After finishing The Grave Digger's Handbook, Liesel mentions someone named Werner. Is Werner her brother? The Grave Digger's Handbook represents the last time Liesel saw her brother so although learning to read distracted her from her nightmare, she also had something precious that she could learn from. Also after Liesel says, "His name was Werner," (87) Hans seems to understand who she is talking about and responds by saying "yes," (87).
It seems that Liesel was very close to her brother before he died because she cannot stop thinking about him and his death. There is also the fact that she was right next to her brother when he died, which is really tough on a child. Her reoccurring dream has to do with her brother dying in the train so I think dealing with her brother's death is really hard for Liesel.
To answer your question... yes Werner was her brother. I agree with you that Liesel was very close to her brother. To add on... she was supposed to be a foster child of the Hubermanns with her brother. This scene is still near the beginning of her life with them. Finishing The Grave Digger's Handbook almost represents the end of her life with her brother.
ReplyDeleteYes; as long as the book remains unfinished, her link with her brother is unbroken. Sad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Katia but I also have a question. Is the boy she sees on the rooftop looking up into the sky a real person, or is she having a hallucination of her brother?
ReplyDeleteI want to point out Liesel was also very close to her mother. Death tells us that the book also represents "the last time [Liesel] saw her mother" (38). More evidence that she was close to her family is on page 38-39, when Death tells us "she would whisper the word Mama and see her mother's face a hundred times in a single afternoon." Although her family was poor, they were very close.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Morkovine's question, I think the boy on the rooftop was a hallucination of her brother, because when they finished the book, it was very early in the morning. Death's description of the scene is very tranquil and there is no mention of anyone who is awake, except the small boy. I don't think the small boy would have reminded her of Werner because she saw a lot of kids (and was in class with a lot of small children) and none of them reminded her of Werner until this little boy on the roof, so I think it was a hallucination. I think there is room to argue either side of that question, and you can choose if you agree or disagree with me.
Ruthie, I do agree that Liesel was close with her family, but I think the reason behind her whispering was not that extreme closeness with her mother, but rather the feeling that something isn't there. (does that make sense?) I think Liesel just missed her old life, and her mother. I didn't see any evidence that Liesel was close to her mother in any other scene except for the one you mentioned. Did anyone else notice anything on the train? There was nothing significant there between Liesel and her mother.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there is no correlation, I think, between a family's financial status and their love for each other. Therefore, I think your comment about Liesel's family's poverty, while it might be true (is it?), is somewhat irrelevant in the situation.