We´ve got to stick together

As I kept reading, I discovered that the airman in the hay barn woke up and resulted to be a Canadian bomber named Peter Kamm that had a Swiss mom and a Canadian dad. His plane was attacked and he had to jump from it in a parachute and landed not so far from the farmhouse. Lizzie fell in love with Peter and Peter fell in love with Lizzie. Mutti was very angry at Peter and she didn’t want that he spoke to her children nor that her children spoke to him and she didn’t want him to escape from the house because she wanted to turn him in to the police. The next day, Lizzie took Marlene down to the stream so she could drink some water when she suddenly heard Mutti screaming and a moment later she heard Karli screaming. Karli had fell into the lake! Peter told Lizzie to quickly get a rope, then he put the rope around Karli’s arms and pulled him up from the water. At first, Karli looked like he was dead, but Peter pumped the water out of his body until Karli woke up again. After that, Mutti trusted Peter more so she let the kids talk to him. Then they sat down to eat potato soup that Mutti had made but there was a knock on the door. It was three soldiers from the German army that were looking for a parachutist. The sergeant asked for their names and Mutti said them and also said that Karli, Elizabeth and Peter were her children. They also asked for Peter’s age and why he wasn’t in the army. Peter said he was 21 and then Karli interrupted and said that he had asthma like him, and that was the reason Peter was not fighting in the war. After the soldiers went to the hay barn and saw Marlene, and then left with excitement, Peter and Mutti decided that it was better for them to reach the Americans together and Karli and Lizzie agreed. They were all a new family, Mutti, Lizzie, Karli, Peter and of course Marlene. After packing all what they needed, the began their journey going west.

“I remember standing there in Aunt Lotti´s kitchen watching this confrontation, and feeling very confused. I could not understand how Mutti could be like this. It seemed to me to be so hypocritical. All my life she had made herself out to be this ardent pacifist, always speaking out against the war - after all, there had been a huge rift in our family because of it - and now here she was full of unforgiving anger, and hateful, vengeful even, towards someone who may have been in the uniform of our enemy, but who was trying all he could to be kind and conciliatory and helpful.” (p.110)

I chose this quote because it shows how the arrival of the airman affected both Lizzie and Mutti. Mutti changed a lot because of Peter, she was scared and wanted to protect her children. Mutti's behavior made Lizzie feel bad for Peter, she wanted to give him a second chance because the bombing was not his fault. Peter was also very ashamed and regretted being part of the horrible bombing.

“What is done is done. The past is behind us. You are family know, one of us. And I have been thinking. You were right when you told Elizabeth we should stick together and help one another.” (p.128)

 

After Peter had saved Karli, I think that Mutti forgave Peter and recognized that they shouldn’t be enemies because that would have kept them from finding the Americans. This problem also happens in real life, and if you are constantly mad at someone, it can lead to more problems and confrontations. Besides, it was not fair for Karli and Lizzie to see people fighting all the time.

 

There are some lessons that this book teaches you which you can use in real life, for example not judging people before you really know them and finding a solution together to a problem like I already talked about earlier. What I believe is going to happen next in the book is that the new family is going to continue their journey but I don´t think they are going to reach the Americans because they are too far away, Peter said that in 4 or 5 weeks they were going to meet. Peter and Lizzie, I think, are going to make their relationship bigger since they both like each other. And when it comes to Mutti and Karli, they are not going to leave Marlene alone. I hope you are enjoying my blog and the summaries of the book as much as I am. 


I think that Kelly Clarkson´s song "People Like Us" connects to this part of the book because it talks about sticking together and not giving up and the video shows how people judge other people.