Thursday 28 February 2013

The Charcoal Skinned, Lemon Haired Boy

Rudy Steiner is what a typical, poor German would look like. "He has bony, legs, sharp teeth, gangly blue eyes, and hair the colour of lemon." page 48. As he is one of the six Steiner children, he is permanently hungry. He is considered a little crazy especially after the "Jesse Owens incident". One thing about Rudy is that he doesn't really care if he is going to get into trouble, he just goes for it, not really thinking what he is doing. Jesse Owens is his inspiration: "It was 1936. The Olympics. Hitler's games. Jesse Owens had just completed the 4 X 100m relay and won his fourth gold medal. Talk that he was subhuman because he was lack and Hitler's refusal to shake his hand were touted around the world. Even the most racist Germans were amazed with the efforts of Owens, and the world of his feat slipped through the cracks. No one was more impressed than Rudy Steiner."page 56. Because he was inspired in Owens one night he smeared charcoal on until he was covered in black and ran 100m on the local playing field. By reading this passage, I knew how much of a dangerous and daring character he was. I am still struggling to think if he is with the Nazi party or against them. He is very comfortable around girls and likes to talk to them, unlike some other boys at his age. He first meets Liesel on Himmel Street and death tells us that they will soon become best friends. I think he might like her - "The only thing worse than a boy who hates you - a boy who loves you."page 52. But death hasn't made that completely clear yet. He is 18 months older than her which means he is probably around 10-11 years old when they first meet. Rudy's relationship with Liesel is confusing as he calls her a Saumensch a couple of times. He wrote Liesel a letter that went like this: "Dear Saumensch, Are you still as useless a soccer as you were last time we played? I hope so. That means I can run past you again just like Jesse Owens at the Olympics..." But I think this letter was written just in a teasing kind of way.

"Everything stiffened. Glowing pockets of streetlights. Dark, passive buildings. The town hall stood like a giant ham-fisted youth, too big for his age. The church disappeared in darkness the farther his eyes traveled upward. It all watched him. He shivered." pages 168 and 169. This passage to me conveyed a special mood. It gave me a sense of an old, abandoned town. The moods that it showed were creepy, scary and uncomfortable.