I think I actually learned something!

The Last Pages of The Book Thief...

Choose what you consider two of the most important passages in the entire novel.  The passages should be at least three-four sentences in length, ideally a full paragraph.  Set the full passages down along with your response.  Why these passages?  In your response try to articulate your reading experience for The Book Thief. 

These are probably not the most important passages in the entire novel, but I found them quite meaningful and just wanted to read them over again so that I can remember them for a little while longer.

“You could argue that Liesel Meminger had it easy. She did have it easy compared to Max Vandenburg. Certainly, her brother practically died in her arms. Her mother abandoned her. But anything was better than being a Jew.”

This quote is of the first few sentences of the chapter called “Tricksters” and I thought it was important not only because it shows just how terrible the war was for the Jews (I think that last sentence pretty much speaks for itself), but it also explains what kept me going throughout the book. I always looked forward to the next chapter because each new chapter always had something that would instantly grab my attention and made me want to figure out why. 

“When they come and ask you for your children,” Barbara Steiner explained, to no one in particular, “you’re supposed to say yes”.

I know this quote is small, but I think it has a lot of meaning to it and can explain a lot of things about the Holocaust. This quote shows just how much “fear” had played an important part in the war, that a woman would actually feel obligated to give away her 13 year old child for the “Fuhrer” (Adolf Hitler). In the US history textbooks and research papers I never fully understood why so many Germans had sided with Hitler and his cause, but with this little quote you get to really experience just how “brainwashed” they were from the fear of what may happen to them if they step out of line. I think that teaching us about these little things was one of the main purposes of this book.