Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.
During Markus Zusak’s book we observe the beauty of humans at many times. One of the most beautiful things a human does is when Max, the jew the Hubermanns are hiding from the nazis, gives Liesel a book that he made himself. But he says that “Now I think we are friends, this girl and me. On her birthday it was she who gave a gift to me”(Zusak 235). Max made this book for leisel by taking paint from the basement and painting over pages in Mein Kampf. He lets the pages dry and then he writes a story on them. He makes this book for Liesel because he can’t afford to buy one, and even if he could he can’t leave the house. But when he gives Liesel the book we also examine humans doing something so unbelievably nice. Liesel accepts max as a friend. Which in the long run will help Max out a lot, because he is locked in the basement and he can’t even go up stairs during the day. So someone who is there to talk to him, and someone for him to talk to will help him out. Throughout this book we watch their friendship grow. Liesel feels bad for Max because he is stuck in the basement so on a regular basis she will tell Max what the weather is like...
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We watch death explore the beauty and ugliness of the human race in Markus Zusak’s book The Book Thief. We watch as Liesel, Hans, and Rosa do everything they can to help out a group of people who were treated with such disrespect during this time period. This group, the Jews, were beaten for taking food that was given to them, and when they died no one would even care. But, these few people gave them food, a place to hide, a sense of belonging, and and a reason to live. They have to work day and night, and do everything they can. Even though people aren’t so beautiful at all times, there is still hope. As we have learned in this book that even when 99 percent of humans aren’t so marvelous there is still that one percent that is to delightful that it would touch anyones heart.
Works Cited
Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.
This is a story of courage, companionship, affection, survival, decease, and sorrow. This is Liesel’s life on Himmel Street, narrated by Death. There are two major themes in this book that are experienced at any point of time in everyone’s life. Those themes are “Survivor’s Guilt” and “Abandonment”. This book should be read by everyone. This book has a lot of themes that is beneficial for people in their lives. I feel that this book is interestingly written for an important piece of history.
Liesel and her family were paying an old friend of Hans but also doing something that they knew they could be taken away for. “We can’t leave him here, the smell will kill us…and we can’t carry him out the door and drag him up the street either” (Zusak 329). Max, the Jew had become sick and they were not sure if he was going to make it. Trying to figure out a way to take out a Jewish corpse had become impossible to do without getting caught. “Does he know? Liesel thought. Can he smell we’re hiding a Jew” (Zusak 343)? Having Nazi soldiers come into their home was nerve racking because they had to hide Max but they had less than a minute. They were so worried that they might get caught because they could have been taken away from their house and their family. Hiding a Jew could scare anybody if they were not allowed to.
It is the start of World War Two and a young girl has just witnessed Death for the first time, and Death has glimpsed her. Set against the bleakness of Nazi Germany, The Book Thief details the beautiful, gut wrenching story of ten year old Liesel Meminger as she tries to survive and make sense of the confusing and often cruel world that surrounds her. Through her story, and the relationships she builds, this terrible time in history takes on new depth and a true understanding of the struggles that came with living in war-torn Germany.
One major scene occurs moments before the bonfire of books. A series of events trigger recollections of Liesel’s past family which causes her to construe the reason why her family is separated. Liesel finally asks Hans, “Is my mother a communist?” (115). This question acts as Liesel’s confirmation of her thought that the Nazis has indeed taken her mother away just like how they took her father for being a communist. Liesel is perplexed because she knows her mother is not a bad person at all, yet, her personal experiences with her mother contradicts with the ideals she has been taught; her mother is a criminal for believing in a utopia different than Hitler’s. In the following scene, Liesel is slapped by Hans Hubermann right before he said, “You can say that in our house… But you never say it on the street, at school, at the BDM, never!” (115). It pained him to punish Liesel and he longs to embrace and comfort her, but he was forced to take drastic actions to protect Liesel from being taken away by the Gestapo. Hans understands that he is Liesel’s sole protector and he shall act as a shield along Liesel’s journey to find her truth. Hans’ actions acts as an example for Liesel to follow. He tells Liesel to never admit her thoughts in public but he tells her that she can in private when she is safe from prying eyes and ears. Hans himself is hiding his insurgent activities behind closed doors. He hides a Jew in his basement, fully knowing it could very well kill him and his
When Liesel turns 10, she is admitted to the Hitler Youth, and this starts a chapter of the book in which Liesel started to feel anger towards the Nazis and Hitler. However, she is surrounded by their propaganda, guards, and rules in Molching. During Hitler’s birthday, a big celebration happens on the streets of Moching where there was going to be burning of propaganda that the enemies brought. Nazi student organizations, librarians, and professors made up long list of books they though should not be read by Germans. The Nazis go door to door asking people for material from old Germany. The Jewish houses on the Jewish street were robbed for books and other literature. Once the Nazis attacked the libraries and bookstores across Germany, at night, they would march in parades, sing changes, and throw books into huge bonfires. On that night, more than 25,000 books were burned. Liesel and many others witnessed the burning the books. “A couple of times, Liesel was a witness to men and women knocking on doors, asking people if they had any material that they felt should be done away with or destroyed” (Markus Zusak, Pg. 101). The Nazis recognized the power of words. They felt that language that contradicts their propaganda was dangerous to the country and felt that they should be
Death, narrator of this story, keeps us entirely focused on mortality. Death himself has nothing to do with why people die. He only exists because people die. He has the job of separating the deads souls from their bodies and carrying those souls away to the . Death lets us know from the beginning that this is a very sad and tragic story. But then again this story is set during WWII and the Holocaust, we witness the deaths of many innocent and not so innocent people, which is to be expected in a book about this time period. Death tells us that most of the characters we will begin to love will die by the end of the book. There are very few who do survive in the end of this tragic tale. Which is a very realistic happenstance back then.
