I think it is very interesting how Death ties Max Vandenburg into the play. He is not described as himself, but rather as a starving, scared Jew in a dark room. From the get go, the reader feels sympathy for Max and hopes that his situation brightens up. We also get a sense that Max is somehow already tied into the Hubermann family from almost the moment we meet him. This is because, on page 150, Death explains that Erik Vandenburg was involved with Hans and taught him how to play the accordion. From the last names, and Death telling me, I found out that they are father and son, and therefore Hans is open to helping Max. Also, since Erik Vandenburg is dead and sacrificed his life for Hans in the army, Hans feels like he owes the Vandenburg's (Erik and also Max since Erik was his father) his life. On page 138, Death also describes that Hans Hubermann is a name that Max Vandenburg vaguely knows. From this I understand that Hans is a last resort for Max and will later prove to be an important part of Max's future.
As Max pleads in his dark cell room on page 137, we realize that Max desperately needs this Hans Hubermann that he knows very little about to be his savior. One question that I have is why Death describes so much of Max's past. He comments on his childhood and how he fights and hides away in an abandoned warehouse. I don't know why the reader needs to know this, or what purpose it serves us other than the fact that we get to know more about what max used to be.
Friday, May 15, 2009
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To answer your question, I think Death/Markus Zusak wants readers to get accustomed with Max so he is almost like a well known friend. This creates more emotion overall for Max, for instance, if he is hurt, the readers would feel sorry; if he is mad, the readers would probably feel mad at the same thing. I think the reason Death tells us about Max is because he wants us to have a soft part in out heart for him and to almost wish him well on his journeys and with his hiding as a Jew.
ReplyDeleteMax is also a very important character in the novel, so Zusak needs to reveal more information about him than about other less-important characters. I also think that Max, being Jewish, is so different from other characters that Zusak wants to show the reader of how different the lives were for non-perfect Aryans than of others.
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