Blog 3 Hans Hubermann

I chose to do my blog on Hans Hubermann.  He is by far my favorite character in this story.  I just love how he is always so calm.  He just seems like the perfect father figure.  When I first read about him, I could tell that he was going to be a kind and gentle man.  I pictured him as someone you could look at and know that he is a good guy.  Hans treats Liesel like every father should treat their daughter.  He is always there for her when she needs him.  Hans also has to put up with his wife's constant harshness.  He also has "demons" that are hidden from the reader in the first part of the story.  Hans never joined the Nazi party, and his feelings toward the Jews are not the same as most of the people around him.  His views are especially different from his only son's.  He does not believe that what is going on around him is right.  He is even committing the ultimate crime by hiding a Jew in his home.  Hans is very unique because despite the pressure from his peers and even his only son, he still lives by what he believes to be right.  That is why he is my favorite character in the story.  His relationship with Liesel is what I would call perfect.  You can tell that they love each other very much.  He rarely yells at her or punishes her.  When he does punish her and raises his voice, it is for a very good reason.  The one part that sticks out to me is when Liesel says she hates Hitler.  He slaps her and yells at her.  He only does this because he wants to protect her.  He knows that if she says this to anyone else besides her own family, that she will experience harsh consequences.

Blog 2- Vladik and Artie

While reading this novel, I noticed that Vladik and his son Artie had a very difficult relationship.  When the story started, they hadn't seen each other in a long time.  I thought that Artie seemed annoyed by his father on a regular basis, and Vladik was a stubborn old man throughout the story.  I kept thinking to myself that I hope my father doesn't start acting this way when he is older.  Throughout the story Artie and Vladik's relationship seemed consistent.  Vladik would always say or do something that would make Artie angry, but Artie would just try to block it out it seemed.  It seemed to me like Artie viewed Vladik as a stubborn old fool who he had to put up with.  Artie would only come over to hear more of his father's story not simply because they wanted to see each other.  In one part of the story, Vladik called Artie to come help him fix something and he wouldn't.  This shows that they're relationship as father and son might not be all that great.  Vladik would usually make Artie angry, then Artie would walking mumbling something under his breath like "murderer" or "I can't believe it".  The story is being told visually as well as in words.  I feel that the images portray more grief, violence, and hopelessness.  In some of the pictures you can see more expressions such as crying and sadness.  When you look at both the words and images together you can really get more out of the story.  You can read to know what's going on, and you can also see its effects on the characters.  You can see the looks on their faces and truly see the pain and try to understand what they're going through.