Min Joo
Compare and Contrast Essay’
Being strong by good relationships from “The Doll’s House” and The Book Thief
Every living being cannot be strong by themselves. How do relationships help one to develop?The movie, The Book Thief, directed by Brian Percival, is based on the 2005 novel, “The Book Thief,” written by Markus Zusak. During the Nazi era, one young girl lived with her adoptive German family and formed strongrelationships with others. This film shows Germans’ strenuous lives due to World War II. “The Doll’s House” is a short story, written by Katherine Mansfield. The protagonist, Kezia, breaks the discrimination between lower and upper classes even though she is in the upper class. Characters in the film and book have developed by good relationships due either to their own volition or by staying with others, butThe Book Thief, especially, has more examples showing the effect of relationship development than “The Doll’s House.” Regardless, both express that characters can growtheir thoughts.
In The Book Thief, the protagonist, Liesel, lives with adoptive parents, and her adoptive father reads books to her every night. If the adoptive father did not read books for Liesel, she would not adapt to new environment. Moreover, Liesel meets a young boy, Rudy, who livesin the neighborhood, stayed with Liesel. He also helpsher adaptto her new school by being friend with her when she is struggling with new language and communication with others, Rudy helped her. Without Rudy’s helping, she probably would not have accommodated to new environment easily.
In contrast, the protagonist of “The Doll’s House” has developed by herself. In “The Doll’s House”, Kezia breaks the discrimination between upper and lower classes by inviting people who are in lower class. She states, “You can come to see our doll’s house all the same” (Katherine, 4) when she breaks the wall between the two classes. This statement highlights that people who are in lower classes are not allowedto communicate with upper class people. However, even though Kezia is in the upper class, she is not conceited, she doesn’t care about staying together with lower class people.
In conclusion, the characters have growth their personalities. In The Book Thief, the protagonist meets many good people, and she has help from them, whereas in “The Doll’s House”, the protagonist tries to break the wall, which is class discrimination. The characters in The Book Thief and “The Doll’s House” have been advance, but the character of The Book Thief has developed by having good relationships more than ”The Doll’s House”. Regardless, the film and book are expressing people’s relationship development well.