AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
![]() It’s kind of like those corny motivational quotes that the teachers post in their rooms: Those who stand for nothing fall for anything. Her response was always the same: if you don’t fill a child’s head with all the right stuff, someone will come along and fill it with all the wrong stuff. When I was a child I asked my Great Aunt Nell why she insisted on engaging me in long and tedious hypothetical debates about morality, human nature, ethics and theology. I’ve read others consider this claim to be stupid and ridiculous but I actually agree with him. The narrator of The Book Thief makes a claim that Hitler’s took over a country and started a war – not with guns or weapons but with words. I didn’t want to cause problems and I didn’t want to make waves. ![]() How could I think that I’m one of the “good guys” when I don’t stand up for people either? Shouldn’t I have challenged my neighbour and asked how he knew that the Islanders were to blame for all the crime? Shouldn’t I have asked him how many Islanders he knew? How he could make such assumptions about people? Shouldn’t I have challenged my facebook friend? Shouldn’t I have asked her why she’s spreading propaganda? Couldn’t I have probed her to think critically about this man’s claims, about facts and ethics? They quietly try to get by without causing waves and without risking much of themselves. They don’t speak up for the Jewish people, they don’t try to change popular opinion, they don’t stand for what’s right. The thing is though that for most of the novel, they’re not the good guys either. They harbour a Jewish man in their home and come to love him. They’re the tiny fraction of the German population who sympathizes with the Jews. After all, they may be Germans and they may have escaped persecution and death, but they’re still poor. Zusak, probably rightly, assumes that we’d never be able to really empathize and enjoy reading a book about characters truly bad. The thing is, though, that these aren’t really the bad guys. You get to know and live the lives of a small and poor town in Germany. He assumes that you feel for them, that you are horrified on their behalf and so he doesn’t spend much time eliciting an emotion that you are expected to have. Zusak assumes that you know about the struggle and the plight of the Jews. This story actually focuses on the bad guys. Their plight is background to the story and their struggles and pains are rarely shown except through the pitiful/beautiful character of Max. It doesn’t even ask you to sympathize with the Jews. The Book Thief is not your typical WWII story. In the end I ignored her and I haven’t spoken to her since. I debated about starting a fight that would, in all likelihood, spill over to our community. To my Facebook friend, I resisted the urge to make any comments. I was offended on behalf of my friends so I blew him off and I haven’t really spoken to him since. ![]() To my neighbour, I simply mumbled that I had to leave and got in my car. ![]() Is there some plan that I’m not aware of that they’re referring to? Does it involve chipmunks, honey and tequila?) What is it exactly that they’re referring to? Do they actually know? I’ve yet to hear them pronounce what this “something” is or what it looks like. (Fuck me, I’ve heard this phrase so many times. Her comments on the video were that: everything he’d said was right, it was time that people sat up and listened for the sake of their country and that it’s about time “somebody did something”. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that he is reminiscent of a neo-Hitler but let’s just say that the comparison would not be wholly unearned. I was tooling around on Facebook when I noticed one of my friends (one of those friends you’ve never met except in an internet community) hosting a link to a video of a speech from a man addressing the American people. My neighbour came to me and complained about the Islanders (for those not Australian: the Tongan, Fiji, Papa New Guinea and New Zealand populations of Australia) causing trouble and otherwise defiling our great and beautiful nation.Ģ. So, let's all gather around for story time with Mistress Kat.ġ. (Questions 4-8 were all about what kind of underwear you're wearing so don't worry about them). Can you cope with an off-beat, melancholy, caustic, dead-pan, self-righteous narrator? Quick test to see if you'll like this book:Ģ. Perhaps because I took a lot out of it personally, I found I enjoyed it a lot. I can see why people wouldn't like it - I really can. I've read a lot of positive and negative reviews for this book. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |