The Book Thief Obstacles Essay

Words: 1207
Pages: 5

Around 11,420,000 people, whether they were Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, or disabled, had to overcome obstacles during the Holocaust. It is one of the most horrifying topics anyone could ever talk about. Out of the 11,420,000 people that were taken into concentration camps, 11,000,000 of them died. The Holocaust caused many people, part of the 11,420,000 or not, to overcome obstacles during the Holocaust. People had to overcome obstacles in sources about the Holocaust such as The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, Eva’s Story, by Eva Schloss, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, and Children’s Literature books about the Holocaust.
There were many obstacles shown throughout the pages of The Book Thief. For example, in the novel, Max Vandenburg, a Jew, hides
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In one children’s story called The Harmonica, a boy is stripped away from his family because of the Holocaust, as seen in this quote: “I cannot remember my father’s face, or my mother’s, but I remember their love, warm and enfolding as a song” (Johnston 2). He always loved playing his harmonica while his parents danced. He overcame the sadness of losing a loved one through playing his harmonica in prison. Another example of an obstacle in The Harmonica is poverty. The boy didn’t have enough money to buy a piano to play Schubert, which was his main desire. He overcame that obstacle by playing the harmonica. In another Children’s book, Terrible Things, many obstacles are displayed. In a calm forest, many types of animals live together. One day, the terrible things start taking types of animals away. The animals that aren’t taken feel guilt for not trying to help them. Another example of an obstacle in Terrible Things is the fear of the terrible things. They couldn’t be stopped with their terrible nets which would catch the animals. All of them were in constant fear of being caught. It may not seem like Children’s Literature would have a lot of obstacles being displayed, but this specific category of books about the Holocaust definitely contain plenty of