Within the construction of texts the context and perspective proposed is unavoidably swayed by the way in which events, characters, and ideas are skewed or omitted by the narrator himself. Such a manipulation of ideas comes both within the context of our own experience or culture and the purposeful construction of the writer. Even when confronted with a narrator who is seemingly void of bias and flippant to the scenes of humanity, Zusak constructs a narration which prompts the reader toward empathy for the German people and Death himself. In the authors inspiration, Markus Zusak, born to a German mother and an Austrian Father, was influenced by the stories he collected from his mother and Father's childhood and wartime experiences. Consequently, …show more content…
This accumulation of events which are skewed by common cultural perspectives is counteracted by the creative choice of narrator. The Book Thief, a narrative detailing Liesel, a young girl's journey of life during World War II employs this frequently. This form of biased writing within the novel byMarkus Zusak has constructed his expression of character and events to be distanced from our general connotations of the events occurring and preconceived ideas of the people of NAZI Germany. Few scenes occur outside of the context of the Hubberman's or Himmel street and no time goes by where the scene is not overlooked by the narration of Death. The narration of the narrative is unconventional in its choice of character although this is no mistake. The bias held by the reader is likely to be of negative connotations for the people of NAZI Germany. The humanisation which is proposed by the narrator helps to counteract these negative connotations creating empathy for the characters within the novel. Furthermore, the daunting choice of narration means that Death is constantly overlooking the town of “Himmel street” and the lives of innocent German people. One character which the narrator of Death specifically expresses in detail is Rudy Steiner's Father in his political deadlock. Within the mid of the …show more content…
This employment of omitted and skewed events creates an inevitable sense of balance. Written by Markus Zusak recounting the stories of his mother and father's past, The Book Thief is a natural example of this form of biased writing. Within the narrative, Markus Zusak distances the characters present from the negative connotations of NAZI Germany and, In order to achieve this the choice of narration being Death, Markus Suzak must distance the narrator from the concept of death itself. The initial, and inevitable concept of death which holds negative connotations, especially in the context of NAZI controlled Germany is distanced from Death throughout the novel. One such way of effectively employing this is to humanise the character of Death and hence distance the character from the bludgeoning concept of death. death, throughout the novel, haunts the Hubberman family and Himmel Street. Similarly, and in reference to the concept of death, Death reassuringly asserts he is “nothing if not fair” and describes the final moments of life as himself “carrying you gently away”. This humanising description of death contrasts greatly from the brutality of death itself and its violent and malicious nature. Furthermore, the use of the diction “carrying” is the previous extract holds human and gentle connotations giving Death an obscurely loving nature. Moreover,
Blood chilling screams, families torn apart, horrifying murders are all parts of the Holocaust. David Faber, a courageous, young man tortured in a Nazi concentration camp shares the horrors he was exposed to, including his brother Romek’s murder, in the book Because of Romek, by himself David Faber. When Nazis invaded his hometown in Poland during World War II, David remained brave throughout his father’s arrest and his struggle to stay alive in the concentration camp. David’s mother inspired him with courage.
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.
Since the publication of, Night by Eliezer Wiesel, the holocaust has been deemed one of the darkest times in humanity, from the eradication of Jewish people to killing of innocents. Wiesel was one of the Jewish people to be in the holocaust and from his experience he gave us a memoir that manages to capture the dark side of human nature in the holocaust. He demonstrates the dark side of human nature through the cruelty the guards treat the Jews and how the Jews became cold hearted to each other. Wiesel uses foreshadowing and imagery, and metaphors to describe these events.
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
Throughout the years 1933 to 1945, it was a frightening experience with innocent people involved. These innocent victims went through such a terrifying life-changing experience. Evil soldiers caused a mass murder that ruined the lives of so many people who could have never imagined this happening. The novels, Night and Prisoner B-3087, which give a better understanding what happened during the Holocaust, provide a lot of information and comparisons for the reader to have a better comprehension of what actually happened during this tragic and unfortunate event. These novels, Night and Prisoner B-3087, also allow the reader to have a visual of this heart-shattering event. The three main comparisons that can be recognized are character development, plot, and theme.
