Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Reaction to Liesel's letter
In a book with many sad moments, one of the most poignant occurs around Liesel’s birthday in 1940. Liesel has written many letters to her mother, sent one (because her stepfamily can only afford a single stamp) and received no reply. When her stepparents have no money to buy her a birthday present, she decides to give “a present from herself. She would gather all of the accrued letters to her mother, stuff them into one envelope, and use just a tiny portion of the washing and ironing money to mail it.” (p.98) She carries out her plan and, in no great surprise, is caught and beaten by her stepmother. However, it is infinitely more painful for Leisel to understand “that her mother would never write back and she would never see her again.” (p.99) Her stepmother, unsophisticated, often vulgar and completely unapologetic for actually beating her has true insight into depth of Liesel’s realization and tells her that she is sorry. That Leisel’s stepmother, who is outwardly so hostile does have genuine empathy for Leisel’s situation, highlights how profoundly sad it is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I believe that Rosa beats Liesel at first out of anger. Rosa is already burdened with the other financial problems of the family and knows how the money Liesel spent on the stamps could have help the family. Also, I think Rosa beats Liesel to warn her not to send letters to her mother again. Although it may seem that Rosa is hostile at first, she deeply cares for Liesel and tries to do the best for the whole family.
ReplyDeleteWhile it easy to come to the assumption that Rosa simply beats Leisel out of frustration, anger, and unstable times, I sense a different reason for the disciplinary action. Rosa, as an adult, is fully conscious of the happenings around her involving the persecution of non-Aryans. Through love, Rosa beats her stepdaughter as she is afraid that Leisel will go out of line and become susceptible to the horrors imposed upon the opponents of the Nazis. Rosa is trying to keep Leisel as obedient and submissive as possible for her own good; clearly Rosa senses that streak of curiosity in Leisel that could possibly lead to trouble in such a turbulent environment swirling around the lives of everyone involved in the Nazi movement.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about Rosa's beating of Leisel, I actually thought this action came from not anger but jealously. Although Rosa loves Leisel, she still feels jealous of Leisel's real mother. Leisel and her birth mother will always have a special connection that can never be created with Rosa and Leisel. Rosa may appear to be strong, but Leisel has almost betrayed her by: 1) stealing money from the family and 2) not accepting Rosa's love by forgetting her real mother.
ReplyDeleteI question what evidence you have, Hannah, to back up your "jealousy" hypothesis. I am unable to source an textual evidence to support your statement. The character of Rosa that Death has painted is not the one to be jealous of a woman she does not know; I do not find any sort of personality trait in Rosa that would be cause for such envy. Rosa does not know much at all about Leisel's mom, so I am dumbfounded to understand how she could be jealous of the bond that this unknown woman and Leisel share. The betrayal you speak of in your second point does not seem plausible, as Rosa has never been denied by Leisel in terms of love. Rosa has never been affectionate in any shape or form and have Leisel turn her down. I think such an event would need to happen for us to realize that Rosa is jealous.
ReplyDelete