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Post by faithadler on Aug 25, 2017 10:58:50 GMT -5
A few times throughout the novel, we see the desensitization that the soldiers of the war can have. Killing innocent men, women, and children without the blink of an eyelash. What is it in war that bring out the animosity of a person? What about it causes them to think the way they do? Is "fighting for the cause" proper justification to killing a child? Do you think that being in war has the ability to "brainwash" people?
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Post by Baaz Jhaj on Aug 26, 2017 17:08:46 GMT -5
Propaganda is the brainwasher.
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Post by elizabuchanan on Aug 26, 2017 17:18:17 GMT -5
The war absolutely has an ability to brainwash people!! German youth during the holocaust who were wanting to BELONG to something became part of a "tip of a sword" as they joined Hitler in his horrific quest. Words used by teachers like the ones in Werner's academy had major influences over youth training to become nazis. With enough convincing from people/a person these kids respected, they could be pretty much willing to do anything in order to please Hitler/the germans and help to "fight for the cause."
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Post by hannahnegri on Aug 28, 2017 13:05:09 GMT -5
The war creates a mentality of kill or be killed, so that even if nobody has the stomach for it, they would rather stay alive then die. Also, if somebody really believes in a cause, they are suddenly willing to die for, examples being suicide bombers.
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jackh
New Member
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Post by jackh on Aug 28, 2017 15:54:56 GMT -5
Hannah made a good point about the mentality of the war. In my post under "Flower Girl", I talked about how Werner seeing the innocent girl and her mother being killed was able to break him out of the daze of the war, and realize what he was doing was wrong and spare Marie-Laure and her great uncle. This book talked much more about the actions of the war, and the causes and effects of them. Werner, after seeing his friend maimed and many young boys brutally assaulted, forgot his heritage of love and wonder, and learned that the only way to survive is to kill or be killed, as Hannah said. To find out more about how people were "brainwashed" back in that time, we can analyze Max and Liesel's books in The Book Thief. The "words" in the word shaker enticed people, and over time they became desensitized to the words and needed more, stronger words (much like growing a tolerance to alcohol, for example). Remember what Madame Manec said? "Do you know what happens, Etienne,when you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water? It jumps out. But do you know what happens when you put the frog in a pot of cool water and then slowly bring it to a boil? You know what happens then? The frog cooks."
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