Hitler’s Daughter By Jackie French
Hitler’s Daughter by Jackie
French is a children’s fictional novel. The novel’s protagonist, Mark, is told
a story by Anna as he waits at the bus stop with other children. The protagonist, Mark, considers elements within the
story and starts to question if the people in Germany thought that what was
happening was wrong, “Had everyone back then really thought about things? Had
they looked at the evidence ...?” (French, 1999, pp 57). French (1999)
encourages readers to engage with the book by questioning these aspects along
with Mark. It is throughout this rich exposure and immersion into the story
that the characters help to develop this deep literacy.
The book Hitler’s Daughter by Jackie French
explores the relationship between parent and child in the imaginary story that
Anna tells. The relationship is between the make believe character Heidi and
her father Duffy (Hitler). Duffy is an evil man who does not like Jews or
people who have disabilities. Hitler believes that these people will ruin the
German blood line. Heidi, Hitler’s daughter, was born with a red birth mark
across her face and one leg shorter than the other resulting in a limp. ”Why did he keep her a secret?” asked
Mark...“Because she had a birthmark,” said Anna softly’ (French, 1999, pp 13).
Hitler is embarrassed by his daughter’s imperfections and does not want the
world to know that he has a daughter. Hitler is trying to build a race of
Aryans which is the perfect German with blonde hair and blue eyes resulting in
Hitler not loving his daughter. Heidi knows she’s not perfect because of the
Aryan dolls Hitler gave her. The blonde dolls are also symbolic of Heidi's low
self-esteem and Hitler's cruelty toward non-Aryan Germans (Skwirk, 2010).
Heidi believes that Duffy (Hitler) really loves
her because he is her father even though he doesn’t see her often. Heidi is trying
to force the relationship with her father convincing herself that they love
each other. Towards the end of Hitlers life he rejects Heidi in embarrassment
of her ‘'Take
her away,' said Adolf Hitler. 'Now! Do you hear me? Now!’ (J French,1999, pp
123). Heidi doesn’t believe it
and tricks herself into thinking she seen her father smile at her before he
died. Heidi wants to try hard to believe her father loved
her but after his death the truth catches up to her and denies who her parents
were for the rest of her life.
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