In this everyday world seven billion people occupy, sacrifices are one object that can make or break ties to anything. Although sacrifices are not an actual human being, it is safe to say they should be treated like one. Every person in this non-cookie cutter universe has their own up close and personal experiences. In the The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a world full of these so called sacrifices is unveiled. Each character has their own story and it is certainly told. Hans Hubermann is one of those characters that is impossible to forget. Throughout the duration of the book, the readers illustrate the values of Hans based off the sacrifices he makes. The values that are portrayed of Hans based off the sacrifices in the story are selfless, caring, and courageous. First off, if it is one character that has a definite eye for others, Hans would be the one. …show more content…
Parades are a common venture in Munich and Dauchau. There is talk of parades quite often during the book. Hans attends the parades with Liesel and they witness the Jews who are not so happy to be a part of these parades. At one parade in Dauchau, Hans does the unthinkable. “The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic” (Zusak 394). Despite the people around him and the rules he must live by, he still made this person feel much better and more important. Consequently, Hans received an intense beating. The Jew, it goes without saying he also received his fair share of cruel and unusual punishment. “The Jew whipped six times. On his back, his head, and his legs. ‘You filth! You swine!’ Blood dripped from his ear. Then it was Papa’s turn” (Zusak 394). The beatings may have had a horrifying physical impact on Hans but at the end of the day, he sacrificed greatly for a man he did not even
Hans supports the Jewish community, who are viewed as ‘undesirables subhumans’ by society. The ethical values which Hans holds are apparent in the way he treats starving and helpless Jews traveling through Molching, “The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread” (Zusak 395). As a consequence of rejecting societal expectations and ideologies, the character Hans Hubermann solidifies the notion that every individual deserves basic human respect. Therefore, Hans develops a love for humanity and the individual he is helping through refusing to obey corrupt societal expectations. Aiding those who are injured is a gateway to love as it changes the world for the individual one is
A example why people are brutal in The Book Thief is when the bomber planes were dropping bombs on the small town killing many people. My thoughts on this is even though the Nazi started this doesn’t mean they should kill innocent families.
“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 Book Thief, author Markus Zusak tells the tragic story of Liesel Meminger and her experiences in 1939 Nazi Germany. Zuzak incorporates compelling literary devices such as toe curling foreshadowing, personification, and vivid imagery in the form of simile and metaphors to grasp the readers’ interest. Zusak’s use of various literary devices helps to deepen the text and morals of the story, and makes the dramatic historical novel nearly impossible to put down.
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.
Hans is a very caring and selfless father figure in Liesel's life. He treated her with plenty of care and affection.’Unofficially, it was called the midnight class, even though it commenced at around two in the morning.’’(Zusak,30) Hans would get up to read to Liesel when ever she would have nightmares which would then lead to their late reading sessions in the basement. No matter how tired he was, he would always make
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
Human nature has many elements that reveal the growth and personality of a person. In Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief”, the author successfully portrays various aspects of human nature through Hans’ conflicts that originate from the tough reality that he lives in. Elements of human nature can be seen as a result of Hans’ constant struggles with guilt, kindness, and love.
Blinding hate is more destructive to an individual than the act of being apathetic to their actions. A relationship is not affected by one's apathy unless you choose it to be, yet one that is bound by sheer hatred is oppressive. It is vital to not let mutual hate stem off hatred projected upon one, which in the end is more destructive. Markus Zusak sees a world revolves around the fact that outright dislike is more dangerous than one being indifferent to the unfortunate as shown in his book The Book Thief. Through the character Liesel, Zusak shows this through her relationship with her mum. Zusak also shows how being disliked is destructive through Max’s obsessive hatred towards his oppressed; the nazis. Zusak uses WW2 as the setting for his
As an innate experience of being human, characterization of death is an element that often permeates many literary works. However, in The Book Thief, Zusak provides a unique lens through which his personification of Death rejects the traditional Grim Reaper trope. While it may be his job to collect the souls of the deceased, Death is no “scythe” wielding, “black robe” wearing entity with “skull-like facial features” (Zusak 307). He “urge(s)” the reader to “trust [him]” for he is nothing if not “amiable. Agreeable.
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.
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.
Suffering can be found on three different levels, mental, physical and emotional. In an everyday life the three levels can be found at school, at work or even on the streets, for example people who are living on the street generally suffer mentally. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the topic that suffering exists on three different levels is shown throughout the book. In The Book Thief the author shows that the three levels of suffering exist and impacts multiple characters throughout the book . The three levels of suffering impacts many characters such as, the Jews, Liesel and Max.
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."
German citizens had to endure a challenging lifestyle, presented by Adolf Hitler, of fascism, the holocaust, Jewish laws and propaganda during World War II. From 1939-1942, Nazi Germany affected the lives of Jews, Gypsies, Slavic people, and other groups living in Germany by getting rid of the undesirables, known as the Holocaust. Only Germans with the look of blond hair and blue eyes were even considered to live, only if he or she had no defects or disabilities, anyone else was sent to and killed in concentration camps. The Book Thief takes place in a town near Munich, Germany during this time of the holocaust. The novel focuses on the lives of the people and how they cope and deal with the immediate effects of WWII. It emphasizes the danger of hiding a Jew in a family’s basement, and how they are constantly paranoid of being caught.