Mikayla Lawrence

Mrs.Dougherty

Ap Lang

5/1/23

The Nature of Love’s Perseverance Through Perception of Cowardice And The Pain Of Reality

Nazism is built on the shaky foundation of propaganda and the romanticism of cruel

figures who have built themselves by putting down others, ruling by fear and falsity, until people

do not even remember what they stood for or their morals, what they wanted to see in the world.

Young children put into the Nazi youth programs, either by force, necessity, or volunteer, should

never have been put in a position that would make them lose their childhood innocence and

corrupt the goodness and hope and humility inside of them. However, Jojo's intrinsic childhood

purity allowed him to grow through his experiences and the knowledge he gained in the

company of Elsa to grow as a person. When allowed to present itself, truth will prevail and as

long as there are good, honest people willing to fight, willing to take risks, willing to open up

their hearts in the face of adversity, willing to learn and listen. Then, love, whether platonic or

romantic, will be won. Through a willingness to listen and a heart full of love, one can overcome

the brainwashed nature of a propagating society; Jojo was able to change his mind, and break

free from the evil clutches of a misguided civilization, into the light of hope, to true bravery

away from cowardice, because in the end no matter how much pain reveals itself, the truth and

justice of the innocent are worth facing hardship to find the love that follows.

Children are impressionable beings, ten-year-old Jojo being no exception. When put into

an environment that romanticizes someone as psychopathic and wicked, and bloodthirsty as

Hitler, young Jojo, at that point, has no reason to question what is being told to him. In his mind,
Hitler is a guide, someone to look up to, not necessarily a cruel being; for him, Jojo's caricature

of Hitler is someone he looks to for advice, someone he trusts in. Jojo's perception of Hitler is a

buffoonish person, who is silly and stupid, but overall light-hearted. The satirical nature of

Hitler's caricature is that Hitler was not a genius or a mastermind; he was a terrible person who

capitalized off of an unfortunate circumstance. After World War I, with Germany forced to pay

off the entire war, the people were hungry and desperate, and Hitler made Jews the scapegoats.

He made people believe Jews were culpable for their lack of money. However, the way Jojo sees

Hitler is also ironic because he sees Hitler as an encouraging person, someone who is looking out

for his best interest and wants him to succeed, where in reality, as Jojo will later realize, Hitler

only wants Jojo to be a soldier, a weapon, a vessel, a follower, someone to fight. At the same

time, Hitler rides on his high horse and creates chaos from afar, like a coward. The term coward

has an immense satirical connotation in this film. When the older boys in the program gang up

on Jojo, they tell Jojo he must be prepared to "kill at will." Jojo replies, "I love killing," however,

when they ask him to prove it by murdering a rabbit, Jojo refuses, and they label him as a

"coward." The ironic diction of Jojo being called a "coward" for having a set moral compass,

from knowing the difference between just and unjust punishment, his heart, so unconditionally

full of love, went against everything he was taught and conditioned to believe, and everything he

thought he believed about obeying orders and killing for Hitler because he is simply a pure,

good-intending person. This refusal to submit, the refusal to be a puppet, is one of the first truly

brave moments we see from Jojo. Those calling Jojo cowardly are the true cowards for refusing

to leave what is easy into something that is right. The understatement of "kill at will" and "I love

killing" undermines the significance of taking a life due to the dehumanization and perception of

the worthlessness of not only Jews but other innocents, in this case, the rabbit. Jojo was never
evil, only misguided, it is his love and his congenital integrity that allowed for his bravery in

adversity, and even though he faced hardship and ridicule for his actions, taunting and nickname

"Jojo Rabbit," it was worth it in Jojo's mind in an attempt to help the innocent, because his heart

was pure. He couldn't commit an act that he knew was not right. Overall, one is only cowardly

by refusing to stand up for their views and refusing to aid those in need. Cowardly is hiding

behind a facade because someone is too afraid to stand up for what's right; that is how Hitler's

evilness withstood, though cowardice and caged off hearts.

Stereotypes and misinformation are a straight path toward ignorance. Being willing to

listen, to learn, to change, to get past the stereotypes a person once believed and instead make

their own decisions based on their moral compass allows people to grow and exit the evil

encumbering society. When we are first introduced to the young Jewish girl, Elsa, she is shown

in a creepy depiction. The ironic auditory of the horror music, and the overstated body language

of Elsa wrapping her fingers around the wall, looking like a horror film as if she is about to

attack and awaiting Jojo. The irony of Elsa being portrayed as evil, monstrous, and horrific is

that Jojo belongs to a Nazi youth program. The person he is idolizing, Hitler, is the true evil,

while Elsa is innocent and just trying to survive to see the next day. The Nazis have taught Jojo

that Jewish people are evil and that to preserve their "civilized" society, they must be rid of the

Jews, coming across as absurdists. Elsa, when first approaching Jojo, claims, "This Jew will cut

off your Nazi head," while Hitler, during the interaction, is described as having "bombproof legs"

and "powers." The irony of these statements is that the Nazis idolize Hitler as having divinity,

being holier than thou presence; however, Elsa, who is Jewish, is portrayed as having the

strength and the ability to instill fear, while in reality, Elsa's strength comes from necessity, to

overcome the atrocities that Hitler, who was feared, despite his depiction of buffoonery, created
into the Jewish community. However, as he continues to hang around Elsa, she tells him tall tales

about Jews, claiming that they read each other's minds and have horns and are evil, which Jojo

doesn't even question initially, believing that Jewish people are, more or less, Devil incarnates.

