Book Thief Symbolism

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The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel created by Markus Zusak. It tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who moves in with Rosa and Hans Hubberman. The orphan is forced to leave her family behind due to the war. The Book Thief is told from an unusual perspective. 'Death' is the narrator who ironically sees life in inanimate objects. Liesel finds comfort in books to help distract from the aching pain of her brother passing. Reading during the night also creates a strong bond between Hans and Liesel. The longer Liesel stays on Himmel Street the stronger her love for books becomes, resulting in her passion for stealing them.

Many examples of symbolism are shown throughout the Book Thief, however, books/words have the most significant …show more content…

"I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin." Death battles to comprehend the crowd's satisfaction in wrecking things, consequently, he proposes destruction is Human instinct. Death suggests the war emerged from a similar interest that makes people appreciate seeing sandcastles flattened and books burned. Inconvenience starts when people aren't satisfied with safe demonstrations of devastation and crave greater and more dramatic demolition.

At the end of the book thief, death narrates the fate of the characters. Liesel is in the basement writing in the blank book Lisa Herman gave her while Himmel street was bombed. Max survived the concentration camp and he and Liesel are re-untied after the end of world war one. Liesel died after living a long and happy life surrounded by her husband, children and grandchildren. The novel ends with Death giving Liesel back her book, as he's taking her soul away from her body.

Zusak uses symbolism, characterisation and theme throughout the book thief to make it gripping. By using symbolism we understand the problems in Germany during World War two. Characterisation is used to get an in-depth understanding of aAlex Steiner and the struggles he was facing. The text was enjoyable as everything was unpredictable. It also made you appreciate how easy our lives are compared to

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