Tuesday, April 27, 2010
"He had not seen the outside world for twenty-two months"
One event in The Book Thief that will stick with me is in Part Seven when the air raid begins and the Hubermans are forced to leave Max in the basement as they leave for the bomb shelter. This part of the book really shows what Max is really like. When the Hubermans arrive home Max immediately apologizing, while they were gone Max made his way upstairs and through the crack in the door he looked out at the night sky and looked at the stars. This part of the book really shows how genuine Max is, he feels guilty for doing something so simple. It also shows how important the simple things are to Max. Going upstairs was something Max was willing to take a great risk for.
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This part of the book was very interesting to me. I know if I were Max the first thing I would do when I knew everyone was gone would not be go upstairs where it would be more dangerous with the bombs! That just made no sense to me. And also, the fact that Max has to stay in the house, in the basement that is not safe enough for bombs, is as Hans said, "It's a shame we can't take you with us. It's a disgrace" (372). But the most surprising and interesting part of this passage/story was that Max was the one apologizing. I figured that Liesel, Hans, and Rosa would be the ones who were apologizing for not being able to take Max with them. I mean they had to leave him to face that terrifying night all alone, in a place that wasn't safe! But then we get the new perspective in the last paragraph on page 378. The people in the basement had been scared, but this quote explains, "This place was the real basement. This was the real fear." It shows why Max was apologizing, he is so terrified of being found out. He is constantly in the 'basement' both literally and figuratively. So him being left was maybe the best thing for him. He got to get out of his basement for a few seconds and that meant the world to him. Max then felt guilty for endangering Liesel's family more, but I don' think he regretted seeing the burning stars at all.
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