Analysis and Interest in The Book Thief

1329 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Development of children's literature

1. I think the audience meant to enjoy this book are young adults that may be interested in the Holocaust. They don’t have to be interested but I do think that that’s the target audience. I think because his interest in the Holocaust came from his parents, M. Zusak tried to relate the experiences of his parents growing up during World War II for an adult audience.

2. The reasoning for Markus to write such an amazing novel is because he was looking for a more mature, bold way of approaching his next book. He wanted something different that showed his more serious side. He used the stories his parents told him as a kid for influence. I guess he just felt his writing style needed a change.

3. Liesel Meminger is nine in the beginning. Her younger brother died and her mom gave her up to go live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel is hurt by her brother's death, but Hans ends up being a decent foster father. Actually, with his help, she learned to read and eventually found happiness in reading books. Many of the people she loves eventually leave her life because of World War II and the Holocaust. Basically, Liesel learns to use words to influence humans to act towards both good and evil as she experiences the good and bad in society. Max Vandenburg is a 23-year-old Jew who hid from the Nazis in the Hubermanns' basement. Max was a fighter growing up, and as a teenager he refused to die without a fight. Max was upset because of his decision to save himself over his family, but when he meets Liesel they both become friends who each share a broken past. As their friendship grew, Liesel starts reading to Max every night. Max made two books for Liesel; both had mini stories about their friendship and Nazi Germany. Max leaves the house af...

... middle of paper ...

...ew minutes later, I took my chance. The time was right". This quote foreshadows the time when Rudy Steiner got on the plane with a toolbox in hand. He saw the pilot and just like the quotation explained, placed a smiling teddy bear with the pilot before he had died.
9. I think The Book Thief is a perfect title for the story; there are many “book thieves” in the book including Liesel and death. It’s not about stealing the books, it’s about why they did it, Liesel wanted trying to be rebellious, and she was using words to express her feelings. Books were also good for learning.
10. I wouldn’t recommend this book to a friend because teens my age don’t like reading; they only do it for school projects such as this one. Now if I were o come across someone interested in the holocaust and how people rebelled then yes I would recommend it.

Show More
Related

  • Use Of Literary Devices In The Book Thief

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Criticism In A Child Of Hitler By Alfons Heck

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    He proves that the blank slates of childhood should not be chalkboards for politics and that children should be exactly what they are – children. While the text certainly has some dark undertones, it would serve as an excellent foil for high school readers of Night. That said A Child of Hitler is still a must read for adults and college students regardless of their age, poignant and direct it provides a perspective that all people should have when trying to understand World War II and the rise and fall of Nazi

    Read More

  • Book Thief Belonging

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    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)

    Read More

  • The Book Thief Compare And Contrast

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    Also about the choices they make. I will also talk about what are they are characteristics and how both Liesel and Max are compared Liesel is nine years old, almost ten, at the start of the book. She is about fifteen toward the end of the book when the bombs destroy her home and kill her loved ones. The book ends when she is an old woman and Death comes to collect her soul. Liesel is the book thief.

    Read More

  • Night by Elie Wiesel

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    This book is very educating about the history of the concentration camps and Holocaust. “…The spectators observed these emaciated creatures ready to kill for a crust of bread...the old man was crying, ‘Meir, my little Meir! Don’t you recognize me…you’re killing your father…I have bread…for you too…for you too’ He collapsed…there were two dead bodies next to (Elie), the father and the son.” (Page 101 of Night) Concentration camps were terrible. The prisoners/Jews were so underfed that they were willing to kill their own family members for a slice of bread. The Jews would go to extremes in order to get a bit more food to line their stomachs. Concentration camps, Gestapo, and SS transform the prisoners’ morals and their lives. “My father suddenly had a colic attack. He got up and asked politely, in German, ‘Excuse me…could you tell me where the toilets are located?’ (Night page 39) …Then, he slapped my father with such force that he fell down and then crawled back to his place on all fours.” This also shows the brutality of the German Kapos and the Nazi Staff. This is very educational for the world about the brutality and unpleasantness of the concentration camps. Educating people about the holocaus...

