Language Development In The Book Thief
Wang
Faith Wang
Ms. Vyse
HE2
24 March 2016 Child Social and Linguistic Development in Nazi Germany As inspired by The Book Thief The language of 1939 Nazi Germany has taken a new tone, projected by a new voice of both pride and power, but laced with underlying blood and carnage. Yet, to the ears of a ten-year-old German girl named Leisel, these words are just a combination of letters that she can neither read nor fully understand. In Marcus Zusack?s The Book Theif, the time and place where Liesel lived and learned as a child had an instrumental effect on whom she grew to become. ?There?s this basic question in cognitive science? ?How do we become who we are?? Michael Frank, a Stanford researcher exploring children's language …show more content…
?It has become clear from research over recent decades that newborn babies are not ?blank slates? waiting to have impressions written on them. Humans are born with a drive to make sense of their experience with? effective strategies for doing so. Most important for language development is the [child?s] inherent sociability? (Wells 38-39). In The Book Thief, Leisel could talk?but in learning to read and write she discovered a whole other world of language and ideas. She has a thirst for knowledge, and somehow, she knows that there is something that her censored world is not letting her get at. When her family takes in a refuge Max, Leisel discovers that her secret thoughts, fueled by the moral strength of Hans Hubberman, are correct. ?Jew? is not a dirty word. Max paints over the pages of Mein Kumph to write Leisel a story of his own. Even in the middle of Nazi Germany, surrounded by Hitler?s supporters, burned books, and even as a member of Hitler?s Youth, Leisel (and Max) hated the F?rer and viewed him as someone worthy o being painted over. Possibly this hate grew from Liesel?s new paths of thought that her literacy led her
Faith Wang
Ms. Vyse
HE2
24 March 2016 Child Social and Linguistic Development in Nazi Germany As inspired by The Book Thief The language of 1939 Nazi Germany has taken a new tone, projected by a new voice of both pride and power, but laced with underlying blood and carnage. Yet, to the ears of a ten-year-old German girl named Leisel, these words are just a combination of letters that she can neither read nor fully understand. In Marcus Zusack?s The Book Theif, the time and place where Liesel lived and learned as a child had an instrumental effect on whom she grew to become. ?There?s this basic question in cognitive science? ?How do we become who we are?? Michael Frank, a Stanford researcher exploring children's language …show more content…
?It has become clear from research over recent decades that newborn babies are not ?blank slates? waiting to have impressions written on them. Humans are born with a drive to make sense of their experience with? effective strategies for doing so. Most important for language development is the [child?s] inherent sociability? (Wells 38-39). In The Book Thief, Leisel could talk?but in learning to read and write she discovered a whole other world of language and ideas. She has a thirst for knowledge, and somehow, she knows that there is something that her censored world is not letting her get at. When her family takes in a refuge Max, Leisel discovers that her secret thoughts, fueled by the moral strength of Hans Hubberman, are correct. ?Jew? is not a dirty word. Max paints over the pages of Mein Kumph to write Leisel a story of his own. Even in the middle of Nazi Germany, surrounded by Hitler?s supporters, burned books, and even as a member of Hitler?s Youth, Leisel (and Max) hated the F?rer and viewed him as someone worthy o being painted over. Possibly this hate grew from Liesel?s new paths of thought that her literacy led her