The diversity of people and their feelings and opinions are what creates a well formed, civilized society. Through emotions that people pertain and the unconditional risks that they take, it is what identifies them to be a part of society. Markus Zusak uses Death’s point of view, symbolism, and characterization in The Book Thief to convey that people’s feelings and beliefs during the Nazi’s era are what ultimately reflects its society which in turn allows them to uphold their beliefs against the totalitarian government. Death is portrayed as the narrator and the main point of view in the novel. He begins by issuing a “reassuring announcement,” stating that “I am not violent. I am not malicious. I am a result.” (5) The reason of this indication …show more content…
While observing the colors in the surroundings, Death takes great interest of it. He describes Germany as “the whole globe dressed in snow,” affirming that it is “white… of the blinding kind” (6) and is “the color of bone” (10) before addressing that “someone had died… There was one mother and her daughter. One corpse.” (7) He also describes an eclipse, “a signature black… the darkest moment before the dawn,” mentioning “I will often catch an eclipse when a human dies” (9) before referencing to the sky as “home-cooked red” from Germany’s bombings (12). Death claims that all three colors: white, black and red symbolizes the Nazi flag, but in further context, the colors ultimately represent the Nazis and their dictating society. The color white represents innocence, and since the “color of the bone” is white, it means the death of an innocent person such as the “one corpse” that was revealed to be the 6-year-old son of the mother and the brother of Liesel. This portrays the impact of how Jewish people suffered as they lost their innocent loved ones during the Holocaust. The color black also represents death since Death relates the eclipse to when “a human dies”; this can be compared to the execution of millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust. The color red represents rage, terror, and dictatorship that the Nazis expressed towards the Jewish people as well as blood that the Nazis shed to those that opposed their
An individual's morals are rooted in their personal views which may be contradictory to the principles manifested by society. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, characters living on Himmel Street who neglect Nazi ideology experience love for each other and humanity, thereby living a contented life in harsh conditions. The different types of love which individuals on Himmel Street encounter from refusing to obey societal ideologies and expectations is formed by supporting those in need and developing relationships with those that society has degraded.
Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief depicts the life of a certain young German girl named Liesel Meminger during World War II. Her story was told through the eyes of Death, who narrates both the blessings and devastation that occurred during that era. Liesel experiences living with her new foster parents and come across a boy named Rudy Steider who will later on become her best friend. As the story unfolds, Liesel gradually discovers the horrifying truth behind the Nazi regime as her foster parents take refuge of a Jewish man. Despite being in the midst of destruction and recently coping from her traumatic background, she undertakes on a journey of self-discovery and
“The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is narrated by death and begins when Liesel’s brother dies on a train with her and her mother. At her brother’s burial, she steals her first book, “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” and soon after is separated from her mother and sent to live with foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in Molching, where the majority of the book takes place. At school, Liesel is teased because she can’t read so Hans teaches her to read when she wakes up from her frequent nightmares about her brother’s death. Hans is a painter and an accordion player and also plays the accordion for her after her nightmares. Liesel grows very close with Hans and also becomes close friends with her neighbor Rudy Steiner who constantly asks her to
In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the narrator is Death, who shows itself as sympathetic and sensitive towards the suffering of the world and the cruel human nature, through its eyes, we can get to know the heartbreaking story of Liesel Meminger an ordinary, but very lucky nine-year old German girl; living in the midst of World War II in Germany. In this book the author provides a different insight and observation about humanity during this time period from a German view and not an Allied perspective, as we are used to.