However, we see time Jojo begins to realize that she was not being truthful, that Jewish people

aren't any different from anyone else, and that the true Devils are the Nazis. After the Nazis

inspect Jojo's home and find Elsa, who lies that she is Inge, Jojo's dead sister, she gets Inge's

birthday wrong during the questioning and fears that the Nazis will come back and kill her or

that Rosie will kick her out, as she feared that from the moment Jojo found her hiding. Old Jojo

would have ratted her out or, at the very least, offered nothing encouraging or supportive, but as

he learned more about her, and himself, Jojo claims "that I know you and that we're friends,"

Jojo refuses; now, to let Elsa be abandoned, to fend for herself, he wants to tell his mother what

happened despite Elsa's concerns but makes it clear that he will stand by her. As he listened to

her story, Jojo began to open his heart to her friendship, despite being conditioned to believe Elsa

was the enemy. The irony of the "we're friends" detail is that Jojo, up to this point, still

considered himself a Nazi, as loyal to Hitler. However, the second he felt Elsa was in genuine

danger, he immediately begins to distance himself from his Hitler caricature, which becomes

crueler and crueler as time goes on, becoming less buffoonish and more impertinent, eventually

turning vulgar, marking Jojo breaking away from the evil clutches of Nazi society. It takes true

bravery for Jojo to discard everything he had ever known and true bravery to protect Elsa despite

knowing he may be harmed for it, disregarding his future pain to help an innocent. In general,

when one allows themselves to listen to the people and to trust not only in them but their

goodness, one can stumble into the light of truth, leaving behind the dark of societal lies.
Jojo and his mother, Rosie, were close and happy in each other's presence. Rosie is a funny,

light-hearted mother who wants nothing more than to protect her children. However, after Inge

dies and the Holocaust begins, Rosie protects Elsa like she would her flesh and blood. However,

not only did she hide Elsa from him, but also her endeavors in resisting, to protect Jojo while he

was forced to be a part of the Nazi youth program. Rosie's hanging was the final straw; even

though resisting caused him and his family pain, Jojo has the strength to break up with this

buffoonish Hitler caricature and create a cruel, wicked version of Hitler in its place. Jojo left the

days of idolization and has become a person who is aware of the ferocious brutality that exists

within the Nazi party. The impact of his mother's death was a significant burden for Jojo. He

claims, "She hates me 'cause I'm a Nazi. I'm the enemy" The ironic diction of "she hates me" and

"I'm the enemy" infers Jojo's deep hatred of the Nazi part of his life. Rosie did not hate Jojo; she

would not have protected him and been kind to him, and made time for him if she hated him.

Deep down, Jojo knows this; he knows that his mother loved him, but his underlying guilt, the

realization that Elsa is not evil and that his mother, whom he believed to be the best kind of

person, was a resistor, and was willing to risk her life, and be brave in a society full of cowardice

for the hope and belief that peace can exist, perspective for Jojo. It's the wickedness of the Nazi

party, and the brainwashing, into perspective for Jojo. Instead of resenting his mother for hiding

that part of her life from him, Jojo takes that pain and allows it to propel him into the truth

further, and now views the justice of the innocent, and his love and friendship with Elsa, to be

the most crucial cause. From this point, Jojo and Hitler's relationship is shattered; explaines

through the hyperbole, when Hitler is eating a large feast of unicorns, symbolizing his

destruction of the innocent, Jojo is eating very little. These events continue to increase until they

get into a blowout fight, where Hitler attacks Elsa's humanity. Jojo responds angrily to Hitler's
claims that Elsa isn't a "thing" but a "girl." No matter how much pain Elsa and Jojo went

through, and starting on not-great terms, they became good friends through the love in their

hearts and the ability to see through the fog of manipulation into the clarity of truth. Jojo

develops dramatically throughout the story, and he can get through all the lies he had been told

and realize that Elsa is a person, a "girl," not a "thing" that can be easily discarded and replaced.

Jojo is no longer dependent on Hitler's opinion, the Nazi's opinions, society's opinions. He has

renewed bravery and strength and is becoming the pure, kind, courageous person he always was

but was hidden away out of fear. Concluding, Jojo uses his love for his mother and his pain for

her death to allow him to become a better person rather than destroying himself.

When facing pain for one's moral compass or complying with falsity for their physical

safety, the journey can be rocky and discouraging, and painful. Nevertheless, friendship can lead

one to discover the actual prize of life. Love. Jojo was guided by his heart, by his bravery, by his

thirst for the truth, which led him to gain someone even through loss. Jojo lost his mother and his

sister, and while that was painful for the young boy, he let his pain fuel him further in his journey

to ending his brainwashing by the Nazis and making friends with Elsa, which gave him hope and

a person to live and fight for. Children are not meant to be soldiers. Children are meant to play

and laugh. While Jojo was forced into a wrong position, his childhood purity and kindness and

the want to be helpful, allowed him to overcome the darkness of society into the light of the

warmth that could exist if the hatred within the Nazi society ended. Through love, one develops

themselves, leaves what they thought they had no choice but to fall victim to, and begins to make

decisions on their own.