The Standover Man Sparknotes

In the passage of The Standover man, it starts off with Max Vandenburg standing in the Hubermann's kitchen and asks Hans Hubermann if he still played the accordion. In the section of the Accordionist (The Secret Life of Hans Hubermann), it talks about how Hans fought in World War Ⅰ in France when he was only 22 years of age. During the war, he starts to become close with a man by the name of Erik Vandenburg, who taught him how to play the accordion. A Short History Of The Jewish Fist Fighter, Max’s background story is revealed to the audience and it’s more of a flashback in his life that tells the audience that he liked to fight when he was young. The Wrath Of Rosa is when Rosa walks into the kitchen and sees Hans and Max, she decides to give

Max some Pea Soup in which he then vomits. Max sleeps in Liesel's room in the spare bed for three days. Hans takes Liesel to the basement and tells her that she can't tell anybody about Max living with them. Liesel also receives a homemade book from Max which he made it out of the pages of Mein Kampf and wrote his story over it. This passage is important due to it giving the audience more information about Max, Hans, and his past. But it’s also important because the characters develop more. We only knew so much about Max but we didn’t yet know about his past. The passage shows each character's personalities that are more developed than what the audience were presented with in the beginning.
Imagery is when a writer uses descriptive words to create a mental image.

“ The horizon was the color of milk. Cold and fresh. Poured out among the bodies” (Zusak 175). The device is used in the evidence of the quote by using descriptives words that create a mental image. The text gives the reader that opportunity to use their senses when reading the story. “Somehow, between the sadness and loss, Max Vandenburg, who was now a teenager with hard hands, blackened eyes, and a sore tooth, was also a little disappointed” (Zusak 188). This quote demonstrates how the author uses descriptive words to create a mental image which gives the text more of an appeal to the reader's sense such as vision. “She could see his face now, in the tired light. His mouth was open and his skin was the color of eggshells. Whisker coated his jaw and chin, and his ears were hard and flat. He had a small but misshapen nose” (Zusak 201). The quotes allows the reader to visualize what the characters facial features looked like through the use of descriptive words. Imagery helps bring the story to life and to make the text more exciting. The reader's senses can be used to determine the observations that the author is making about its characters. The literary device changes the text by letting the reader interact with the text by using their observation skills. The author is using imagery by creating images that engages the reader to know exactly what's going on in the story which allows them to

understand the characters emotions in the story.
Friendship is a relationship between two characters that aren’t related to become close.

Suzak is saying that true friendship is shown through common interests, and friends would do anything for their friend no matter what it is. “The two of them gradually become friends due to the fact that neither of them was terribly interested in fighting. They preferred shooting rolling cigarettes to rolling in the snow and mud. They preferred shooting craps to shooting bullets. A firm friendship was built on gambling, smoking, and music, not to mention a shared desire for survival” (Zusak 175). Hans and Erik’s friendship grew through their share of common interests. All they wanted was to survive and go back home to their families. “It said, “Hubermann, sir.” The voice belonged to Erik Vandenburg. He obviously thought that today wasn’t the appropriate time for his friend to die” (Zusak 177). Erik Vandenburg saved Hans’ life by telling the sergeant that he had the best penmanship and should stay behind. So when Erik went into war that day he never came back meaning Hans survived. Which this shows a true friendship between Hans and Erik. “Now I think we are friends, this girl and me. On her birthday, it was she who gave a gift - to me” (Zusak 235). Max explains that he thinks that him and Liesel are becoming to be friends because instead of him giving her a gift on her birthday she gave him a gift. Liesel brought newspapers home for Max when what she saw one just to show that she cares

about him and won’t forget about him. Zusak focuses on the theme of friendship by trying the build up friendships between characters to show that anybody can become friends even if they come from different worlds. Zusak says that friendship isn’t the only thing that is involved when you have a close relationship with someone. There is more to a friendship and that is sacrifice. Zusak is offering the world that anybody can be friends no matter the difficult circumstance, there will always be good people in this world. People can be friends even if there are differences between the friends. Having someone in your life that will bring you happiness could be a friend.