The Species of Death War is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as “A state or period of armed conflict between nations, states, or parties,” but does this definition really do the word justice? War has proven time and time again to be more than that. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, war is depicted by families killed, buildings destroyed, and anarchy rampant. Liesel, the protagonist, notices everything changing in front of her eyes as people she loves disappear and war moves rapidly towards the streets of her and her foster family. The characteristics shown by war in the novel simply don’t match the definition. They go beyond, to the point where war is not very different from human life. Marcus Zusak uses the motif of war to convey …show more content…
Like any human, though, war leaves something behind. A tombstone, a reminder of the end of a horrible life, remains in the minds of all and in the graves of all lost to it. Its epitaph reads “never again,” a repeating lie. After all, the damage that war has done is done. Himmel Street will never be the same. No destroyed street ever will, yet hope is spreading throughout the world as Adolf Hitler and World War II simultaneously pull a trigger. Liesel is reunited with an old friend after the death of war. Death describes the reuniting of Max Vandenberg with Liesel, saying, “They hugged and cried and fell to the floor” (Zusak 548). After Max leaves the Hubermanns’ basement where he had been hidden and made an unbreakable bond with Liesel, Liesel hoped to see Max again, although she knew it was unlikely. She frequently searched through the hopeless and lifeless bodies marching to Dachau, a local concentration camp. There she finds Max, but it is not until after the war that they are finally united and free. The war’s death had the power to reunite friends who had been separated. The death of war was a death for Liesel to celebrate, a deserved change from all of the deaths she had to mourn. To conclude, the motif of war is used by Markus Zusak in The Book Thief to convey the theme that war is as living as any human or animal. War’s birth and growth, personality, and death are evidence of a life it has lived. Unfortunately for Liesel, she coincides with war, the evil serial killer who takes many around her. War has dictated Liesel’s every move. War told her to befriend a Jew in her basement. War told her to steal books. War told her to kiss Rudy Steiner on the wasteland of Himmel Street. This is what war does, for war is a perilous species. It exists for peace, yet peace can not exist without its
In Markus Zusak’s novel, the book thief, Liesel Meminger is surrounded by death and fear as that is the norm in the 1930’s. Liesel is a strong young girl who has been deeply affected by her brother’s death and her mother leaving her and finds comfort in ‘The Grave Digger’s Handbook’, the book she stole at the site of her brother’s burial. Throughout the novel Liesel finds comfort in other books and reads them to escape the terrible reality that is Nazi Germany. Together with books she overcomes obstacles she wouldn't have been able to do without them
“Every war is everyone’s war”... war will bring out the worst in even the strongest and kindest people. The book tells about how ones greed for something can destroy everything for both people and animals leaving them broken beyond repair, leaving them only with questions… Will they ever see their family again? Will they ever experience what it’s like to
Due to his brother’s death while fighting alongside him in the war, Michael becomes emotionally devastated, and as a result, experiences survivor’s guilt, leading to his suicide. Although this letter is not from Death’s perspective, it still highlights an example of how physical destruction caused by humans can lead to emotional devastation for other humans. Death himself becomes emotionally devastated when Rudy Steiner, Liesel’s best friend, dies from the bomb on Himmel Street. He confesses, “Oh crucified Christ, Rudy … He lay in bed with one of his sisters. She must have kicked him or muscled her way into the majority of the bed space because he was on the very edge with his arm around her … Where was Rudy’s comfort? Where was someone to alleviate this robbery of his life? … He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry.” (531) This quote shows that Death is emotionally affected by the aftermath of the bomb, because he loses someone that he admires. As a result, Death feels like crying, and leads readers to believe that humanity is destructive. As a result, numerous examples from the book, including Death’s own experience, demonstrate that humanity has the capability to harm the physical world, as well as other
The deep complexity of its message is furthered by Olds’ use of metaphor. In describing the unburied corpses strewn about the cemetery, she notes a “hand reaching out / with no sign of peace, wanting to come back.” Through indirect metaphor, she is able to not only bring emotion to the stiffness of a frozen hand, but ponder a greater question—whether the “eternal rest” of death is peace at all. Despite the war, despite “the bread made of glue and sawdust,” and despite “the icy winter and the siege,” those passed still long for life. Human cruelty and the horrors of existence permeate even the sanctity of death. In war, nothing is
War always seems to have no end. A war between countries can cross the world, whether it is considered a world war or not. No one can be saved from the reaches of a violent war, not even those locked in a safe haven. War looms over all who recognize it. For some, knowing the war will be their future provides a reason for living, but for others the war represents the snatching of their lives without their consent. Every reaction to war in A Separate Peace is different, as in life. In the novel, about boys coming of age during World War II, John Knowles uses character development, negative diction, and setting to argue that war forever changes the way we see the world and forces us to mature rapidly.
Society teaches that everyone is equal; however, between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi party deemed Jews inferior. Some people agreed with the party, other silently rebelled. Either way, in 12 years around 6 million Jews were systematically murdered. One person who silently rebelled was Hans Huberman. In “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak, Hans Huberman’s compassionate actions and beliefs are influenced by the Nazi party’s treatment of Jews.
In Markus Zusak’s best selling novel, ‘The Book Thief’ he utilizes a stark contrast of ideas in beauty and destruction. In real life, war and famine devastate the people of this world. At the same time, however, there are elements of beauty such as peace and love. Many events in the book display this contrast, such as Death’s exhaustion of the human race and their complexities, or when Hans slaps Liesel to protect her. Because Zusak interconnects beauty and destruction, he is suggesting that the kindness of humanity far outweighs it’s cruelty
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.
What is war? Is war a place to kill? Or is it a place where something more than just killing happens? War, as defined by the Merriam Webster is “a state or period of usually open and declared fighting between states or nations.” War, can also be viewed with romantic ideals where heroes and legends are born. Even the most intelligent of us hold some rather naïve notions of war. Upon reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, intelligent readers have been divested of any romantic notions regarding war they may have harboured.
The physical effects of war overwhelm the naïve causing pain and suffering. Initially, war entangles the lives of youth, destroying the innocence that they experience as an aspect of their life. The girl “glid[ing] gracefully down the path” (1) and the boy “rid[ing] eagerly down the road” (9) have their enjoyable realities striped by the harshness of war. Likewise, war enters women’s lives creating turmoil. The woman who works “deftly in the fields” ( ) no longer is able to experience the offerings of life. The “wire cuts,” ( ) pushing her away from the normal flow of life. In addition, man undergoes tragic obstacles as a result of war. “A man walks nobly and alone” ( ) before the horrible effects of war set in on his life causing disruptions. War enters the life of man destroying the bond man shares with his beloved environment ( ).
...by American bombers and everyone but Liesel dies on the street. Liesel only survives because she was writing a book of her own, and was in the basement when the bombs struck. When she is rescued by the police, she rushes to find her parents and Rudy, but only finds them both dead. The story ends with her being adopted by Ilsa Hermann. Of course, this does not mean the story is over; there is an epilogue. Max survives the war and later finds his way back to Liesel, who rejoices when they finally meet. When Liesel finally dies, death takes her away from the others and shows her the book that she was writing when the bombs fell. She asks him if he understood the meaning of it, to which he responds with his own sage advice. When death takes her soul away for good this time, and takes one last look at the title of the book. The Book Thief by Liesel Meminger.
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.
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
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