In The Book Thief, the author, Markus Zusak writes a beautiful story following a young German girl named Liesel who experiences the atrocities that occur during World War II. Early in the book, she is given by her mother to foster parents who raise her as their own. During her childhood, she begins stealing books and learns about the power of words. Throughout the story, she bonds with many people including her neighbors, her foster parents and a Jew hidden in their basement. Most of the characters end up dying due to the horrible living conditions and time period the book takes place in. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak uses first person point of view, a dark tone and pathos to reveal the harsh reality that citizens of Germany suffered through …show more content…
In the beginning of the book, the first huge tragedy takes place when Liesel’s brother dies and Liesel reacts in the following manner, “Perhaps ten meters to my left, the pale, empty-stomached girl was standing, frost-stricken. Her mouth jittered. Her cold arms were folded. Tears were frozen to the book thief’s face” (Zusak, 8). In this scene where Liesel loses her brother, she’s devastated and it’s one of those scenes where you just kind of get really sad reading it. Some people who are maybe a little more in touch with their emotions might shed a tear or two. As a reader, you just feel really bad for Liesel and you might start making connections to your own siblings. Sometimes I think when a lot of people read about horrible events that have taken place, such as the Holocaust, where people died or were injured, they don’t think about the fact that these were real people, or just don’t care enough to because it wasn’t somebody with any significance to them. Each one of these people who were killed had a mother and father and could have had siblings, cousins and children of their own. When most of these people died, they had family or friends grieving over their passing. A lot of readers when they realize this, might turn their sadness into anger, specifically towards the cause of all this mayhem, Adolf Hitler. I applaude Zusak as an author because if it was his motive at all to target Hitler, he succeeded. Scenes like this really give readers insight on the Holocaust. Near the end of the book, Liesel has to cope with the overwhelmingly painful deaths of everyone on Himmel Street, “She began to rock back and forth. A shrill, quiet, smearing note was caught somewhere in her mouth until she was finally able to turn” (Zusak, 537). The scene where Liesel loses her brother is sad, however we didn’t get the
The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak set in Munich, Germany during the Nazi reign from 1936-1943. The novel incorporates a main character that is, in the beginning, an innocent child who doesn't understand the world and takes her on a journey where she grows up and matures through the hardships and challenges of her life. The story is narrated by the character Death, who is a fresh take on the Grim Reaper, only wearing the black cloak when it's cold and never carries a syte. Death describes the life Liesel Meminger, an orphaned girl who witnesses her brother's death and burial and finds herself being adopted by the benevolent old couple, the Hubermanns. The rest of the story follows Liesel's journey through her incredibly challenging life with the Hubermanns and characters such as Rudy, The mayor's wife, and Max helping her along. Symbolism in The Book Thief deepens the story by conveying many different ideas and emotions that supports the reader's understanding of the story. This is especially apparent with the use of the gravediggers to help the reader remember characters, the use of color to help the reader feel the proper emotions and remember the correct events, and the use of Liesel's changing feelings about Rudy to convey how Liesel grows and matures through the book.
The Book Thief, written by Australian novelist Markus Zusak, follows a young girl living in Nazi Germany, and employs innovative techniques to convey the central idea of the extremes of human behavior. This central idea was explored through stylistic techniques and conventions such as Death as the narrator, juxtaposition, irony, lack of chronological order, narrative voices, and themes, namely the power of words.
There are many reasons why Liesel’s life shows beauty in the wake of brutality, but the most significant reason is that she has beautiful connections with people, so no matter how brutal things get,
"No matter how many times she was told she was loved there was no recognition that the proof was in the abandonment" (Zusak 32). The novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who struggles through WWII and faces the pain and suffering of abandonment. When one is faced with such an abandonment and is forced to cope on their own, they may feel lost and alone. These emotions force people to find comfort. As in Liesel 's case, some people find comfort in books and words. Liesel 's perspective on abandonment can be seen through how she coped with her childhood trauma, Max 's illness and the Himmel Street bombing.
