Half A Life By Darin Strauss: A Short Story

"When once I asked the agent of a notorious Forth Ward alley how many people might be living in it I was told: One hundred and forty families, one hundred Irish, thirty-eight Italians, and two the spoke the German tongue(How the Other Half Lives,p.3). There was not one native born american in the court, or in any of the tenements. The irish were the true cosmopolitan immigrant. All-pervadin, he shares his lodging with perfect impartiality with the Italian, the Greek, and the "Dutchman," yielding on to sheer for of numbers, and objects equally to them all. The city maps were colorized for each nationality, if you were to look at a map at that time, Irish were mostly on the West Side and the Germans were mostly on the East Side. Mixed in where Italian, who pushed there way up, where "Little Italy" came to be. The less aggressive, the Russian and Polish Jew, are filling the tenements of the old Seventh Ward to the river front, while disputing with the Italians, over every foot of avaibility on Mulberry St. "The italian and the poor Jew rise only by compulsion. The Chinaman does not rise at all; here, as at home, he simply remains stationary. The Irishman's genius runs to public affairs rather than domestic life; wherever he is mustered in force the saloon is the gorgeous centre of political activity(How the Other half lives,p.25)." The germans

The story follows the life of Liesel Meminger, a girl that knows consequences like a life-long friend. Liesel’s love of books and reading play a large part in the storyline of the book. Unfortunately, her love of books is the outcome of finding a book at her brother’s funeral. After digging the little boy’s grave, a grave digger unknowingly drops his book onto the snow.

Well done, Jacob Riis, well done. In the book How the Other Half Lives, published in 1890, harsh criticisms and observations, along with photojournalism, of the appalling conditions of New York City tenements and their neighborhoods are examined through the eyes of Jacob Riis. As a reporter at the time for The New York Tribune, his writing and photography sparked reform and forced many people, even the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, to focus their attention on the horrendous conditions in which the immigrants of tenement neighborhoods lived in. Many immigrants have Jacob Riis to thank for in part, for he helped shine a bright light on them at a time when many others kept them in the darkness.

“Don't listen to him,” her mother says, taking her hand and leading her inside the small house, closing the door on him. “He'll come around, Awen, you'll see. Please, sit down. We have so much to get caught up on, and I just put dinner in the oven.”

There had been enough time for something to change but almost everything was the exact same. Again Rye found herself travelling on a bus to go search for something, now knowing her brother is in fact dead she wasn 't exactly sure if what she was searching for was real. The only difference was that she now had the weight of two pre-teens. She felt it best for them to be as cautious as she had been while travelling around a decade ago. Each child had their own piece to communicate what their name was without using their words, it’s safer. Sitting on these benches Rye looked at them, the girl was the spitting image of her dead mother long curly dirty blond hair, a button nose, freckles, green eyes, and the perfect height for her age. Her was brother only slightly taller, with a darker skinned tone, and features almost exactly the opposite of his sister. The only feature similar was their hair texture. Rye would never admit this to anyone but there were times like the present that she regrets the events leading up to this very moment. The deja vu of running away except this time with hope.

I can't go because my stomach is growling very critically" I said dead seriously in response she roll her eyes and I continue "And Why I should go? Call that wacky brother" I said loathly.

The book How the Other Half Lives describes a disastrous scene of people who came here with hardly anything. The Irish, Chinese, and Italians all came here in search of a start to a new life, but when they came here they barely had any money. They were forced to work for little pay and had to live in the worst living conditions ever. The dedication and determination it took for these people to continue living in this lifestyle and so what was best for them is just nothing but astonishing and this should be admired by everyone.

Cosette was waiting in the walk-in fridge. “There is someone causing trouble,” she said. “I don’t know who it is yet, but maybe you can help me. Look at this.” She pointed to large flats of smashed eggs, dead, lifeless bread dough, and trays of pastries that were so black they were indistinguishable. She rubbed her temples. “Someone visiting my bakery is out to get me.”

Liesel becomes a bookworm in order to distract herself from the terrible occurrences in her life. Whenever Liesel wakes up with night terrors, her papa reads

After the death of her brother and abandonment of her mother, Liesel becomes withdrawn, fearful and angry. Things change for her when Hans Hubermann teaches her to read; their sessions usually occurring after her nightmares. She begins to love books and their words, inspiring her career of thievery and dishonesty. Through books, Liesel starts to see the world in different ways. In doing so she comes to terms with her past and learns to cherish her new family and friends, no longer feeling alienated and insecure.

“Sorry. You fell asleep so fast I thought you must have been exhausted. So I thought I would let you sleep for a little. Mya sat straight up. “How long have have I been asleep?”

“Vincent, finish pancake before get cold.”, my mother said, completely ignoring my presence. My blood boiled up inside me, my ears reddened, and my heart screamed ‘revenge’, but my mind shushed them silently. I sat

Laila is educated, and spirited. Growing up, she has a close friend named Tariq, who she later falls in love with, and later they act on this in a moment of passion. Over the course of her first fourteen years, Laila see’s large amounts of violence, including the death of both her parents. The loss of

Liesel's story touches on many things like growing up, Nazi Germany, Jews, rebellion, resistance, war, poverty, grief, friendship, family, and books. It’s about survival and death. The way death is so unexpected even when it’s most expected. It’s about love, her love for books and her

Liesel is the main character in this novel and is nine years old. Her brother died on the way to her new home in Molching, Germany, so she stole her first book to remind herself of him. She lives with her foster parents Hans and Rosa, and does not know how to read or write in German. She also became good friends with a boy named Rudy Steiner. She feels as if her mother abandoned her, therefore she has a hard time believing that she was ever loved in the first place.