1. Liesel and Physical Plain and Suffering
Question One: Why does Liesel want to receive a watschen after she yells at Ilsa Hermann (the mayor’s wife)? Consider how this is related to her imagined brother’s fall down the steps
“It’s about time you faced the fact that your son is dead. He got killed!...She pushed the boy down the steps, making him fall…Her brother, holding his knee, disappeared… ‘I called her pathetic’…She walked to the wooden spoons, grabbed a handful and placed them in front of her…the one thing she desperately wanted a watschen and couldn’t get one!” ( )
Question Two: If Rosa loves Liesel so much, why does she hit her with a wooden spoon? Why does she have the need to use corporal punishment when Hans does not?
“She did love Liesel Memigenr. Her way of showing it happened to be strange. It involved bashing her with a wooden spoon and words at various intervals” (35).
Question Three: Why do you think Liesel’s two attempts to save or humanize Max include some kind of physical punishment?
“Max hit the ground and the soldier now turned to the girl…A sudden flash came before her eyes. She recalled the dsay she’d wanted Ilsa Hermann or at least the reliable Rosa to slap her, but neither of them would do it. On this occasion, she was not let down. The whip sliced her collar bone and reached across her soldier blade” (513).
“She escaped the grip of Rudy’s words…Liesel cried out again ad was not heard…’Please, Max!”…just as a solider turned around, the girl was felled. Hands clamped down on her from behind and the boy next door brought her down…he forced her knees to the road…he was able to hold her down” (515).