Book Report/Analysis of Jakob The Liar

Elena Smukler English 10H December, 2001 Winter Break Book Report Hope is a virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, which is difficult but not impossible to attain with confidence. With hope, spirits are lifted, hearts are refreshed and optimism is reborn. So is the story of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland trying to survive the horrors of the German atrocities surrounding them; incredibly surviving while facing illness, starvation, and the fear …

…use of the very last possibility, optimism, to prevent the Jews from giving up the struggle and just dying. Unable to survive as individuals, the people must join together at least with hope and confidence, founded primarily on the false belief that there exists a prohibited radio within the ghetto. Only by placing their confidence on hope are they able to survive. Work Cited Becker, Jurek. Jakob The Liar. Trans. Leila Vennewitz. New York: Plume, 1999.