Jakob the Liar

Hope lives on

Jakob just couldn't disappoint all those people and let them know that everything he ever told them was a lie. He wanted for hope to keep living. He never did get the chance to say his big speech but he got to save many peoples lives.

1:49:15-1:55:10

Websites Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_the_Liar

Out Of Heart

Many people can say that lying is bad but in this case Jakob did it to not let many people down. Many Jews were starting to commit suicide because they had lost hope but now with the stories that Jakob was telling them, they had hope and looked forward to a new day. In the end, Jakob did make a bad decision to surrender himself to the commander but if he hadn't more people would have died and everything happened for a reason.

Jakob the Liar

Compare and Contrast

Compare

• Maus, Night and Jakob the Liar all at one point lost hope
• Both Maus and Jakob the Liar use elements of humor
• All three books emphasize hope and resistance

Contrast

• In Jakob the Liar, the Jews never got to the concentration camps.
• Maus and Night are completely dehumanized while Jakob the Liar just goes up to the starting point.
• Jakob the Liar focuses on the thoughts Jews had before the concentration camps
• Unlike Maus and Night, Jakob the Liar tells the story of the whole town, not one family

Theme

Throughout the movie, hope and resistance are being emphasized. In the ghetto to be able to survive you had to be in that state of mind. Many Jews committed suicide because of the lack of hope/resistance they had, and the ones who did were rescued at the end by the Russians.

Characters

Movie Clip #1

In this clip it shows how the little things kept the jews going, even the jokes or hoping for a sunny day. They still had hope even after the Germans had taken away everything.

This scene is different from Night because in that story they didn't tell any jokes or show any sort of humor. They told their story in a very gloomy way where they mainly focused on the negative. In Jakob the Liar they relied on the little things in life to make them happy despite the situation.

1:00-2:00

Characters include:

• Jakob
• Lina
• Kowalsky
• Mischa
• Rosa
• Frankfurter
• Avron
• Feijngold
• Samuel
• Kirschbam
• Brumenthal
• Professor

Setting

The movie takes place in Poland during WWII where the Jews are still living in the ghetto preparing to leave to the Nazi concentration camps.

The setting is much like the one in Night because they both live in the ghetto and have to obey German rules. Their days are filled with sorrow and worries about what might happen next. Everything of value has been taken away from them and everything is now every man for himself.

Subject

Jakob the Liar is about a man named Jakob who overhears news on the radio while in the commanders headquarters about military success against the German forces. he tells his friend Mischa about it to prevent him from stealing potatoes from the Germans and getting killed. Mischa later develops the rumor that Jakob has a radio. suddenly there is less suicide in the ghetto showing Jakob that if he goes along with the lie, he is giving hope to the jews. Jakob also has a little girl hidden in his home, she escaped from and extermination camp deportation train and becomes fascinated by the fact that Jakob has a radio. it encourages her to get better when she becomes very ill. The Germans later become aware that somebody from the ghetto has a radio making Jakob forced to turn himself in and eventually getting killed.

Movie Clip

Jakob overhearing the radio

6:20-7:30

Movie Clip

Jakob had no way out if he lied, it was wrong if he told the truth because the Jews killed themselves. He was trapped in his lie and had no way out. He was doomed to have to face the consequences.

41:20-44:40

Symbol

Jakob's Radio symbolizes hope. When the Jews in the ghetto found out about it, the suicide level decreased.

The Jews symbolized resistance because they fought to keep alive and not lose hope.