The movie starts in 1938 when death, the narrator, states that a young girl named Liesel has caught his interest. Liesel is traveling on the train with her mother and brother when he dies. At the cemetery, Liesel picks up a book called, “The Gravedigger’s Handbook”, that a gravedigger has dropped. She is then transferred to her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in Munich, Germany because her mother, a communist, is in danger. Liesel meets her neighbor Rudy and goes to school with him. Rudy is a young boy that admires Jesse Owens so much that he attempts to paint himself with coal to reenacted Owen’s victory at the Olympics. Soon, Hans found out that Liesel is illiterate and he decides to teach her how to read using the gravedigger’s …show more content…
Ilsa Hermann, the mayor’s wife, sees her and will eventually let Liesel borrow books from her library. Then Death introduces another character named Max Vandenburg, a Jew that left his mother during the night of Kristallnacht in November 1938. He uses the Mein Kampf to travel to the Hubermann’s house for shelter because he is the son of a man who once saved Hans’ life during World War 1. The Hubermanns let Max stay in their basement to hide from the Nazis. Eventually, Max and Liesel start to befriend each other since they both have a hatred towards Hitler. World War 2 begins and every now and then they are hiding in basements from air raid warnings. One day, after Hans tried to save his Jewish friend from being taken away, he realized that he had opened up suspicious towards himself. In order keep the Hubermanns safe, Max decides to leave them and Hans is sent away to help out the army. Then, Liesel supposedly sees Max in a group of Jews marching to death camps one day but gets thrown off the streets before encountering him. Hans comes back from his service early because he got injured and soon their city gets bombed without a
Elie and Liesel live and survive during the time of World War II. Both characters face the harsh reality of the terrible period of time they are living in. The memoir, Night and the movie, “The Book Thief” share similarities and dissimilarities that make Elie and Liesel both stand out. Due to the loss of family, determination to live, and fear helps both of them survive the war, but depends on the different reactions, mistreated for different reasons, and hope.
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.
Death witnesses all the terrors of humankind, from Stalingrad in Russia where Joseph Stalin conducted the “murder of his own people,” (Zusak 309) to the Holocaust where the sky was painted “the color of Jews,” due to the millions of Jews who were murdered (Zusak 349). In 1942, Death’s job was focused on Stalingrad, the Holocaust, and the blood “soaked bodies of” Normandy’s beaches (Zusak 308). At the same time that these events are occurring, Death notices both elements in Liesel’s story. He sees the beauty in humans through Rudy’s innocent love for Liesel, Hans and Liesel’s late night conversations, the Hubermann’s “gamble on” hiding a Jew (Zusak 215), and the deep friendship between Liesel and Max. Death is tormented by his inability to predict the actions of humankind, and is therefore haunted by the living as they are haunted by
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.
First the colors. Then the humans. That’s usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try. *** HERE IS A SMALL FACT ***
THE BOOK OF THE THING. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, the protagonist, Liesel Meminger, is trying to outlive the harsh reality that’s produced by the war. Liesel Meminger and several other characters attempt to cope with the stress around them, and aid each other along the way. In this novel, the power of words is an important element.
In 2005, Markus Zusak composed one of the most influential novels of modern day literature. His story is known as The Book Thief, a novel told from the perspective of Death. His role is to narrate the life of Liesel Meminger as a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany. Death begins the story at the burial of her brother in 1939, just one of many tragic events that will occur in her life, she is then given away by her mother, and has to grow up in the care of another family. For Liesel, this change catalyzes a quest to understand the power of words. This is because she stole a book at her brother 's funeral and desires to read it in honor of him. Her new foster family, the Hubermanns, and friends help Liesel on this quest. Death describes Liesel
“She [unlike many others] knew how powerless a person could be without words (446)”. Hitler’s great ability to use words brainwashed people to hate, while the girl used her power to carve her own kind path into Hitler’s dark one. This story of remaining strong in a world full of hatred helped Max remain strong as he was marched to a concentration camp. When Liesel spots Max in the maze of starving and dying Jews, she runs to him without a second thought and recites words from his story. Liesel gives him these lines to remind him of his deep hatred of the fuhrer in order to spur him to keep fighting, to not give up.
Books have the power to both save and destroy. It depends on how the words are used in the book. If they are used in a positive matter they can save many things. However if they are in negative matter (brain-washing) then they have the power to destroy. The Book Thief has the power to save, because it makes us remember how it feels to be picked on and how it feels to have nothing or to suffer. It could save people, for example if a bully reads this he might have a change in heart and stop bulling other kids. People are power less without words, for example in The Book Thief page 446, “The best word shakers were the ones who understand the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest. One such word shaker was a small, skinny girl. She was renowned as the best word shaker of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be without words." People can use words to convince others to do want they want them to do. For example in The Book Thief, Hitler used words to convince and make the Germans to do what he wanted them to do (world domination). In my essa...
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.
Reading a book is in many ways the same as exercising the muscles in your arm, as you are feeding your brain new information and ideas of life. Life is short and I believe that you should always be positive and do the things that you want without people telling you that you are wrong. The following Novels have taught me various aspects, which I have and still am using to make my life a memorable one as well as a positive one.
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?
Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is a Fictional story of a young girl, Liesel, growing up in Nazi Germany. The book is geared towards Young-Adults with the goal of convincing the reader that not all Germans during World War II were bad. Using a unique narrative we are guided through the story line by Death, who will often tell us his opinion of the going-ons of the story as well as giving us further context so as to allow a better understanding of the situations we are presented with. From a young age I was taught that the Germans were bad people, much like Muslims today we generalize an entire population based off of the actions of a relatively small group of the whole. After reading The Book Thief, although a fictional story, it has brought me to understand that most Germans during WWII were merely trying to get by, they were living ordinary, or as
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.
Imagine if your work was to be published, but the publishers required you to change even the most minute detail to fit their need. This work would be unrecognizable, not at all what you wanted to convey with your story. This is essentially what happens with every movie adaptation of a popular novel, and readers are always enraged. One such case is The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, which was unnecessarily changed. The lack of many important details in the movie adaptation of The Book Thief shows how obvious it is that movies must stay true to the book for full effect.