In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger, an orphaned little girl living in Nazi Germany, evolves partly through her numerous literary thefts. At her younger brother’s gravesite, she steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, which teaches her not only the method to physically bury her brother, but also lets her emotionally bury him and move on. The theft of her next book, The Shoulder Shrug, from a book burning marks the start of Liesel’s awareness and resistance to the Nazi regime. As a story with a Jewish protagonist “who [is] tired of letting life pass him by – what he refer[s] to as the shrugging of the shoulders to the problems and pleasures of a person’s time on earth,” this novel prepares her both for resisting the
Crises are inevitable. But Crises can be dealt a number of ways, due to their prevalence. However, books seem to be a popular choice, why? What makes them special and useful in times of crises? Some of the most well-known books involve a description of crisis or a character going through the crisis. In Night, Author Elie Wiesel describes his experience in Nazi Hungary and in concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald to bring awareness about the horrors of Holocaust and warn the people about any future atrocities. Furthermore, in The Book Thief, The main character, Liesel Meminger, describes her experience with stealing books and how it helped her survive and stay courageous during the Nazi regime. Lastly, in The Dairy of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a very famous historical fiction book in this decade. This 550 paged book has encouraged many teens to know more about the Holocaust, a genocide that took place during World War II. Markus Zusak wrote this book based on information from his parents’ memory, not based on a modern day conflict. His parents’ experience during the war greatly influenced him. Even though many of the characters in this book are fictional, the origins, the towns, the events and the actions are historically accurate. Although The Book Thief was not written during World War II, Zusak was still around people who had been there to witness it.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is written in 1939, Nazi Germany. Parts 1-3 of The Book Thief are set over the time span that starts at the Winter of 1939 and ends on November 3, 1940. Zusak uses real life events in his story to set the plot and follow a timeline. The historical events lay out a road map on which Zusak basically follows as he writes this story. Zusak's usage on nonfiction events in a fiction story creates a mood in the story that makes in more believable.
The cultural context that motivated the actions of the Nazis and the people of Germany was defined by the spirit of the time, or in other words, the zeitgeist of Post World War II, which focused greatly on the vulnerability experienced by the Germans and the promise of greatness and restoration of national pride that the Nazis were offering. Schlink captures this through the use of symbolism, allegory, analogy and characterisation and allows readers to view the time period from the perspective of an adolescent German. He also gives the reader an opportunity to develop a sense of empathy for the characters and subsequently for Germans during that time, who may still carry the guilt and burden of their World-War past.
The Holocaust is marked as one of the most horrifying events of the 20th century.The person who was responsible for the Holocaust was Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party. The question is, how, and why was Hitler able to do this? The actual truth behind all this is that, Hitler could make the world his, just by using words. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, it tells a story about a young girl growing up when Nazi Germany was invincible. The author explores some very meaningful, yet, controversial themes for the most part of the novel. Out of all themes, he believes that words hold a remarkable power. He explores how words manipulate, divide, and connect people.
Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief (2005), and Steven Spielberg, director of Schindler’s List (1993), both use their works to portray the theme of racism in Nazi-era Germany. Racism today affects millions of people daily, with 4.6 million people being racial discrimination in Australia alone. However, in Nazi-era Germany, Jewish people were discrimination because they weren’t part of the ‘master race’, causing millions to suffer and be killed. To explore this theme, the setting, characters, conflicts and symbols in both The Book Thief and Schindler’s List will be analysed and compared.
If you were a German citizen during World War II, do you think you would be a Nazi? Most people would say no even though, in actuality, most people would be. It is because people need to succumb to societal expectations to survive in a society such as that of Germany during WWII and in the book, The Book Thief, this theme of individual versus society is explored with people complying and fighting social expectations. Sometimes people side with the Nazi Party out of fear of being targeted and other times fight against Nazi Party because of love for their family and fellow man with usually terrible consequences. In The Book Thief, the theme of the individual versus society is shown many times with characters conforming and defying social expectations.
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.
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don't do anything about it. In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, we see demonization is utilized to gain power numerous times through the use of the characters in the book. This book develops the theme of Horrors of Humanity.by showing the demonization through the use of power, in which concludes to Viktor Chemmel being the leader of the stealing gang, Franz Deutscher being the leader of the Hitler youth group, and even Liesel Meminger being involved with thievery and standing up for herself. All of these characters are uniquely different, yet still the same.
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.