Death, a concept shielded from the youth, denied by the mature and feared by the elderly. The concept of death has shaped itself into a monstrous being, swallowing up the best, dragging down the young and tearing apart the soul; it crumples to nothingness. Yet, in a world with poverty, destruction and loneliness that cripples the knees, death is sometimes a welcome necessity. In the picture “You too belong to the Fuhrer” by Bundesarchiv Koblenz there is a girl in a Nazi Youth uniform who is smiling into the distance. In contrast with the picture, the poem “Death” by Rainer Maria Rilke is about the falsity of happiness and the fact that death constantly looms in the corners of human life. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak narrates from the point …show more content…
As Liesel struggles with her friend Rudy Steiner whose dad has been coerced to join the military, she sees a site that befuddles her. Max, the Jewish man that Liesel’s family sheltered in their basement was marching to his death: a concentration camp. Despair fills her like a bucket in a stormy day, and suddenly she doesn’t “want to hope for anything anymore… [not] that Max is alive and safe… Or Alex Steiner. Because the world does not deserve them” (Zusak 521). She ends up ripping her only savior, books. In this excerpt, it is obviously shown that life can be a despicable thing. So many people have been torn away from Liesel and in brings Liesel great burdens. She is helpless and hopeless, cast aside to forever watch, but never be able to fix anything. Thus, the lack of power people have in their lives is shown, life seemingly merciless as he continuously chucks struggles at those who are powerless to begin with. Life seems to be an all encompassing darkness while Death sees both the burdens of the soul, and the narrow glimpse of light. Death sees the “best and worst… [the] ugly and their [the] beauty…” and he honestly believes that “humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die” (Zusak 491). This acknowledges that he not only is burdened by the bad, but Death also sees the light and the beauty. The life Liesel is …show more content…
In the picture “You too belong to the Fuhrer”, the ignorance of life is shown, the simplicity to reach the better place of heaven also being communicated. Similar to that of the picture, the poem “Death” grants through the pretenses of drunken happiness that predictable, empathetic Death is a much better option. In the faces of human death, The Book Thief, shows the hopelessness of life and how death sees both hope and burdens. Modern day society point to the fact that Death is an unalterable, knee-crippling atrocity that everyone should turn a blind eye to. It is pointed in such a dark light that no one dares think about it, much less looks forward to it. In reality though, Death is sometimes the best option. Perhaps that is why Death 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 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.
Christopher McCandless, an American traveler, once said “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality, nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit.” This quote is far more universally applicable than originally thought to be. Throughout one’s life, one will undoubtedly experience some form of conformity. The driving factor in a majority of these moments is fear; fear of not fitting in, or of not living up to society’s expectations. The only thing that lets one escape conformity is the truth known from past experiences. This
This realization, although suspected by the narrator for a long time, shows the true irony of Liesel’s thefts: that she never needs to steal them. When she steals her last book, The Last Human Stranger, she even takes a plate of cookies and leaves a note. Although none of these books are featured as heavily as her first few thefts, their titles reference parts of Liesel’s struggles such as her relationship with Max, her role in uplifting her community in the bunker, her continuing education, and her status being the only survivor of the final bombing. In conclusion, the books which Liesel steals are very influential in her development through the course of the novel, with the titles themselves references other parts of her life.
The Death the reader befriends in The Book Thief is far from the Death s/he previously feared to see standing over him or her in the twilight hours of life. We are haunted by him and him by us. As a group, we form the opposite ends of a spectrum: A species with the infinite ability to love and hate, create and destroy, burn and build, and the eternal metaphysical being who must witness the entire process, never truly being able to grasp what it means to live, but ever loving those who do.
...orm to society’s expectations. The idea of death makes one aware of one's life, one's vital being – that which is impermanent and will one day end. When this vitality is appreciate, one feels free – for there is no urgency to perform some act that will cancel the possibility of death, seeing as though there is no such act. In this sense, all human activity is absurd, and the real freedom is to be aware of life in it’s actually and totally, of its beauty and its pain.
The reader’s inner self wants to obtain more than they can handle and cares more about themselves even more. That’s why the theme of indifference is involved due survival of the fitness. But life will always create the burning determination for an individual to keep surviving when it is threatened by death, but death fights equally as hard in its efforts to put an end to
Narrator: The Narrator of this story is Death. He tells us what Nazi, Germany was like during World War II through the eyes of Liesel Meminger. Death has a dark wry sense of humor and seems to be sardonic. He is not cold hearted like we believe him to be, he is simply just doing his job. Death even feels sorrow for the souls he takes and believes that some do not deserve to die, this shows that Death can produce real feelings. Even though this is Liesel’s story, Death gives us readers’ insight to understand how everything is connected. To distract himself from all the souls he takes, Death takes joy in seeing the colors of the sky.
Thomas Nagel’s discussion about death is very intriguing and contemplative. In trying to prod for answers, Nagel began his essay, by writing about common views of death held by different people. His main purpose of writing this paper is to incisively and contemplatively discuss if death is a bad or evil thing. Nagel discusses the some people’s thought about death being evil. They say this because it denies us of living “more life”. He noted that most people are of the view that life is good, despite the fact that some life experiences are unpleasant and tragic. He then adds that when these unpleasant experiences of life are set aside, life is positive, and not just simply "neutral" (10).
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.
No one can run from death. Death is simply something that one comes face to face with at the end of their journey of life. During the time of the Holocaust, it was you either fight to survive, or you await upon your death. The literature, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the main character Liesel experiences the effects of one’s death both emotionally and physically. During this time of struggle, Liesel and her foster family are trying to survive in war that seems to have no end. Throughout all the chaos that the war has brought, Liesel is able to maintain herself through the books that she receives. Markus Zusak suggests that there is life in death and death in life in order to find unification amongst the living which leads to the resurrection
Death is one of the only true constants in the universe and is the only guarantee in life. Everyone knows of death and everyone will experience it, but to the living death is still one of life's greatest mysteries. In some cultures death is celebrated and embraced, while in others it is feared. However it is perceived, death holds different meanings for different people. Through the art of poetry a writer can give a reader many different outlooks and maybe a better understanding of life and death.
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...
...ningham, and Reich 40). In addition, it pays no respect to one’s material status. Death, as depicted, also takes no notice of ones beauty and knowledge. Due to these reasons, death is greatly feared for it is considered a tragedy.