Gerda Klein All But My Life Analysis

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Gerda Weissman Klein is the strong protagonist and eloquent author of All But My Life. Gerda came from a loving traditional family and home, which was all taken from her during the war. Although Gerda faced many hardships and death, her faith and dreams of home stuck with her throughout the war. Gerda's life and outlook on life itself were influenced by the Holocaust as mush as she influenced those around her. Her never-wavering faith in liberation and her creative personality lifted spirits and helped gather friends over the six-year war. "There is a watch lying on the green carpet of the living room of my childhood. The hands seem to stand motionless at 9:10, freezing time when it happened"(Klein, pg.3). In some ways, time did stop for fifteen-year-old Gerda. She never got the chance to live a normal teenage life. This left a rather large gap in her social development and slowed her emotional growth. In more ways than one, Gerda was more of a fifteen-year-old girl than a twenty-one-year-old woman on liberation day. An example of this would be her early relationship with Kurt Klein. At one point she thought to herself that she was afraid Kurt would attempt to kiss her. She …show more content…

As her family members were lost one by one, she learned to be self-reliant and her resolute spirit shined through. She remained optimistic during the Holocaust and still found ways to thank God for the good things in her life, up until the march to Czechoslovakia. Gerda's optimism allowed her memoir to be a tale of love against the background of war rather than a tale of endless suffering. Gerda also believed that it was important to recognize the goodness of her peers. This showed that Gerda was an unselfish character. Her playwriting was a small example of her selflessness as well. Not only did writing distract Gerda from the world around her, it distracted her peers and for a short while, brought them joy and

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