly by the bomb, but lucky he would be alive. Liesel would not know that he was alive until 5 years later. Rudy and Liesel would have got marry. Instead of Alex and Liesel working in the shop when Max came, it would be Rudy and Liesel. 

Works Cited:
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief.  NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.

Dominoes

In the section of Dominoes and Darkness there were two monsters in the Steiner family’s kitchen. The two monsters were the Nazis that wanted to take Rudy with them, because of great athletic ability. One of the Nazis were describing why Rudy should go to their school to Herr Steiner, “…this is all for a greater purpose. Think of the opportunities your son can have. This is really a privilege” (Zusak 409). Rudy’s father wasn’t too thrilled of the idea of his boys leaving with the Nazis. While the adults were arguing in the kitchen the Steiner kids was playing dominoes in the living in the dark. Rudy was listening part of the conversation when he was getting a candle to light the darkness room. When the dominoes were tapped down Kurt made a comment that kind of fitted what was going on, “They look like dead bodies” (Zusak 410).

            When I was younger my father told me not to trust my friends, especially my best friend. I was very furious, when he said that to me. In respond to that I argued back, got in trouble for talking back to him.

Works Cited:
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief.  NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.

Leaving Max behind...

Zusak described in the section The Sound of Sirens, that there are going to be bombs in Liesel’s area. When it was time to go to Fiedler’s shelter Liesel and her family had to leave Max behind in the basement hoping everything would be okay. While Liesel in Fiedler’s shelter asked her father a quick question, “Are you thinking about him, too?” (Zusak 376). Bringing Max to Fiedler’s shelter was not an option, because there were people in the shelter “Twenty-two people crammed themselves into Fiedler’s shelter…” (Zusak 373). Luckily when it was time to go back home Max was there. Max broke down and told the Hubermanns that he had went upstairs and looked outside. No was anger at him for that.

            When I was growing up I always felt unfair with my little siblings, because my parents always told me that they are younger so give it to them. In our family we believed the oldest sibling always have to give whatever the little siblings wants. So slowly I gave up fighting with my siblings for anything. Now I am older I understand why my parents did that because it showed me not to be selfish. Now I have my own child if I do have another child I would something like that, but I think I would do things a little different. I do not want my first child to feel unimportant, because that was how I felt when I was younger.

Works Cited:
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief.  NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.

Death's diary

In this section of the book, Zusak gives us an excerpt from Death's Diary.  In his diary, Death stated, “the sky was the color of Jews” (Zusak 349). Death was seeing so many dead bodies at this time that he felt like they were taking up the entire sky. When Death described the Jews dying in the camps he compared it to having a new meal each minute.  “They just kept feeding me. Minute after minute. Shower after shower" (Zusak 349). The Nazis kept feeding Death the bodies of the people they killed at the concentration camps day after day. 

The way Death described the deaths that took place in the gas chambers gave me the creeps.  Death writes about how the people in the gas chambers were so desperate to get out alive, that their fingernails were "nailed into" the wood of the chambers as they spent their last moments trying to scratch their way out (Zusak 349). Death felt like he was saving the people in the camps, because he was putting them out of their misery. If I was in those camps, I think I would try to kill myself so I wouldn't have to deal with the pain. Death felt that ending the humans lives was preferable to keeping them alive in the camps, because Death saw another, more peaceful life after their deaths. He said, “Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born” (Zusak 350).  I agree with Death's feeling that there is a new beginning when we die, because I believe in reincarnation. 

Works Cited:
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief.  NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.

Loyalty

In this section of the book, Liesel is carrying around a book called The Whistler.  This book is significant because the mayor's wife tried to give it to Liesel as a gift, but she was too ashamed to take it because she knew she had been stealing from the mayor's library.  Liesel loves books very much, so it was hard for her to turn down that gift.  She wanted the book so badly, that later on, she and Rudy returned to the mayor’s house to steal the book. 

The next week, Rudy and Liesel were walking through town and Liesel was carrying her book as usual.  A group of older kids saw them walking and started bullying Rudy and Liesel. One of them, Viktor Chemmel, had beaten Rudy up before, but Rudy was not afraid of him. Viktor Chemmel snatched the book from Liesel. Rudy showed his loyalty to Liesel by challenging Viktor who said, “What are we reading?"  Rudy replied, "This is between us" and tried to reason with Viktor (Zusak 301).  Unfortunately, Viktor didn't listen to Rudy and instead he spun the book down into the stream. Rudy "peeled off his coat and jumped in, wading to the middle of the river” (Zusak 302). Rudy rescued the book and returned it immediately to Liesel and asked for a kiss from her as usual.  This section of the book shows us that Rudy is a very loyal friend, whose friendship with Liesel is becoming stronger as they get older.