Liesel, the book thief herself, steals books in times of pain. All six books Liesel steals are metaphors for the feelings of loss and pain during the time of which the book was stolen. She uses the books to grow knowledge of the situations occurring around her, one stolen book in particular is “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” This book is the first of all books Liesel steals, and it is the book that caused her to grow to love words, coincidently, she finds this book in the snow on the day of her brother’s death, which is when she was filled with grief and abandonment. This book is a symbol for Liesel’s grief and as she tries to learn how to read the book, her twisted comfort in the story shows how the words had a powerful effect on her grieving process shown by the quotation, “…Not to mention the morbidity of the subject. As for the girl, there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn't even attempt to understand” (Zusak, 66)
The book 's importance is explained through Death where ‘“The books meaning 1. The last time she saw her brother. 2. The last time she saw her mother.” Despite Liesel being illiterate, the Gravedigger’s handbook holds significant meaning for the character. Liesel has an overwhelming feeling of loss of control and acts out in rebellion to steal the book that lay beside her brothers grave. By stealing the book, she has a reminder of her small family and it stops her feeling defeated by her ever changing life, which she has no control over. This idea is then reinforced with another action of the character. Liesel then finds out that Hitler was the cause of the suffering and loss of freedom of the people she loved and knew in her life.This second act of rebellion takes place while Liesel visits a Nazi book burning. Liesel soon understands that the Nazi’s burnt books to brainwash citizens of Germany(_____). As a result of this Lisel then understands the importance and power words have, causing her to again acts rebelliously in a protest. “And it was anger and dark hatred that had fueled her desire to steal it.” This passage from the novel shows the emotions of Liesel. As a character who is unable to express herself verbally, her actions speak for her. Liesel 's desire to understand words begins to grow, with her understanding that Nazis burn books in fear of what they may do to society.
Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, displays several ways to help readers analyze the story. He uses diction, imagery, details, language, and syntax which allows his audience to master the content in the story.
In Markus Zusak novel “The Book Thief,” a little girl named Liesel serves as the protagonist. The plot of the story takes place in Germany during the late thirties, early fourtees while the anti-jewish sentimant is most prominent and Hitlers is at his peak in terms of power and followers. The book revolves around the life of Leisel and how these attrocious conditions shaped her life. This book does a great job of demonstrating many aspects described in “How to Read Literature Like a
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak tells the story of Liesel Meminger and her life during World War II. It is told from the point of view of Death through his interactions near her and others in her life. Zusak uses imagery, language, and tone to share his theme of the beauty of humans.
Throughout history, humanity has had to endure many hardships. To help cope with these misfortune human nature can be observed in the many ways it has evolved in people to help them to withstand the perils that make up a war. In Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief, published in 2005, Liesel Meminger must survive the struggles she faces as a result of her life being in the middle of the grips of Nazi Germany. Faced with events like the loss of all her closest loved ones, the Holocaust, discrimination because of her ability to read, and her religion, Liesel’s instincts is forced to develop ways for her to survive. With some help from her new father and the power of word Liesel’s human disposition helps her live through the war. With her
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a moving, award-winning story that follows the life of a German girl, named Liesel, during World War 2.
Liesel is the most dynamic character she changes a great quantity throughout the story and has to undergo some serious situations. In the beginning Liesel starts distressed about starting school, she loves to read and even gets in a bit of a predicament with her teacher when she recites a different
The Book Thief Extended Paragraph When reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, you come across many examples of cruelty. Throughout the book Leisel has to overcome words that are used against her and the Jews. She has to learn to accept the power of words and turn them into something greater. Three examples of the “cruelty” that Liesel observes in The Book Thief are the book burning, when Liesel finds Max marching with the Jews, and when Himmel street is bombed.
Liesel's life, in the book The Book Thief by Mark Zuasak, represented the beauty in the wake of brutality. Liesel went through a lot of hardship but also saw some of the best things, as in the meaning in friendship and many other things. She also when all odds were against her she would still want to live unlike most people if they were put through some of stuff that she did. She also would take things that were bad and turn them into something good into something that wasn't as awful as it could've been as she got older. Zuasak completes this by the way he tells her story and always by the way he has Death tie in color with everything he was to see as he read Liesel's book.
A few violent scenes occur, but the one that started trickling realization into Liesel brain is the scene in part 10. Liesel is searching through the marchings Jews for a familiar face she once knew and loved. Not finding Max in the crowd of Jews took away from the rest of the pain in Liesel’s life. On this unfortunate day Liesel searches the crowd and immediately feels her heart drop when she sees Max’s twigs of hair and swampy eyes studying the crowd for the same reason Liesel was. The German girl rushes through the blur of Jews and makes her way to Max. blocking out the german soldiers, Liesel restates Max’s story he wrote for her. In this moment, Liesel was so brave that she feared no one, including German soldiers. “She was courageous enough to reach