“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and understanding the human race – that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.” Quote from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak that I read recently in my sophomore English class. This book takes place in Nazi, Germany and it is during the time period Hitler was president. At this time there were an abundance of deaths, so changing the perspective of this story, the story was narrated by Death. Death tells good and bad actions of Humans and often wonders and sometimes doesn’t understand why humans act like they do or are how they are. Through all these tragedies in the story, Death was impressed by some of humans’ actions; some good some bad. Just like Death saw, I too have witnessed that beauty can exist in the wake of brutality in many different ways.
The Book Thief is a great example for good being in bad because of the characters’ willingness to help out the ones in need. On page 185 in The Book Thief it says, “Max Vandenburg, the Jew, closed his eyes and drooped little further into safety. The very idea of it was ludicrous, but he accepted it nonetheless.” In this part of the story Hans made the decision to take in Max Vandenburg because that is how Hans is returning the favor to Erik Vandenburg, Max’s father, for saving his life back when they were serving in the war. Hans took in Max, knowing he was a Jew and that if anybody found out he was hiding a Jew in his house he would probably be sent to a concentration camp or something, but Hans saw nothing against the Jew. He liked to help them, like it says in the book Jews were his most loyal customers. Hans was a good man who only acted on what he though was right and he was most confident that nobody would find out about the Jew is his basement. Taking Max in wasn’t such a bad idea. The Hubermann’s weren’t just hiding a Jew in their basement. They added a new, good, loyal friend to their lives and the one who experienced that the most was Liesel. Liesel and Max had a great friendship. It almost seemed like they depended on each other to live. When Max got sick from how cold it was in the basement, Liesel sat next to him and brought him stuff and even read to him hoping her actions would make Max all better. On page 325 it says, “In place of The Whistler, she’d read The Standover Man several times at Max’s bedside. That was only a few minutes per reading. She’d also tried The Shoulder Shrug, even The Grave Digger’s Handbook, but none of it seemed quite right. I wanted something new, she thought.” Liesel loved to steal books, and she was willing to steal another book for Max, but she wanted to steal it from her favorite place, the Mayor’s house. Risky move, but it is something she was willing to do for Max, just so he could maybe feel better. Shows to what extent a person is willing to go just to make someone else feel better.
Tragedy can inspire actions. For example in The Book Thief, Max’s new world was the basement. He was not allowed out of there and not allowed to see the outside; it was tragic. On page 208 the narrator says, “How many times in those first few hours of awakeness did he feel like walking out of the basement and leaving the house altogether? It must have been hundreds.” Max was miserable in the basement, with nothing to do but sleep. Liesel was the one who made Max live alittle again. On page 249 Max asked Liesel, “Could you go up and tell me how the weather looks?” it was liesel’s daily duty to go outside and observe the day and then go and make Max’s life in the basement better by telling him the weather and by that somehow being connected to the outside in that way.
Lastly, distance can cause the need to do something or do the right thing, because for example my mom has her whole family in Mexico, who she hasn’t seen in about 18 years. She has her mom, her dad, one sister and two brothers. It is tragic that she doesn’t have the accessibility to see her family like some of us fortunate people do, but at the same time it is amazing how their relationship is and how beautiful it is every time they do get communicate. Every time they talk on the phone, Skype or Oovoo they have long lasting, great catching-up conversations and tell each other how much they miss each other and love each other, and well there has never been a time where my mom has been mad with any member of her family from Mexico. It impresses me that the ones that are in Mexico and are together always seem to have problems with each other and hating each other. “Why?” is something my mom questions herself a lot. In her mind she portrays them as ungrateful because they are granted to be so close to each other and it is sad that they do not appreciate it because it is something she wishes and is desperate for. It is tragic that my mom is so far away from her family, but in a way it is beautiful because she never fights neither argues with them when they talk and it is better that way. She doesn’t let being far away bring her down because she knows that the day will come where they will all be reunited again and all that waiting will be worth it.
In conclusion, Beauty can exist in the wake of brutality, but it all depends on the situation and person. It is the person who can be optimistic and turn the situation around and only look at the bright side of the situation and not the negative side. Just because something seems too bad doesn’t mean it has to be, you should always find a way to turn it around, even if it is just a little. That is something I try to do in my life. I believe that if you let yourself get sucked in to the negativity around you, life won’t be good for you because you will become negative just like your surroundings. You have to enjoy life and not put it to waist, because we don’t live forever. I am a very optimistic person and will always keep a smile on my face. Lastly, I share with you my favorite quote to quote, “Hakuna Matata” which means ‘no worries’.