What Does Manec Symbolize The French Resistance

Furthermore, Doerr also represents the French resistance through the character of Manec. Manec, despite her old age, organizes a resistance group, where they confuse the German officers by changing the road signs, by burning important looking letters from Berlin or misprinting the train timetable. These resistance images are somehow similar to the ones represented in Al-Masabeh Al-Zurq, however, in the Arabic novel, they were against the French. Manec, then, symbolizes the resistant nature in humans and how they refuse to submit to their oppressors.
In addition to that, Marie, a blind French girl in her teenage years, helps the French resistance as well. She does the little things like carrying the bread that has a secret message, or by speaking
The national school where Werner is sent to receive a better education could perhaps be seen as a symbol or microcosm of Nazism in general. the school accepts students based on their physical appearance and strength, their knowledge of German, and whether they were true Germans or not. The school teaches the students that their lives are worthless compared to Germany, that indecency does not matter, and that the physically weak do not deserve to survive. For instance, once, the school leaves a dead prisoner outside, and when Werner says that it was indecent to do so, his older colleague tells him that decency does not matter to these people. In addition to that, in school, while they are training, the teacher asks them to point out who is the weakest among, and whoever is chosen has to pass a test, or he is abused by classmates. When Werner asks to leave the school, he is told that it is not up to him now, and receives a punishment by being sent to war. Through using the school as a symbol, Doerr points out to how the Nazis used education to further assert their cruel ideologies, and how they will punish anyone who does not submit to their ideologies. The school further stands as a symbol to how the education system is crucial in asserting any ideology in any decade, something that further reminds the readers of how the Nazi teacher in The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas embeds the Nazi ideologies in Gretel's mind and thus she loses her innocence and starts being more invested in the Nazi