Young love and Hitler

Still reading the book thief...
Still love it...

Anyway, I've been noticing a reoccuring pattern in myself- a longing for friendy love inside a younger generation. In The Book Thief, Liesel has a close friend named Rudy. The book has an edge that gives it a very vague feel, making it extremely difficult for me to track Rudy as a character.

I have a few ideas...none very deep. I think he can be, as a person, mistaken for the average nine-year-old male thinker in Hitler's Germany. But I think it goes beyond that. he is an intellectual in many ways, and softens the shallow edge that Liesel, in growing up, feels forced to portray to the world. She still uses the somewhat loud and obnoxious tone with him, but I've come to realize he won't have it. Rudy can totally tell that there is so much more beneath the surface of Liesel, and he knows there's a lot more going on inside her head than what may seem at first glance.

I think, in some ways, he is in love with her. These kind of relationships- in this position- usually create crishes and love.

This is all just my vague little theory.

And besides that, I'm having even MORE issues trying to get into Liesel's thoughts on all of this. I think she feels flustered and embarrassed when she's around the intellectual side of him. But it forces her to think deeper. When his more shallow side is exposed, she is more comfortable, relieved, and barely thinks beyond the first few obvious layers.

I've also been thinking about Hitler's role in the book...but that is pretty much self-explanatory. He affects everyone's lives, some in negative ways and some in non-descript ways. Some feel they are benefitted with him being at power.

It was especially interesting for me to read, having written a play about Hitler. My play was an intense look at him as a character, whereas this makes him more of an idea- one that has a very powerful affect on everyone.

Very powerful.

P.s. My play won a silver key award in the scholastic competition. I think my writing life has officially begun.

Scratch that. My writing life is my life. It's always been there.