...periences of a Holocaust survivor. Wiesel created the protagonist in order to represent some of Wiesel’s own experiences and thoughts and to also portray the other way of dealing with unpleasant memories. However, the protagonist and Wiesel are not one and the same. By incorporating fictional events and characters into this work, the author manages to gives insight into the mind of a Holocaust survivor without making the novel an autobiography of his own personal experiences. Through the protagonist, Elie Wiesel allows the reader to understand Eliezer and that he is still deeply haunted and disturbed by his experiences even years after he has been liberated. With his unfortunate past, it makes it hard for Eliezer to let go of his memories and guilt and move on in life.
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.
A story of a young boy and his father as they are stolen from their home in Transylvania and taken through the most brutal event in human history describes the setting. This boy not only survived the tragedy, but went on to produce literature, in order to better educate society on the truth of the Holocaust. In Night, the author, Elie Wiesel, uses imagery, diction, and foreshadowing to describe and define the inhumanity he experienced during the Holocaust.
A survivor of Auschwitz Delbo recounts the ordeal that she suffered during Holocaust. The haunting recollections of her time in Auschwitz that she projects in her writing left a very disturbing image in readers mind. Her story and journey can only be understand by Wiesel and other survivors of holocaust. Unlike these strong and courageous survivors average, ordinary people are not capable of understanding the depth of the pain that these people
Throughout the memoir, Wiesel demonstrates how oppression and dehumanization can affect one’s identity by describing the actions of the Nazis and how it changed the Jewish people’s outlook on life. Wiesel’s identity transformed dramatically throughout the narrative. “How old he had grown the night before! His body was completely twisted, shriveled up into itself. His eyes were petrified, his lips withered, decayed.
Foreshadowing in The Book Thief is one literary device used that some readers love and some readers hate. There are more than a few instances when the narrator, death, uses foreshadowing to keep the reader interested in the story and to further on certain thematic ideas in the novel. For example, death says that “Hans Hubermann was not granted membership in the Nazi Party. Not yet, anyway” (183). Here, it is being foreshadowed that Hans Hubermann will be forced to join the Nazi Party at some point in his life. By giving us this piece of information, the narrator is causing the readers to be curious and wanting to know more. This foreshadowing blends in with the thematic idea of war because by joining the Nazi Party, Hans will have to go fi...
In “The Boy who Dared” the author, Susan Campbell has presented the story in third person point-of-view. Helmuth’s account is not first-hand and so the author had relied on eyewitness accounts. The accounts are well-detailed as she was able to interview many survivors. Her depiction is the best presentation and captures his personality and bravery in a commendable manner. “The Boy who dared” is an inspirational work based on real life events of a German citizen in the ripe years of his life.
“What do you expect? That’s war…” Elie Wiesel, young teenage boy sent to work in a concentration camp with his family near the end of WW2. Author of his own autobiography, Night recounting his struggles during that time. This book is about a boy named Elie Wiesel who was captured by the Nazi’s and was put into a concentration camp, and got disconnected from God, and was very close to his mom, dad, and family. Throughout Night Elie Wiesel addresses the topic of genocide through the use of imagery, simile, and personification.
Humans are very complexing and they behave in ways that cannot be explained. It can be their past that affects the way they act or possibly the influences they encounter. In Markus Zusak’s revelating novel, Book Thief, a young girl named Liesel lives in a terrible time in Germany. Tough times lie ahead of the young girl, and Death is always lurking around the corner, ready to consume yet another soul to put to rest. However, through so many struggles in the novel, there seemed to be a silver lining that wasn’t always seen.
The poem “The action in the ghetto of Rohatyn, March 1942” by Alexander Kimel is an amazing literary work which makes the reader understand the time period of the Holocaust providing vivid details. Kimel lived in an “unclean” area called the ghetto, where people were kept away from German civilians. The poet describes and questions himself using repetition and rhetorical questions. He uses literary devices such as repetition, comparisons, similes and metaphors to illustrate the traumatizing atmosphere he was living in March 1942.