Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff is about a fourteen year old girl named Verna LaVaughn. She lives with her mom in an old apartment building after her father accidentally got shot by a member of a gang. Her dream, ever since fifth grade, is to go to college, something neither her mom, nor anyone in her building got to experience. Her mom always reminds her about college, making sure that LaVaughn, as Verna is mostly referred to in the book, knows that she doesn't have any money to pay for her to go into college, and that she has to work for it. LaVaughn sees a babysitting job open on her school bulletin board. She calls the number and soon goes to the apartment building where the babysitting job is. What she finds there is an old, stinky …show more content…
First, both protagonists are female. Verna LaVaughn is a fourteen year old girl that dreams of going to college so she can get out of her old apartment building and poor neighborhood. Liesel Meminger is about ten years old when her mom, a communist, leaves her with Foster parents so she can escape Germany right before World War II. Secondly, both main characters end up helping someone who is a taboo in society. LaVaughn is baby-sitting for a seventeen year old mother of two. Jolly states that when people in the building see her, they think that she is not a capable parent. LaVaughn helps her when no one would, when everyone was taking advantage of her or criticizing her for getting into this position. LaVaughn tells her to go back to school, which eventually helps Jolly, who was taking a CPR class, save Jilly's life when Jilly starts to choke. Without LaVaughn, Jolly could have lost her baby girl. Liesel and her foster family hid Max, a Jewish man, during pre-World War II times in Germany, a major offense if caught. Liesel and Max bond through their love of books. When Max becomes very sick, Liesel reads to him at any given moment. When Max was better, her wrote Leisel a
For instance, Max Vandenburg's friendship with Liesel influences her to learn from the mistakes of others and herself, as well as provide the pair with joy amongst the darkness World War II holds. When Max explains how “[he feels] the fists of an entire nation… [they] beat him down[,] they make him bleed[,] they let him suffer… he [notices] a tear torn down [Liesel’s] left cheek” (254, 255). Therefore Liesel strives to grasp the full extent of the suffering ‘her people’ have place upon Max and the Jewish people. The shame and sorrow she feels develops a new perspective on the world around her and makes her determined to be better to the people in her life. Also, Max fills the gap left in Liesel’s heart after her brother’s sudden death.
Most people realize that blood doesn’t make a family, love does. But, is it possible to still be a family but have a very faint or no remembrance of that person? Could someone still be your family and impact you so much, even though the one thing you remember is a book, song, activity, or chore they did with you? Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff follows the story of teen mom Jolly, with fourteen year old LaVaughn as her only help, support, and family besides her two children. There are many examples of family members: meaning that are no longer remembered or only few memories remain, blood or no blood.
Max became a close and understanding friend to Liesel. He struggles through many things, due to him being a Jew. He is a very bright young man and makes good works of art in books. Rudy: Rudy is Liesel's best friend. He sees through racial discrimination and is opposed
Jeannette was neglected, beaten, and starved all throughout her childhood. She lived without a home, money, and enough food to get by and also managed, against all odds, to fight for her ambitions. The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, depicts the hardships of her upbringing by her nomadic, undependable parents, yet also her ability to persevere into a successful and aspiring young woman. As a young girl, Jeannette was always travelling due to her unstable parents and living on edge in fear of her parents’ outbursts. When she was the tender age of five, she actually recalls thinking fondly of her dad, always being his little “mountain goat”.
“I was thinking your birthday. She said, “I think you’ve always been ready, Liesel. From the moment you arrived here, clinging to that gate, you were meant to have this.” Rosa gave her the book”(299). This quote is addressing that Max had written a book of Liesel as a present.
Liesel begins to look up to Max, as he has become somewhat of a motivator to
According to the American Institute of Stress, it says: “The number one cause of stress, is the individual 's environment.” Many people in the world are facing failure, or going through rough times, because of what is around them. In the novel, Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jolly’s family and LaVaughn transition through many changes based on the environment around them. Because of transitioning through their childhood, apartment, and school, the characters transform their identities from negative to positive.
The Explanation of the Story: “The Thing in the Forest” by A.S. Byatt In A.S. Byatt’s “The Thing in the Forest”, the author uses the elements of a short story to craft a dark, fairy tale. The title of the story, “The Thing in the Forest”, in the sense that it foreshadows the main idea of the story. The audience expects more than just a "thing", as listed in the title. Byatt emphasizes that the main characters are the two-main protagonist who were girls dealing with more than just a “thing” in the forest that affected them for the rest of their lives. this is the use of symbols that expresses a meaning to focus on the story.
Their relationship dominates the middle section of the book, as Max comes to Himmel street just as part three starts, and Liesel thinks about him almost constantly as soon as he arrives. Consequently, the first quote I chose for them was when Liesel first catches a glimpse of Max in the kitchen. “She lingered a moment before her feet dragged from behind. When she stopped and stole one last look at the foreigner in the kitchen, she could decipher the outline of a book on the table” (Zusak 186). In this scene, Liesel sees Max’s book, and this is the start of the two of them and their connection with words that appears continuously through the rest of the novel.
Death’s search for beauty in World War II surrounds the whole book. With the fighting among both sides of the war along with the Holocaust, Death is constantly at work while people continue to die. Death saw beauty in Leisel’s story on Himmel Street, but he also saw darkness in people along with the war and how it can tear families apart. Death saw beauty and ugliness in Hans, Rudy, and Leisel which helped him see some of the beauty that came from World War II.
Another important character in The Book Thief and in Liesel’s life is Max Vandenburg. Max is a Jew who loved to get in a fistfight in his younger years. Liesel and Max become good friends after realizing they have many things in common such as the love of words and nightmares. Hatred of Hitler runs deep in Max’s heart and he often writes about it. When Max first begins staying with the Hubermanns he feels ashamed and like a heavy weight on their backs.
The theme of this book is learning to love and care for the people around. How I came to this conclusion is by how Liesel acts towards Max, her foster parents, Rudy, and her neighbors. Liesel cares for people even if they weren't like her and she doesn't understand why there is hatred in this world. She wanted the world to be a happy place for everyone including Jews to be friends with one another. On page 426 in ‘The Book Thief’, when Rudy’s father went to war Liesel could relate to Rudy because “her mother.
Social injustices have been an apparent theme throughout history for many years. Anti-Semitism and Racial discrimination are just two of the many examples of social injustices that have been exhibited in our society. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, both novels share the theme of Social Injustice. Narrated by Death, The Book Thief follows nine-year old Liesel Meminger during World War two in Germany. Liesel and her family are on their way to Molching when Liesel
After years of being lonely, Max feels like he has a friendship with Liesel. They try their best to protect each other as they both go through this hard time
In the novel, Liesel’s behavior shows justice and love through her friendship with Max. Although her relationship with Max in the beginning of the book was rather awkward, soon her perspective towards Max soothes and their relationship bonds to a friendship. There are some times when Liesel’s actions were unbelievable, especially during the Jew parade. “ ‘ You have to let go of me Liesel.’