Monday, May 18, 2009
Max and The Fuhrer how do you do the 2 dots over the U?
As I thought about the in class writing we did, it got me thinking about Max's "fights" v. Hitler. I know that many of you probably mentioned in your paragraphs Max's need for something to occupy his time, so that time didn't "have control over him"; and it makes sense that he would work out, but I find it odd that he has mock fights v. Hitler. I think its interesting for Zusak to be this creative with Max's imagination. I would think that in Max's current state, he would be rather sad and gloomy. Instead, Max pumps his energy from working out into taking his anger out on Hitler. The thing that strikes me as most odd is that in Max's fights, he ends up "losing". I think Zusak created a nice parallel in Max's mind, that even if he wins the fight, Hitler is declared the winner, which parallels real life situations for Jews in Nazi Germany. Anyways, back to the odd part; I thought it was wierd that even in Max's daydreams (which are usually happy thoughts), that he had such a bad outcome for himself. A normal (er) daydream would be Max winning the fight, but Zusak takes it many steps further and has the whole crowd fight Max, but instead of a normal/happy dream, Zusak creates a serious daydream for Max, which shows the reader that not even fun daydreams can be fun for a Jew in Germany.
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I agree with what you say, but to add on about him losing the fights. I think Max feels that Hitler is winning but Max, who can represent all Jews, is trying to fight back and he is trying to overcome Hitler and Nazi Germany.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have to add about the mock fights. When I was reading a few sentences really struck me. "Oh, the eyes, the Führer's eyes. They were so deliciously brown—like Jews' eyes—..." I think that this little note is very important because the Nazi's idea of an Aryan was blue eyes and blond hair. It is important that Hitler does not have blue eyes.
I think that in the part where Hitler and the crowd were fighting Max, Zusak wanted to make a connection between the story and reality back then in Nazi Germany. I also think that Max really misses his chiildhood, and fighting was a big part of his childhood. By pretending to fight Hitler every day, Max brings back memories from his earlier times when he was a fist fighter.
ReplyDeleteSarah- I think that here Zusak is trying to point out how much of a hypocryte Hitler was because in fact he was not perfect Aryan, and one of his grandparents was Jewish.
That's what I was saying... you just said it better.
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ReplyDeleteI think that Max fantasizes about fighting Hitler because he grew up as a fighter and when he thinks about fighting Hitler he is sort of reminiscing about the happier times.
ReplyDeleteAnd i think the reason Max makes himself lose in his day dreams is because he knows that even in his wildest dreams, he can't fight back the overwhelming Nazis.