Obstacles In Liesel's Mountain

Liesel has many difficulties through the novel that only add to her mountain that she needs to climb. She has great obstacles and yet she seems to conquer all of them with the help of her friends and her family.
Liesel’s mountain consists of her struggle to read and the secrets that she has to keep while living in Germany during World War II. At first, her difficulty reading is the most obvious struggle that she has. Every night she would stay up with her father reading chapters at a time. She would even show some confidence whenever she volunteered to read in front of the class, even though she definitely was not ready. She kept trying her hardest to achieve the goal that she had set for herself at such a young age. Her climbing partner through

her journey of trying to read was her father and Max. He always helped her whenever he could, especially with his lessons in the middle of the night. Max was also very supportive of Liesel and helped her through her journey, even by making a book just for her. Her biggest obstacle during this journey was probably the peer pressure that she had to face without giving up in herself, as well as the fact that she had to hide having books. Her second struggle that makes up her mountain are the secrets that she has to keep about hiding a Jew in her home. It is very difficult for a child to hide anything, good or bad, yet she still manages to hide the fact that she is keeping a Jew in her home. She even goes down into the basement and talks to Max all the time, and they become very close friends. It was probably especially hard for her to keep the secret from Rudy, considering how close they are. A huge amount of trust is put upon Liesel’s shoulders by her family and she tries her best not to let them down. Through this obstacle, her climbing partners are her foster father, Hans, and Max himself. Hans always tells Liesel the consequences of spilling the secret, thereby helping Liesel understand more and more about why she should not tell anyone. Max helps Liesel keep this secret by forming a close bond with her and letting her know that as long as Liesel protects him, he will always be by her side. This definitely motivates Liesel throughout this obstacle. The largest obstacle she has, however, is keeping the secret of hiding a Jew from the Nazis. Liesel still manages to hide Max even with the inspections and threat of the Nazis.
Liesel manages to conquer all of her difficulties and conflicts that she faces in the novel with the help of her friends and family. At the foot of her mountain, Liesel finally finds the victory and peace that she had been trying to achieve for so long. She learns how to read better than she has ever read before, and though she loses the very people that had helped her for so long, she gains a newly found maturity and way of thought that will always help her through the conflicts she may ever face.