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Why Is The Sarajevo Haggadah Important In The People Of The Book

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Throughout Geraldine Brooks's novel, The People of The Book, the Sarajevo Haggadah is used to reflect many aspects of personality in the characters Herr Mittl, Lola, Hanna, and Zahra and to help Ruth understand what her religion means to her. The Haggadah is used to reveal that Herr Florien Mittl is a liar. It also marks a significant change in Ruti’s life and helps explore what her religion means to her. The characters, especially the woman who are connected to the Haggadah are often much like Hanna in more than one way. Brook’s uses these characters to force the reader to think about how much they are like Hanna which helps the reader understand Hanna’s character better. In the novel, The People of The Book, the Sarajevo Haggadah serves as a way for Geraldine Brooks to reveal aspects and changes of personality in her novel’s characters …show more content…

Mittl was a book a book binder which suggest that he would have a love, or at least an appreciation, for books. When Mittl sells the clasps from the Haggadah he reveals that this is not true and that he is immoral. When offering the clasps to Hirschfeldt he says, “but he could hardly reveal the fact without exposing himself as a thief” (Brooks, 124) This quote reveals another aspect of Herr Mitt that he is a thief. The Haggadah serves as a way to show the reader that Mittl is truly doing is a truly horrible thing. The clamps of the haggadah are beautiful and delicate and by selling them it essentially adds more emphasis on the horrible thing he is doing than if he were to sell clasps that were cheaper and less elegant because readers more often emphasize with things of beauty than a less important object. The Sarajevo Haggadah is used to reveal how Herr Florian Mittl is not who he should

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