Nazi Germany was a place filled with so much hatred and so much depression that it seemed as though there could be no beauty found in a single person. The Book Thief shows so much death and sorrow that it feels as though there can’t possibly be beauty in any of the characters, but there is. Liesel, Rosa, Hans, Rudy, and Max are all proof that while there can be ugliness living deep within a person, the beauty inside is what matters most and is what gets them through such difficult times. Beauty can conquer ugliness inside of people if they focus on the right things and don’t allow the ugliness to take over.
In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, beauty and brutality is seen in many of the characters. Rudy, Liesel, and Rosa display examples of beauty and brutality often without realizing what exactly they are doing, because it is a part of their human nature. Zusak not only uses his characters, but also the setting of the novel in Nazi Germany to allude to his theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature. The time in which the novel is set, during World War II, displays great examples of beauty and brutality, such as the mistreatment of the Jews. As a result of this time period, the characters have to go through troubling times, which reveals their beautiful and brutal nature in certain circumstances. Zusak uses his characters and their experiences to demonstrate the theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature in the novel.
Death is a very well-known figure that is feared by many in all countries. He is suspected of being cruel, disturbing and all synonyms of horrifying. Death is inevitable and that is the most fearing aspect of his persona. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Death is made to seem or resemble humans. Effectively using the narration role, Death introduces a unique description and definition of colors in which he uses as a tool to effectively engage the readers to the events occurring throughout the book. He also demonstrates him personal and different experiences as well, mostly about soul gathering and the implications of WWII that have affected him. On the contrary to Death’s dead, appalling and scary nature that many interpret him to be during the book, Death shows many emotions and features to his personality that reasoning would declare otherwise. One of those feature would be the colors.
Everyone has done something that may seem wrong in society’s eyes, but these decisions or actions could end up changing society’s view about the situation. This is the case for characters in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The Book Thief is about a girl named Liesel who struggles to readjust to her new home with Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Along the way, she makes new friends such as Max Vandenburg, the son of a man that Hans is in debt to, and Rudy Steiner, a young boy who lives near Liesel. Over the course of the book, Liesel learns just how powerful words can be, and how society can impact one’s decisions. One of the main themes in the book is that sometimes going against society will lead to the
She continues to give him gifts and other things, she finds his sketchbook and she reads it, it has many things like him, Hitler, and Jewish things. Although she felt bad about reading it, she found out about his past and the struggles of being a Jew at the time. It’s been a few weeks and Max still hasn’t woken up and everyone (Mama, Papa, and Liesel) are all scared, papa keeps on saying things about him being dead and that upsets Liesel. Finally, Max wakes up while Liesel is at school and she is really happy, after school she goes to see him and it’s just pure happiness, someone she thought was dead wasn’t. Fast forward to a few years the war is almost over, papa is serving in the military and Max left, Max leaving affected Liesel but she knew it was safer for him. After the war, Max finally comes back and everyone is joyful. The war is finally over! Liesel went from a scared little girl to a brave young adult, her character changed a lot but it was a good change since it made her more a heroine. These are the reasons why I think change is good. And the author wrote the book to inform you about what happened during WWI-WWII while making the storyline
In Markus Zusak’s best selling novel, ‘The Book Thief’ he utilizes a stark contrast of ideas in beauty and destruction. In real life, war and famine devastate the people of this world. At the same time, however, there are elements of beauty such as peace and love. Many events in the book display this contrast, such as Death’s exhaustion of the human race and their complexities, or when Hans slaps Liesel to protect her. Because Zusak interconnects beauty and destruction, he is suggesting that the kindness of humanity far outweighs it’s cruelty
As time evolves, so do the words that are essential for our everyday survival. The most obvious difference between humans and animals is our ability to master the art of speech. Often, people will say the “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, a simple nursery rhyme that helps ease a bullied child from abusive words and taunts. But does that really help cure the emotional pain? Words can illuminate and motivate the minds of people but can also shadow their self-esteem through psychological trauma. In The Book Thief, we see how fundamental words were to shape the reality of millions of people caught in the fire of World War II.
Although I have been fortunate enough to have a father and mother who love me a great deal, I still think the world can be cruel and mean. But meaner than we think? Every day we hear of some new tragedy that she speaks of, “the woman who drowned her children, the man who shot first the babies in her arms and then his wife, the teenage boys who led the three-year-old away along the train track, the homeless family recovering from frostbite with their eyes glazed and indifferent while the doctor scowled over their shoulders” (159), but every day we also hear of the good things.
Throughout life many people face difficulties. Depending on the person’s strength some will get through tough times, but some will fail to overcome them. Two books where characters have to face many challenges include: Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Book Thief. These two stories deal with people overcoming the difficulties faced throughout everyday life. Some difficulties include racism, religious discrimination, and dealing with others’ cruelness or kindness. Examples from these books prove that the characters have challenges throughout the stories to overcome. In the face of adversity what causes some individuals to fail while others prevail?