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Similarities Between Diller And Ishmael Beah In The Book Thief

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Frau Diller and Ishmael Beah demonstrate a similarity in that they both are victims of brainwashing and staunchly follow orders without questioning anything. They both represent the ideal people in war who are unquestionably loyal to a cause, resulting in the conflict continuing. In The Book Thief, Frau Diller is extremely loyal to the Nazi Party, so much so that she even had "breath that smelled like ‘heil Hitler’" and if "you walked into her shop and didn’t say ‘heil Hitler,’ you wouldn’t be served" (Zusak 50). Frau Diller was so brainwashed that she did not question anything the Nazis did. She undoubtedly believed in the goals of the Nazi Party and the fact that Jews were a disease for the German population. Moreover, to take it a step further, Fray …show more content…

Her patriotic devotion made her the embodiment of the ideal German during Nazi Germany: a person who blindly followed the orders of Hitler. She never had a thought for herself and only believed in everything the Fuhrer believed in. The use of propaganda, such as the book burnings, and the power of Hitler’s words eventually were able to completely control her thoughts and feed into her prejudices. As a result, her blind loyalty and indoctrination of others resulted in the continuation of the war and the horrific events that ensued. By never questioning anything, Frau Diller, along with millions of others, allowed the genocide of the Jews and the deaths of millions. Her unquestionable allegiance was crucial in giving Hitler and the Nazis power and helping them in their conquests for dominance. Thus, she was a victim of brainwashing and a factor that led to the continuation of many horrors. Likewise, in A Long Way Down," after joining the army, Ishmael was brained into fighting as a boy soldier. At the military camp, he was "always either at the front lines, watching a war movie, or doing drugs. There was no time to be alone or to

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800 Words | 4 Pages

Ishmael and his friends now travel from place to place to trying to find shelter and other accessories to help them survive. They would take anything to help them survive this war. By the age of thirteen Ishmael was picked up by the government army and then found out he was capable of terrible acts. Ishmael and his friends were in

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635 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, “A Long Way Gone,” Ishmael Beah suffers from PTSD due to the exposure to war at such a young age and the rehabilitation process. Ishmael was exposed to guns, drugs and other types of violent acts due to the war at the age of 12. As time went by, Ishmael lost his family and slowly his friends too. Ishmael was traumatized from all the violence he experienced due to the war approaching his village. He had been forced by the Sierra Leone Armed Forces to serve as a child soldier during a civil war and “It was not easy being a soldier, but we just had to do it.

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1264 Words | 6 Pages

A village most thought was safe, ended up being where he would be recruited at. Ishmael and his friends got used to this harmful lifestyle surrounded by violence and drugs. After months of fighting for revenge, the lieutenants picked some of the younger boys to be rehabilitated, and they became infuriated. They were forced to grow up and

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1110 Words | 5 Pages

Ishmael has a flashback of his life in the war. In his dream he encounters a body wrapped in white bed sheets, and as he unwraps it he realizes it is his own face he is looking at. He then awakens, sweating and on the ground. He says, “I was afraid to fall asleep, but staying awake also brought back painful memories” (Beah 19). Even being in a different country cannot take away the hell that Ishmael has been through.

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691 Words | 3 Pages

This army that he is in becomes totally addicted and brainwashed, they do lots of drugs and believe the only way to avenge their family's deaths is kill the other side. These drugs they used were marijuana, cocaine and “brown brown”, which all “helped them” have the courage they needed to fight in war. Ishmael was a soldier for a while before he was then given to UNICEF, or United Nations Children's Fund, which then brought him to a rehabilitation center. Ishmael has lots of troubles when it comes to recognizing and accepting his past, or being able to conceptualize what the future might look like. He meets a nurse Etser at this rehabilitation center, which allows him to open paths, accept and forgive what he has done within the past, and have a better understanding of his

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1142 Words | 5 Pages

She wrote a letter to a Jewish friend of hers about why she voted for Hitler. The main reason was because, like many teenagers, she “wanted to follow a different road from the conservative one prescribed for me by family tradition” (Doc 9). Unfortunately, the outcome of Hitler’s plans for Germany wasn’t considered. The country became more war-torn as time went on and became a place of mass destruction and suffering.

