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Dramatic Irony
Explanation and Analysis—Something She Should See:
In Part 7: The Long Walk to Dachau, Liesel and Rudy find Hans in the crowd of onlookers as Nazi soldiers march Jewish prisoners through Molching to Dachau. There is dramatic irony in Hans's hesitation about whether or not he should send Liesel home, and it also foreshadows the important scene that is about to take place:
They both crossed and made their way up, and Hans Hubermann attempted at first to take them away. “Liesel,” he said. “Maybe …"
He realized, however, that the girl was determined to stay, and perhaps it was something she should see. In the breezy autumn air, he stood with her. He did not speak.
Hans seems about to say that "Maybe ..." a young girl should not see the torture and abuse that is about to be on display for all of Molching to see. It is impossible enough for him to process what he is about to witness, so it will surely be even more traumatic for a child. Then again, Hans reasons, "perhaps it was something she should see." Hans's ambivalence about how best to parent Liesel is tied up not only in the impossible task of parenting itself, but also in the fact that they are living through a historic moment. He does not yet have the perspective to know how this history turns out, or what difference it might make for a young girl to bear witness to the scene in the street. He simply has the feeling that it might be more important to show her the world than to protect her from it.
Death and, to some extent, the reader have the perspective Hans lacks. They know already that most of Himmel Street will not survive the war. Death knows that Liesel will go on to write about this moment in her memoir. Her testimony about the "anguish, torment, despair, wretchedness, desolation" will become part of the archive of stories about World War II—stories that give humanity the best possible shot at understanding what happened during this horrific chapter of history. Hans merely suspects that Liesel should stay, but Death and the reader understand better why she must stay.
Death is also being coy, foreshadowing Hans's impulsive and life-altering decision to bring bread to one of the starving Jewish men. The idea that "perhaps it was something [Liesel] should see" hints at the way Hans is about to catapult the entire family into a new reality. Hans's kindness draws a target on his back. It makes Himmel Street unsafe for Max any longer, it brings a new level of paranoia into the house, and it leads to Hans's forced military service away from home. It is important that Liesel sees his act of kindness so that she can direct her anger toward the right people. Because she stays in the crowd that day, Liesel sees that Hans is in the right, even if the consequences of his actions are terrible. She comes to understand on a visceral level that Nazis literally and figuratively beat the compassion out of people.
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