How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Life Is Beautiful.
Quote #7
LESSING: So. Pay attention. "Fat, fat, ugly, ugly, all yellow in reality. If you ask me what I am, I answer, 'Cheep, cheep, cheep.' Walking along I go, 'Poopoo.' Who am I? Tell me true." A duckling, right? Is it a duckling? It's not! A veterinarian friend of mine sent it to me from Vienna. I can't send him mine until I solve this one. I thought duck-billed platypus, but it doesn't go, "Cheep, cheep, cheep." A duck-billed platypus goes hiss, hiss, hiss. I translated it into Italian for you last night. Well, what do you say? Everything points to a duckling. Help me, Guido. For heaven's sake, help me. I can't even sleep.
At first, Dr. Lessing appears to have built a relationship of respect with Guido, but this scene shows the truth of the matter. Lessing has the power to save Guido's life, and he uses that power to force Guido to help him solve a riddle. Like most people with social or political power in the film, Dr. Lessing turns out to be self-interested, rather than selfless.
Quote #8
U.S. SOLDIER: You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?
Rolling up in a tank, the American soldier represents the new, benevolent, power structure. The Nazis are toast, the war's over, and Joshua thinks he's won a brand-new tank. Joshua's earnest belief that the tank is his shows that Guido's life-affirming powers of imagination were successful. He kept his son completely unaware of his powerlessness and the danger he was in.