BLog #3

Hans Hubermann seems very different then the typical German described in other books I have read about the Holocaust. He does not agree with the things Hitler is saying or doing, he agrees to hide a Jew without question. His biggest conflicts so far have been his son walking out of his life because Hans refused to join the party and Max, the Jew that lives in his basement. Hans junior thinks his dad is stupid for not joining the party when everyone else did and he got into a big fight with his dad and left and never came back. When Hans was younger and first got out of WW1, he had promised his best friends wife that if she ever needed anything, to contact him. 20 years later, the women's son shows up asking to be hidden and kept safe. Hans, being the good man he is, accepted him into his home and tried his best to make him comfortable and safe.

Hans thinks the Hitler regime is stupid and refuses to join his party. He believes there is nothing wrong with Jews because a Jewish man took part in saving his life during WW1. He does the bare minimum to keep the police off his back about not being super supportive of Hitler. He says, "Heil Hitler" whenever nessessary and flies the Nazi flag on the specified days. Hans perspective is unique because he doesn't fall for Hitler's tricks and lies, he sees things the way they really are and doesn't judge without having personal experience with the subject at hand. I really like this character because in that time, spanking a child was a regular punishment, even nuns did it. But, Hans never once hit Liesel and has loved her like his own child from the very beginning. He is like a breath of fresh air for Liesel and she lives in a closed plastic container.

Blog #2

I can definetly understand why Mala and Vladek's marriage is much worse then Anna and Vladek's marriage. Vladek's one true love was and still is Anna, so he always compares Mala to Anna which is why everything Mala does is wrong, because she is so much different then Anna. What I do not understand is why Vladek decided to marry Mala in the first place? I don't see how they could ever get along, all she cares about is money and all he cares about is her mistakes in running the house. It was almost frustrating to me to read the book whenever the two would get into a fight because that is how Artie would write those scenes. I think having the visual part there made it better to understand because you can see the expressions on the people's face when they are sad or mad. It is very hard to show expression with just words, but the words also ephasis the expression because its how to show why a person is mad or what they are saying without words. Vladek's marriage with Anna was very rough during the holacaust and it made them much closer, but Anna's suicide has made him think that women cannot be trusted no matter what. He doesn't realize that he is comparing Mala to Anna which is what is causing his anger. What Mala doesn't realize about his money problem is that she didn't witness first hand what it is like to lose everything you own, even when you are very rich because of an event like the holocaust. Vladek likes to save everything he has in case an event like that ever happens again, he can be sure that his family will remain safe and well fed with all the valuables and money he has saved up. Mala doesn't understand this because she was probably younger then Vladek when this happened and she had someone else take of her, so she only has terrible memories of the events throughout the Holocaust. Artie never experienced anything to do with the holocaust, so he probably thinks both his father and step-mother are crazy