Michael Holtzapfel exemplifies the strains of guilt during war time. Michael watched his brother slowly die from being injured in battle, yet Michael is able to return home. Michael's injuries leave him with missing fingers and a bandaged hand that won't stop bleeding. I think the incessant bleeding of his hand represents how draining it is to continue living when so many others have died. Michael's hand bleeds when he recants the story of his brother's death and also when he decides to leave his mother behind in order for a chance at survival. He is disturbed that he could want to live still even after all of the sacrifice and suffering. It is typical to feel this guilt; Papa feels it when his actions force Max to leave, after he survives WWI, and the accident in the LSE. Alex Steiner feels it when he survives and Rudy dies because he wasn't sent to the Nazi school. Michael ends up taking his own life because he cannot stand the guilt and pain anymore. He hates himself for wanting to live when the world was such an awful place to be. It is interesting that this passage is immediately after Liesel thinks about the pain of watching people suffer vs the pain of actual suffering. I think this juxtaposition serves to make us wonder if Michael's actions were justified or cowardly.
Ali B
I agree. You also made me think of Max. He too, is a victim of the strains of guilt during war time. Death describes to readers the moment when Walter took Max away from his family to safety, and the guilt Max felt as relief swept over him. He takes readers through many a night when Max would sit in the Hubermann's basement consumed by guilt and shame for leaving his family to die, so that he could live. Just like Michael's actions, readers are forced to wonder whether Max's were justified or cowardly.
ReplyDeleteJulia
I just found a quote that embodies this whole idea. On page 208, Death shows us one of Max's many thoughts. "Living was living. The price was guilt and shame."
ReplyDeleteJulia
Right. Previously in the novel Death had talked about foolish men who run at Death unknowingly and people who don't value life the way they should, which I think makes this clinging to life seem more appropriate. Death is often sad and wearied by the amount of tragedy that he sees, and he is happy when he is able to leave places without carrying souls. I think part of the message here is that life is precious and we must protect it at all costs. Look at Frau Hermann; the grief over her son was draining the life over her. The only way she could save herself was to move on, and although it might cause her guilt that she could ever be happy while her son was dead, it was the right thing to do. The strongest characters in the novel chose life over death showing us that it is ok to want to live.
ReplyDeleteAli B