    Read More

  • Comparison between Maus & Anne Frank

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Holocaust was a terrible time, where the Nazis were eliminating Jews due to a misunderstanding that was passed down from Adolf Hitler to the Germans. Hilter filled the minds of Germans with hatred against Jews. Books such as Maus and Anne Frank has been able to suppress the horror of the holocaust. Maus, by Art Spiegelman, is about Art Spiegelman’s father Vladek Spriegelman and his experiences enduring the holocaust. Anne Frank, by Ann Kramer is about Frank and her friends and family struggling to survive the holocaust, yet in the end only her dad, Otto Frank is the only survivor. The author of the book Anne...

    Read More

  • The Book Thief Point Of View Analysis

    497 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the novel The Book Thief, setting and point of view affect the theme and book a lot. The point of view of this novel is third person omniscient and a little bit of second and first person when the narrator talks about himself or to the reader. The setting of the story is Nazi Germany and it is based on a young girl named Liesel Meminger and what her life was like during this time. Her story is told by the narrator, death. Mark Zusak, the author, uses setting and point of view to express the theme of the novel because there was so much death happening, Liesel encountered him so many times, causing him to be able to tell her story; without this setting and the narrator, the theme story would have been different.

    Read More

  • The Berlin Boxing Club

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the book there were two ideas that kept reoccurring: Karl’s comics that he shared with his sister (“Winzig und Spatz”) and also when he realizes that all the people he knew were not who he thinks they were.

    Read More

  • Holocaust Reflection

    844 Words  | 2 Pages

    When I signed up for this course, I had limited knowledge of the holocaust and was not very interested in its history. This course ended up being one of my favorites and the most informational courses that I have taken. Other Political leaders such as Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin had committed mass murders that caused a much higher victim rate than Hitler, so my thoughts were that the holocaust was just another tragedy in human history. This class has given me a different perspective in the way I view the holocaust. It has personalized this horrific event in that it begs a person ask themselves how could this tragedy take place? How come the Jews and the world did not do more to prevent it from happening? The course has spiked my interested in the the holocaust in that I have found that if I come across a holocaust program while watching the television, I will stop to watch that show or read a holocaust article that I would not have read in the past. The four books assigned for reading by Browning, Sierakowiak, Lengyel, and Rajchman expounded on the personalization of the holocaust by giving insight into the experiences of

    Read More

  • Night Of The Broken Analysis

    1510 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... things up to the worst of it all. The readers can take away that just because you believe something different then somebody else, doesn’t make them or you a bad person or different in any way. This topic shows that long before the concentration camps, Jews were being singled out and treated terribly. The study of the Holocaust matters to show people what happened so that others can learn from it and learn to accept people no matter what their religion. It must not be forgotten because the people who suffered in it should be remembered. It was a terrible time that should never happen again. All of the laws passed leading up to the Night of the Broken kept increasing Hitler's power and ability to persecute the Jews because there was little reaction to his actions; the violence and persecution increased leading to the final solution because of this indifference.

    Read More

  • The Book Thief

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Book Thief Theme Essay

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Survival In Auschwitz

    1693 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...nter. I could not imagine being taken from my family, friends, home and life in an instant, being put on a train bound for nowhere and subsequently living a life of persecution, dehumanization and imminent extinction. I could not envision a world without the simple things that I take for granted like my name, dignity, mind and soul. Being stripped of these things is a death sentence in itself. I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit that this is the first book on the Holocaust I have ever read. I guess I thought if I didn't enlighten myself on the subject, I didn't have to believe that true evil was a part of this world. As difficult as this material is to read, it is important for people to continue to educate themselves on the history of humanity no matter how malevolent it is. If we do not acknowledge it exists, we risk it reeking havoc on the human race.

    Read More

  • Difficulties In The Book Thief

    1704 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout life many people face difficulties. Depending on the person’s strength some will get through tough times, but some will fail to overcome them. Two books where characters have to face many challenges include: Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Book Thief. These two stories deal with people overcoming the difficulties faced throughout everyday life. Some difficulties include racism, religious discrimination, and dealing with others’ cruelness or kindness. Examples from these books prove that the characters have challenges throughout the stories to overcome. In the face of adversity what causes some individuals to fail while others prevail?

    Read More

  • The Boy In The Striped Pajamas Research Paper

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    Often times, people tend to take the Holocaust, a topic that is despicable, not as seriously as it should be taken. It tends to be sugarcoated, or “fictionalized” to the point where it's just inappropriate. Sugarcoating serious matters, like the Holocaust, is surely not acceptable. An example of such intolerability is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.

    Read More

More about Analysis and Interest in The Book Thief

Open Document