I will pay for the following essay The Thief: Ilsa Hermann. The essay is to be 2 pages with three to five sources, with in-text citations and a reference page.Ilsa Hemann first appears to be a distant

I will pay for the following essay The Thief: Ilsa Hermann. The essay is to be 2 pages with three to five sources, with in-text citations and a reference page.

Ilsa Hemann first appears to be a distant, cold character. She is the Mayor’s wife, living in a grand house on the appropriately named ‘Grande Strasse.’ Rosa Hubermann groups her with all the other wealthy inhabitants of the town, people who are too lazy to wash their own clothes. Rosa introduces Ilsa to Liesel Meminger as a woman who “sits at home all day, too mean to light a fire --- She’s crazy” (Zusak, 31). Ilsa’s total silence appears to be a form of snobbishness, reflecting her disdain for the lowly Hubermanns. She is “Always silent. Always alone. No words, not once” (Zusak, 66), and wears a look of “utter distance” (Zusak, 92). Liesel gradually gets closer to the mayor’s wife.

As Lisesl gets better acquainted with her, Ilsa takes on an enigmatic aspect for the reader. Ilsa witnesses Liesel picking up the forbidden books from the Nazi bonfire, but holds her silence and shields the girl. She goes on to encourage the little girl to read the books in her library. Ilsa genuinely regrets having to terminate Rosa Hubermann’s services. It now becomes clear that her silence does not connote distance, but is a sign of vulnerability. This is a women who has been defeated by life. She is no snob, but a “mute, damaged woman” (Zusak, 101), whose smile gives “the appearance now of a bruise” (Zusak, 95). Her strangeness and abnormality hint at some dark tragedy in her past. As the story progresses, Ilsa’s character is revealed more fully.