The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is about a young girl named Liesel. Liesel’s mother gives her up to two foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, who take care of Liesel and love her. Throughout the novel Liesel learns to cope with her abandonment and the death of her younger brother, who died on the way to the Hubermann’s. Also, Liesel learns to keep a huge secret; the Hubermanns are hiding a Jew from the Nazis in their basement. This story is set during World War II, and shows the struggles that many families went through during that period. Because of these qualities, The Book Thief has many important characteristics, fits into the contemporary realistic fiction genre, and would fit well into the curriculum of a young adult classroom. The novel in narrated by Death, so it has a different point of view then most books do. Death is a strange character, he always gives away what is going to happen in the future and then apologizes for it later. Throughout the story, Death is continually captivated by the colors he sees throughout his journeys. For example Death states, “People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it 's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing …show more content…
Death gives the story and interesting perspective that other books don’t have. The Book Thief fits into the contemporary realistic fiction genre because it has realistic characters, is sensitive towards religions, races, and genders, and has events that are true to history along with others that are realistic. This story would also do great in a classroom because students have more fun reading something with a story then they do reading from a textbook. All in all, this is a very enjoyable book and is a great read for any young
“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.
Belonging is being accepted by a group of community that relate together by a common factor. A sense of belonging is not just dictated by yourself and your own values and beliefs but also by the ideas and values held by others. I believe that people can choose not to belong to a certain community due to the fact that they may not agree to other people values and beliefs. The Book Thief follows a German girl named Liesel Meminger, abandoned by her mother, she is sent to live with foster parents. The text is set in Nazi Germany during the WWII era. Through the text we follow her living in war times and experience her realisation to the true nature of the German people. At Rainbows End follows an Aboriginal family living in racist times in Australia. We are shown the way of life these people have to endure and how it feels to have a government who doesn’t care about your existence. (Reword)
The heavily proclaimed novel “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is a great story that can help you understand what living in Nazi Germany was like. Throughout the story, the main character, Liesel goes through many hardships to cope with a new life in a new town and to come to the recognition of what the Nazi party is. Liesel was given up for adoption after her mother gave her away to a new family, who seemed harsh at first, but ended up being the people who taught her all the things she needed to know. Life with the new family didn’t start off good, but the came to love them and her new friend, Rudy. As the book carried along, it was revealed that the Hubermanns were not Nazi supporters, and even took in a Jew and hid him in their basement later on in the book. Liesel became great friends with the Jew living in her basement, Max, who shared many similarities which helped form their relationship. Both of
I always looked at death as such a sad thing that is eventually going to occur to everyone. However, after reading this book, it made me realize death can actually be a beautiful thing. Death allows a person to go to a next life, one where they will be loved and others will be there for them. It was interesting to be able to read about stories that these hospice care workers witnessed themselves. I have experienced a few deaths within my life and I never coped with them very well. After reading this book, I honestly believe I will be able to look at the positive side of death and be able to deal with my emotions better. I can also help others surrounding me deal with a death that they are experiencing. This book was filled with information that I loved learning. For example, I never knew that a dying person can choose a time to die. The thought of this never occurred to me before. I always thought that when it was someone’s time to go, they had no choice. But, a dying person can “put off” passing on until they see a certain person or event that has great significance in their life. Nevertheless, there are still people who will wait to die until they’re all alone in the room. This book makes you think of real life situations and think what you would do in them. Taken as a whole, it was a very in depth book that changes the way you would naturally perceive
Have you ever thought that Death is a person and not a thing? Well in the book The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Death is the narrator and tells the story. In this book, there is a girl named Liesel. Liesel is going to live with her foster parents, while she was traveling with her mom and her brother, her brother died. He was buried and near his grave was a book. It’s name was “The Grave Digger’s Handbook”. This was the first book she stole, and she only continues from here. She lives on Himmel Street and which she meet kids and she has to show her worth. That is not the important part. In the end of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, it ends up really ironic. There are multiple ironic things in the book, it is practically filled with ironic and
...pproaching footsteps of him? The novel revolves around the premise of Death's contemplation of the worth of humanity and his inability to reconcile the remarkable cruelty and compassion humans are simultaneously capable of. This fact, this paradoxical, beautiful scenario, follows him always.
Liesel’s slow development of the power of words causes her to experience the negative effects of words and misery on many occasions throughout her lifetime.
The general setting and time of The Book Thief is roughly from 1939 to 1943. The rough summary of the bulk of the book is about a young girl named Liesel, who she and her mother are on a train, when suddenly her brother Werner dies. They get off immediately at the next stop to bury him. One of the gravediggers had a book in his hand, but he drops it, and Liesel picks it up. Liesel and her mother keep going to Munich, then to a place called Molching. When her parents are sick, Liesel needs to be put with foster parents. She is put with a couple named Hans and Roma. Liesel has nightmares about her brother who died on the train, when she first arrives at the Hubermann’s house and she would wake up screaming. Liesel goes to a school, where she is made study with the younger children because she is behind in her education. Liesel turns ten in February, and is given a doll by the her foster parents. She also gets a uniform, and is enrolled in the Hitler. Her foster mother starts taking Liesel with her when she gets washing from the neighbors in Molching, and when Liesel is old enough she is going to start doing the same thing also.
“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness” (84). In the beginning, we are introduced to the narrator by the name of Death. He informs the readers that he has many stories, but only remembers the ones that interest him. The tale of Liesel Meminger is one such tale, as he was always fascinated by her will to live through the most horrible instances. It should be duly noted however, that this story does not have a happy ending. Death makes this clear before we even have a chance to get our hopes up. He tells us that everyone dies; the amount of time that they last is truly the only difference. After this sordid fact is in place, he mentions just Liesel first attracted his attention.
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.
The book takes place in WWII, and centers around what Death sees in this time. Death’s job is to collect the souls of many found dead, but he takes an interest in Liesel, who isn’t someone he really needed to pay attention to. However, he followed her because he pitied her, and The Book Thief is the story of her life, narrated by him. Everyone always tells you to find the silver lining in the bad things that happen, but this book doesn’t just tell someone to do that but shows someone how to do that. He makes Liesel’s best friend, Rudy, smile by showing him Liesel kissing his corpse. He follows Liesel because he sees something interesting in her, showing even Death has a heart. He chose to retell signs of good that he saw in the book, specifically
As time evolves, so do the words that are essential for our everyday survival. The most obvious difference between humans and animals is our ability to master the art of speech. Often, people will say the “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, a simple nursery rhyme that helps ease a bullied child from abusive words and taunts. But does that really help cure the emotional pain? Words can illuminate and motivate the minds of people but can also shadow their self-esteem through psychological trauma. In The Book Thief, we see how fundamental words were to shape the reality of millions of people caught in the fire of World War II.
Throughout time, children have read stories of brave knights, running into battle with their swords ready to defeat the invader. They have read tales of everyday girls turning into princesses by kissing a frog or wearing a glass slipper. Also, some of these stories contain accounts of historically poignant moments. For example, the novel The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak takes place during World War II. It gives a lasting impression on what this time was like for everyday people and the impacts the war had on them. The author does this through the many storytelling elements incorporated into the book. Also, Zusak displays how people respond to changes within their lives during these taxing times. For instance, the main character, Liesel
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.