In literature, authors typically use the theme of how friendships are born and significant to connect the characters in the story. In the story, The Book Thief, the author uses the theme of how friendships are born and significant to connect characters such as Liesel, Max, Rudy, etc. Friendships are born in many different ways. In The Book Thief, many important friendships are born due to situations such as trauma, happy situations, and trust. Whether it be trauma, happy situations, or trust, certain friendships can be very significant and life-altering to the characters. In The Book Thief, especially, the friendships made along the journey of Liesel Meminger and her family were extremely life-altering to the characters. Many friendships in …show more content…
Before Liesel arrived at the Hubermann’s house, her brother died right before her eyes, and her mother was taken away. This is shown in the text when it says, “...and the small male corpse...Tears were frozen to the Book Thief’s face.”(Zusak, 8). Seeing a loved one get hurt is terrible, but seeing one die right in front of their eyes is bound to create some trauma and grief. Now Max also had a very traumatic childhood. This is shown in the text when it says, “He was nearly two years old when his father died, shot to pieces in a grassy hill.”(Zusak, 188). Also, Max is a Jew during the Nazi reign and has to live in complete secrecy so that would also cause some trauma. Ironically, the intense trauma between these two characters blossomed into something beautiful, an amazing friendship. Because the two had such traumatic experiences, they were able to relate to each other and show empathy on a whole new level, which they couldn’t do to anyone else. This supports the thesis because it shows how the traumatic experience was able to create a beautiful friendship. Furthermore, the traumatic experiences also caused nightmares between the two
What is friendship? Friendship is the key to getting through tough times in life. It’s not just being for your friend when it is easy, it is being there for your friend when something traumatic is happening. In The Book Thief, Liesel meets many new friends along the way including Ilsa, Max, Rudy, Hans and Rosa. Also in The Book Thief Max also meets new friends along the way including Hans, Rosa, Liesel and Walter Kugler. Characters in The Book Thief show that friendship is the key to getting through tough times in life.
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)
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.
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
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.
Everyone is obviously different, but the personal qualities of a person and external situations that are occurring in the world around them can create similarities between people who have vast differences. In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, this idea is very clearly shown through the lives of Liesel and Max. Although they come from vastly different backgrounds, the situations around them and their personal qualities reveal similarities between their lives. In The Book Thief, Max and Liesel’s lives have much in common, such as their love of literature and the impact on their lives as a result of Nazi persecution. However, they also differ in many aspects of their lives such as the degree of freedom that they were able to exercise and their attitudes toward life.
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.
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?
Mikayla King Ms. Minter American Lit, Period 1 Due 25 April, 2024 The Extreme Value Presented in The Book Thief The book, The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak has extreme value, and should be read by everyone. The Book Thief takes place in Nazi Germany during World War II. This time was difficult for everyone as there were major shortages in jobs, money, and food. Many Germans lived in constant fear of saying the wrong thing and being killed.
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.
Markus Zusak was born on June 23rd, 1975 in Sydney, Australia. His mother is German, and his father is Austrian. When he was just a boy, his parents told him stories about what happened during world war two, and these stories would eventually inspire him to write The Book Thief. He even included specific events that he learned about from his mother, such as the parade of Jews, and when Munich was bombed. He began writing when he was but a teenager, and stated that his inspiration came from The Old Man and the Sea, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.