I have always felt being loyal to a friend or a family is very important. When I was younger, I heard one of my friends was in trouble. I had no way to get there, so I decided to walk. I did not care how long it would take me. All that came to my mind was that she was in trouble and that she needed me. I once told her I would always be there for her no matter what it takes. It was a promise that I kept.

Work Cited:
Zusak, Markus.  The Book Thief.  NY:  Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.  Print.

What frightened Liesel?

"Originally, Max had intended to write his own story."(Zusak 277) Max wanted to write about everything that was going on with his life, but then it turned out to be different. Max drew a sketch of Hilter standing above everyone. "She could barely make out the sound of his breath, coasting in and out of, as she opened the book and glimpsed a few random pages…"(Zusak 278) Max wanted to give it to Liesel when she is old enough. What frightened Liesel the most was a picture of a guy and a little girl on top of mountains of dead bodies. I think it frightened Liesel, because she was very young at the time and there were dead bodies in the picture.

            My life was not crazy or dramatic when I was younger. It was pretty simple. I had to go school, get good grades, and take care of my little siblings. Even though I did learn one big thing about my family is that we have a gambling problem. My parents got really into it, where they went overboard. I am not saying we were rich, but we were in a good stage. They sold everything until there was nothing else to sell. We went to 3 cars and a house into one van and in apartments.  My siblings and I made a promise to ourselves that we would never be so addicted like our parents.

Nightmares/Friendship

Max and Liesel both have nightmares about their past and suffer from their own survivor’s guilt. Zusak describes how Max’s nightmare is like, “A checklist. Isaac. Aunt Ruth. Sarah. Mama. Walter. Hitler. Family, friend, enemy. They were all under the covers with him, and at one point, he appeared to be struggling with himself” (205-206). For Max and Liesel having nightmares like that has made them closer. The first moment Liesel watched Max sleeping was the start of their friendship. Death was quoting their conversation about them swapping nightmares:

            The girl:”Tell me. What do you see when you dream like that?”

            The Jew:”…I see myself turning around, and waving goodbye.”

            The girl:” I also have nightmares.”

            The Jew:”What do you see?”

            The girl: “A train, and my dead brother.”

            The Jew: “Your brother?”

            The girl: “He died when I moved here, on the way?”

            The girl and the Jew, together: “JA-yes.”
            (Zusak 220).

 At the end when Max and Liesel both said, "yes" it made them know what exactly what they were going through. In spite of their age difference Max and Liesel could still relate to each other. I think everyone has nightmares, but it just depends where they are from. I can relate to having nightmares, but I cannot relate to the kind of nightmares that Max and Liesel have.

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.

Luckiness

Erik Vandenburg is Max’s father. He was a great friend to Hans Hubermann during WWI. When Max asked if Hans Hubermann still played the accordion it was because the accordion originally belonged to his father. When I read about Hans Hubermann's life during WWI, it made me think differently of him. Hans Hubermann wasn’t quiet, and mellow like Liesel described him when she first met him. Back when Hans Hubermann was younger  he was active, cheerful and funny. Hans Hubermann escaped Death for the first time when he was fighting in France. Death stated, “I’ve seen so many young men over the years who think they’re running at other young men. They are not. They’re running at me” (Zusak 175). In WWI, Erik Vandenburg volunteered Hans Hubermann to write letters for the sergeant.“He obviously thought that today wasn’t the appropriate time for his friend to die” (Zusak 177). Because of that, Hans escaped from Death the second time.

 I do consider myself lucky because I know I am a very clumsy person. There are many of times I have accidentally hurt myself or others. I remember that I jumped on a dresser with a big mirror. When I jumped off of it, it fell on me. There was another event I was playing on the monkey bars and somehow when I went through them, I slipped and hit my head. I feel lucky I’m alive because of some of my events.

Work Cited

·                   Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.

Challenges

When Sister Maria asked the children to read, she skipped  Liesel and said it was done.  Liesel reacted to this action by trying to prove Sister Maria wrong, that she could read. When it was Liesel's turn to read, she could not comprehend what was on the pages. Death states, “You can steal a book, but you can’t read one”(77). It is sad how a teacher can look down on an elementary school student like that. If I was her age, I do not think I would be brave enough to stand up to a teacher like Liesel did. Later kids in her class were making fun of her. Liesel tried to hold her temper down, but a person can only hold on so long before they blow up. Zusak writes “By the twentieth, she snapped. It was Schmeikl, back for more" (78). She gave Ludwig Schmeikl a good beating. She cursed a lot while she was doing that.

