A person lives 365 days in a year, which is 8,750 hours in a year, which is 525,600 minutes in a year, which is 31,536,000 seconds in a single year. How many of those 31,536,000 seconds does that same person spend cultivating a facade that makes them appear to be something that they are not? Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, depicts a number of characters, whom the reader might underestimate because of what the character wants the reader to believe about him or her. The novel’s main character is a girl who experiences the direct and indirect consequences of World War II by interacting with the people of her small town in Germany. Most of the characters in the book work diligently to maintain a harsh facade, yet as the story unfolds, the
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However, as times goes on, readers watch her relationship with Liesel become something significant. On the night when Hitler burns all the books, Liesel is soon to be known as the book thief. As she is stealing the book, she feels this “[being] watched feeling,” and there are “a few small pieces of recognition: the shadow’s identity and the fact that it had seen everything”(121). The woman who watches Liesel happens to be the mayor’s wife, and Liesel is terrified of what she might do. Since Liesel knows that Ilsa is the one who watched her, she avoids the mayor’s house at all costs. While trying to carry on with life, “the [growing] paranoia itself [becomes] the punishment, as did the the dread of delivering some washings to the mayor’s house”(129). With the continuing her avoidance of Grand Strasse, Liesel’s fear gets the best of her. There is a shift, though, in this somewhat awkward relationship. Ilsa takes Liesel in, after the bombing, and “[holds] her hand on top of the accordion case, which [sits] between them”(545). Ilsa and Liesel’s relationship starts out on a rocky precipice, but through shared heart and event, it becomes something important for the both of them. The two of them work through their misconceptions and cherish their
However, as times goes on, readers watch her relationship with Liesel become something significant. On the night when Hitler burns all the books, Liesel is soon to be known as the book thief. As she is stealing the book, she feels this “[being] watched feeling,” and there are “a few small pieces of recognition: the shadow’s identity and the fact that it had seen everything”(121). The woman who watches Liesel happens to be the mayor’s wife, and Liesel is terrified of what she might do. Since Liesel knows that Ilsa is the one who watched her, she avoids the mayor’s house at all costs. While trying to carry on with life, “the [growing] paranoia itself [becomes] the punishment, as did the the dread of delivering some washings to the mayor’s house”(129). With the continuing her avoidance of Grand Strasse, Liesel’s fear gets the best of her. There is a shift, though, in this somewhat awkward relationship. Ilsa takes Liesel in, after the bombing, and “[holds] her hand on top of the accordion case, which [sits] between them”(545). Ilsa and Liesel’s relationship starts out on a rocky precipice, but through shared heart and event, it becomes something important for the both of them. The two of them work through their misconceptions and cherish their