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1320 Words | 6 Pages

Ishmael felt that he should be fighting in the war because that was all that he had known after fighting for two years. This quote shows that he truly felt lost without the military. “My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed. The extent of my thoughts didn't go much beyond that. We had been fighting for over two years, and killing had become a daily activity.

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1290 Words | 6 Pages

Ishmael’s hometown is attacked by rebels, leading him to embark on a long journey across the country. His journey comes to a stop when he is indoctrinated as a boy soldier and forced to experience the horrors of war from the perspective of a fighter. His journey ends with rehabilitation and a newfound duty to represent the boy soldiers of Sierra Leone. Throughout Ishmael’s journey his perception of the world shifts analogously with his experiences and overall

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

Later, UNICEF came and decided to take Ishmael out of the war and put him in a rehabilitation center. In this part of the novel, the reader can see how his desire for killing has controlled him completely. By fighting and killing rebel members in the rehabilitation center and beating up the guards to force them into doing what the children wants to do, the reader can see that the war has changed their ways of life and thoughts. The army was able to change Ishmael 's desires and from that, he became a deadly

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1829 Words | 8 Pages

Sebastian Haffner, in his memoir Defying Hitler, describes the rise of National Socialism within Germany during the interwar years that were plagued with thoughts of war, poverty and defeat. Lives that previously had purpose and were connected through mass culture surrounding the ‘Great War’, were now barren. This war-ravaged void left behind from World War One, that had been previously placated by political headlines, war reports, stock quotes and sport statistics, left the German people deprived of any personal fulfilment and balance within their private lives. This deprivation allowed Hitler’s nationalist message, and propaganda for the Nazi regime, to pervade German thoughts, winning a battle over the German minds. This battle, as Haffner

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1040 Words | 5 Pages

Even though Ishmael had not been to the war yet, he had experienced so much trauma already. They caused him to picture terrifying situations. Even when he could settle down enough to get some sleep, terrorizing nightmares filled his mind with panic. When these things started happening to Ishmael, he tried to shut them off with drugs but it didn’t help. Instead, it would not only cause migraines but also cause him to shut down completely which demonstrates his loss of humanity.

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749 Words | 3 Pages

On Hitler’s birthday in 1940, when “[t]he Hubermanns couldn’t find their flag” (103) to hang on the window, Rosa Hubermann starts to panic. Without the flag on the window, Rosa is afraid “‘[they’ll] come and take [them] away.’” (103) which is an immense consequence for something as simple as lacking a flag, however, because it represents their devotion to Nazi Germany it is essential to have on display. Furthermore, Liesel must salute the Führer many times throughout her years on Himmel Street. Whether she is compelled to (because “[she] [won’t] be served” (50) at Frau Diller’s otherwise) or practicing it for the BDM, she is forced to heil Hitler because without doing, so she is will be punished.

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706 Words | 3 Pages

They are also faced with the challenge of overcoming the physical and emotional scars of war, and dealing with the loss of family and friends. Despite these struggles, the characters ultimately find the strength and support to rebuild their lives and find a sense of belonging in society again. The loss of innocence is one of "A Long Way Gone" main themes. Ishmael, like many other child soldiers, was forced at a young age to abandon his childhood and become a killer. He explains how he had to learn to suppress his emotions, kill without hesitation, and accept violence as a natural part of life.

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1475 Words | 6 Pages

Riefenstahl was a vocal supporter of the party and of Hitler. “Riefenstahl was, as she willingly admits, a great admirer of Hitler” (Devereaux 1998: 237). Through the separation of the two visions, Devereaux disregards the tragic historical context and significance. In assessing morally, we cannot forget that this film was used to mobilize the German people towards the goals of the

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1414 Words | 6 Pages

Equivalently, Hans and Sophie Scholl similar to Schindler fought against the dictatorship and harassment of the injustice tyrant Hitler. When Hitler came to power he wanted to preserve the Aryan race while exterminating and abusing those he believed were undesirable. He used words and pictures to make people perceive flesh and blood as inanimate objects; replaceable and useless. Whether it was out of fear, hate or simply the incapability to see past the glamour he had created, he obtained enough followers to take over the German government. Once he obtained the power he silenced the people through laws, making it so that the slightest criticisms of his view was punishable by death, torture or imprisonment.

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