I remember when I was in 10^th grade getting my grades checked in the counselor's office. The majority of the kids were failing and that was part of the reason they were there. A teacher came in the office and was making fun of the failing students and calling them, “a bunch of failures.” I approached  that teacher and asked him, "who are you to say all that nonsense?" By getting “mouthy” with him I got myself into trouble.

Work Cited:
Zusak, Markus.  The Book Thief.  NY:  Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.  Print.

Abandonment

Liesel hold The Grave Digger’s Handbook, as her memories of her mother and brother. That was the feeling of anxiety of being abandon.When Liesel’s brother died, she probably felt like scared, frustrated, and sad. (39) He died, by the poor condition that they were in. I think his abandonment was under the circumstances you can’t control when you died. I can’t imagine how painful that would be, when a younger sibling die in your own arms. When her mother left her to the Hubermann I think it was from the circumstances. She knew that she was very ill and has no money to take care of the kids and her. To give away her child like that was mostly like a needle pending into her heart. As a parent we always try to give what is the best for our children.

I am the oldest of four.When I was younger my parents was always working. I was responsible for everything that happens in the house and I feel like I had to be a parent.There were some days I feel like I was abandon to my siblings. I feel like I had no freedom and always taking care of the kids. We needed money to pay all the bills, so they needed someone close to take care of kids. By my parent doing that we all learned to take care of ourselves while we were young. As I grow older I slowly understand why it was me to hold the house down.

Work Cited:
Zusak, Markus.  The Book Thief.  NY:  Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.  Print.

Survivors

Eva Galler impact me the most. She escaped, by jumping off the train that was going to death camp. She is the oldest out of eight kids. She was 17 years old at that time.  Knowing that she is the oldest sibling, I felt her pain of losing her little siblings. I am also the oldest of my siblings.  I love my siblings very much like they were my kids. I grew up with the responsibility taking care of my little siblings while my parents went to work. Eva Galler jumped off the train with two of her siblings, but both got shot while they were running. After that Eva Galler went to Gentile families to families that helped her out. Later that time she got caught, but not as a Jews as a Gentile. She got a new identify and a new life. Lucky she is a girl, the Jews boys were circumcised.  They moved her to Sudetenland to work into slave farm and she got adopted. Later on she contacted her brother and sister from her dad’s first marriage. She wanted to go back to Poland, but she couldn’t. Her brother tried to help her to go to the United States, but it didn’t work so she went to Sweden. She was looking on the Red Cross List to check out who’s on the survivors list, from her city about 3,000 Jewish and only 12 survived. So I learned do whatever it takes to survived and you might be the only blood line left for your family from Eva Galler’ s survivor story. Eva Galler was born at January 1, 1924 in Oleszyce, Poland.

work cited

•      http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/data.show.php?di=record&da=survivors&ke=6

1st Assignment-Hitler Youth

So, I thought I know so much about the Holocaust. Little did I known that youth had a great deal of Hitler's outcome. In 1922, they had a organization called National Socialist German Workers' Party, but then in 1926 got renamed to Hitler Jugend aka Hitler Youth only for boys. Oh don't worry the girls also got there own organization called League of German Girls, but it didn't really get established till the 1930. While I was reading these information about the youth organizations, I was wondering why on earth these kids thought Hitler was doing the right thing. How come they didn't see the big picture that Hitler was killer dictator? Through out the years till World War 2 the organizations grew rapidly to million. Young men was require by law to join the Hitler Youth in 1939. They wanted the young men to get train like the military. The boys would start out to be 10 years old to 13 years old, then they would join to the bigger organization that would be like the military. The older Hitler Youth would capture the young boys interest by out door activities. Hitler, himself even saying that the young were important to him. Well, World War 2 has arrive 1944 the older organization of Hitler Youth were soldier fought with the Americans. 1945 the Nazi Solider has surrender. The adult were so blinded by Hitler which the made the kids thinking that they were doing something good and right. I feel like some people later on did understand that Hitler was doing wrong, but was too scared to stand up to him. I felt like they should of done a under ground organization to kill Hitler and  his power.

Sources

• Koch, H. W. 1975. The Hitler Youth: Origins and Development, 1922−45. New York: Stein and Day.

John T. Lauridsen

• http://sitemaker.umich.edu/youthunderfascism/home