Monday, May 11, 2009
On the top page 47, Death calls Rudy "infamous". I don't understand why Rudy is infamous. He seemed very generous. When Liesel first enters the neighborhood he welcomes her by showing Liesel around and being her friend. I thought he may be infamous because of the "Jesse Owens incident", but how would the whole town know about the incident if it happened at night. When I read about the incident, I thought the only person who knew what happened was his father because the track was empty, so I didn't think he was "infamous" for looking up to a non-Aryan.
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The whole town does not know of this incedent, Ruthie. As we discussed in class Death is omnicient and therefore knows. Because of Rudy's idolization towards Jesse Owens his actions (covering himself in charcoal and running wild) show the infamy in himself.
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ReplyDelete...why don't you elaborate on "the infamy in himself" I'm not sure what you mean by that.
ReplyDeleteDeath used infamous to describe Rudy, and in the dictionary infamous means "well known for some bad quality or deed". I don't think covering himself in charcoal was a bad quality/deed. If nobody knows about it, how can it be infamous? I don't understand why Death uses the word.
ReplyDeleteAlright. Well then I believe that his actions probably didn't go unheard of. Even though Liesel is shy she may still have talked about it. Also Rudy is the kind of person to delay information about himself too, so he could've spread the word of his feat around the school and or town.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm wrong, but his obsession with Jesse Owens was widely known right? Perhaps he publicized it himself.
ReplyDeleteRuthie, in this case, Rudy covering himself in charcoal would be considered a "bad deed" because anyone of non-Aryan descent was considered inferior. Rudy looking up to an African American person goes against the Nazi Party's beliefs.
ReplyDeleteIf Rudy's obsession with Jesse Owens was not wide-known before the event; it was certainly known during and afterward:
ReplyDeleteAt p. 58, it says: "It was only in his victory lap that things turned sour. Among the crowd, his father was standing at the finish line like a bogeyman..."
Sorry those who thought otherwise, but there was a crowd gathered around when the event happened, which immediately publicized his obsession with Jesse Owens.
As for Rudy's being infamous, here's another quote:
On p. 48, Death has a bold face type paragraph that says "...On Himmel Street, he was considered a little crazy. This was on account of an event that was rarely spoken about but widely regarded as the" Jesse Owens Incident"..."
After painting himself black with charcoal and running around, even I would come to the assumption that Rudy was out of his mind. . He became infamous for the Jesse Owens Incident, because Rudy did something that wasn't exactly considered normal. Though it wasn't a BAD deed, per say, craziness would definitely gain infamacy, and it wasn't the smartest of things to do in Nazi Germany.
Rudy's father then became extremely mad, not only because Rudy did an extremely unusual event, but because he was afraid that his son would be taken away by the Nazis due to them considering Rudy crazy. That is why he said that Rudy should be glad that he has"beautiful blond hair and big, safe blue eyes"; those are some of the requirements for being a perfect Aryan.
To add to my previous comment and agree with Chloee, Rudy's father was saying "You shouldn't look up to anyone else; you're a perfect Aryan and therefore will not be persecuted by the Nazi Party."
ReplyDeleteIn other words, Rudy's father fearing insanity as an excuse for the Nazi party to take him away was a probably secondary fear, if one at all.