Books- she is able to forget about personal issues for a while when she is reading or going over the words she doesn't understand. With the Hermann's library to go to, and Papa to read her books, Liesel is able to think about things beside her mother and brother. In order to obtain a few of these books, she steals them.
Thievery- When stealing apples, potatoes, eggs and ham, books or anything, Liesel has a way to escape. When she joins Arthur Berg and starts to steal more and more with Rudy, she is more and more distracted from her personal life.
Rudy- When Liesel is stealing with Rudy or just talking, the two are always calling each other Saumensch or Saukerl and joking around, which allows Liesel to focus on other things.
Papa- Though Hans is involved in her personal life, he is always there to comfort Liesel and take her mind off anything she is having trouble with.
Im wondering though, if you think that Rudy's aforementioned death will cause her to go back to her old ways of nightmares or do you Liesel will have enough leftover outlets to remain happy (or at least not depressed)?
I think there is a possibility that Liesel will have nightmares again once Rudy dies because he is such an important part of her life. From the point in the book that we have read (I don't know what may happen later), Liesel loves Rudy like a brother. When Rudy dies, I guess it's sort of like another brother dying.
ReplyDeleteWoops, I forgot to say this earlier, but I think that it's kind of hard to distract yourself from the death of a loved one and that thievery and books may not help her escape from her sadness.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree. I believe that Liesel won't have nightmares again when Death takes Rudy's life as she still has Max (I am not very far ahead in reading, so if Max dies before Rudy or runs away, I don't know) and she does still have her books and family. I do believe that Liesel will miss Rudy, but I don't think she will begin having nightmares again. I believe Liesel has enough other things in her life to keep her occupied now that it actually would distract her, and from what I can tell, Hans and Max are there to try to comfort her help her (Hans more than Max), and she has more books to read.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Michelle. I think that once Rudy dies, Liesel would have not only the recurring nightmares of her mother and brother's deaths, but nightmares of Rudy's death too.
ReplyDeleteLiesel is still having nightmares about her mother and brother at this point in the novel right? I was wondering because Simon used the phrase, "cause her to go back to her old ways of nightmares" and Michelle said, "have nightmares again," seemingly as if Liesel had stopped having nightmares.
Everyone keeps saying in all the posts and comments that Death kills people, but that is not true; he just collects their souls. We may think that Death kills because we see death in our world as something that does kill people.
I think Liesel's nightmares don't come from her brother's death, but her seeing him die. Her nightmares play the scene on the train of her brother dying. I think if Liesel sees Rudy die, that horrible shock will give her nightmares, but if she doesn't witness his death, although she will be very sad, I don't think she will be haunted by nightmares. What would her nightmare be about?
ReplyDelete