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Use of symbolism in the book thief
Critical analysis of the book thief
The book thief symbolism essay
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The most intriguing item I’d like to address is how human Death seems. In a first person point of view, Death states: “In the darkness of my dark-beating heart, I know… You see? Even death has a heart”(Zusak 242). In The Book Thief, Death seems so human. It just about has a charisma or presence about it. Death’s narration is strikingly very eloquent and adds to the novel’s charm.
It is very impressive how Zusak’s writing can cause the reader to associate Death with almost a human-like nature. Zusak makes Death less harsh and shows the reader that it even has emotions and a personality. The way people can compare so many things to themselves is a very important detail that contributes to the character of the human race.
Zusak shares this message in this excerpt in many ways, one of which is personification. Zusak can be noticed using personification when talking about the plane, “The plane was still coughing. Smoke was leaking from both it’s lungs... No more flapping,” stated the Grim Reaper, “Not for this metallic little bird”(Zusak). This shows how Zusak successfully conveyed a very dark tone through an inanimate object, a plane, by personifying it and making people feel sympathy for it. Zusak does not just use personification, he also uses techniques
A example why people are brutal in The Book Thief is when the bomber planes were dropping bombs on the small town killing many people. My thoughts on this is even though the Nazi started this doesn’t mean they should kill innocent families.
’’Liesel observed the strangeness of her foster father's eyes. They were made of kindness, and silver. Like soft silver…..upon seeing those eyes,she understood Hans Hubermann was worth a lot.’’ (Zusak,34) Liesel saw kindness in Hans Hubermanns eyes which made her feels more comfortable with him rather than Rosa Hubermann.
Christopher McCandless, an American traveler, once said “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality, nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit.” This quote is far more universally applicable than originally thought to be. Throughout one’s life, one will undoubtedly experience some form of conformity. The driving factor in a majority of these moments is fear; fear of not fitting in, or of not living up to society’s expectations. The only thing that lets one escape conformity is the truth known from past experiences. This
Human nature has many elements that reveal the growth and personality of a person. In Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief”, the author successfully portrays various aspects of human nature through Hans’ conflicts that originate from the tough reality that he lives in. Elements of human nature can be seen as a result of Hans’ constant struggles with guilt, kindness, and love.
Death narrates the novel we’ll be reading which is The Book Thief (yeah, you heard me it’s narrated by death) which proclaims to us the story of Liesel Memingers rough life. The date was January 1939, Liesel Meminger (who was ten at the time) was traveling via train, accompanied by her mother and little brother Werner. They were being taken to a small town called Molching, right outside of Munich, Germany, to be with her foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel’s brother Werner dies while riding the train from hunger, cold, poverty, and lack of medical treatment. Before Liesel had arrived in Molching, Liesel was present for her brother Werner’s funeral in a snowy graveyard. Liesel
Death is a very well-known figure that is feared by many in all countries. He is suspected of being cruel, disturbing and all synonyms of horrifying. Death is inevitable and that is the most fearing aspect of his persona. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Death is made to seem or resemble humans. Effectively using the narration role, Death introduces a unique description and definition of colors in which he uses as a tool to effectively engage the readers to the events occurring throughout the book. He also demonstrates him personal and different experiences as well, mostly about soul gathering and the implications of WWII that have affected him. On the contrary to Death’s dead, appalling and scary nature that many interpret him to be during the book, Death shows many emotions and features to his personality that reasoning would declare otherwise. One of those feature would be the colors.
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 Thief Short Essay: The Use of Foreshadowing, Irony, and Symbolism in The Book Thief
Not only is the story concerned with death in life on the literary level, but the people of
If you were a German citizen during World War II, do you think you would be a Nazi? Most people would say no even though, in actuality, most people would be. It is because people need to succumb to societal expectations to survive in a society such as that of Germany during WWII and in the book, The Book Thief, this theme of individual versus society is explored with people complying and fighting social expectations. Sometimes people side with the Nazi Party out of fear of being targeted and other times fight against Nazi Party because of love for their family and fellow man with usually terrible consequences. In The Book Thief, the theme of the individual versus society is shown many times with characters conforming and defying social expectations.
Death is an inevitable fate for everyone. One cannot escape the fate that lies before them. We do not know when we will die, nor do we know when the ones we love will part us for an endless slumber. Death cannot help but be a theme, a motif, for many stories, because it is so strong and can carry so much drive for story which keeps the reader engaged. Throughout the semester, we have read several writings that can be considered to be centered on death. In “Gunga Din” by Rudyard Kipling, death is the unfortunate fate for a man who did nothing but help the ones that thought so lowly of him. He sacrificed his health to take care of the ones who he thought needed it more. In “Funeral Blues” by W.H. Auden the entire poem is speaking of a death of a loved one. The narrator also speaks of how there is basically no point to life because love was supposed to last forever, but he was wrong. In “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling, Harry’s whole motif to learn who he is thrived from the death of his parents when he was merely a baby. Harry gets himself into a lot of trouble trying to unlock all of the mysterious of his past. Death is the reason people are scared to live their life to the fullest. Death can be a heart rendering disaster to some. But it can teach you a lesson and make you grow. Gunga Din, Funeral Blues, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone all have the theme of death, because it gives suspense for the reader and gives the characters in the stories a motif as to who they are as characters.
...97. Ways of Dying, Zakes Mda's novel of transition. Catastrophe and Beauty: [Online]. ISSN 0258-2279 79, 1-5. Available at: http://kanganof.com/kangablog/2010/10/14/catastrophe-and-beauty-ways-of-dying-zakes-mda%E2%80%99s-novel-of-the-transition [Accessed 04 May 2014]. (Busisiwe Magocoba)
Zakes Mda was born in 1948 in Herschel, South Africa and is known for being a novelist, poet, activist, playwright and cultural theorist. Ways of Dying by Zakes Mda is a novel from western form. Literature that was written by Black South African writers between the 1948 and 1994 really captures the oppression and tragic violence that characterized the lives of Blacks under the apartheid. The apartheid or “apartness” as some Afrikaans call it, describes a system of laws and policies of complete and total racial segregation in South Africa that began in 1948 when the national party came to power. The apartheid did not end until 1994 when Nelson Mandela was elected president in the first democratic elections. The horrific deaths that are portrayed throughout Zake Mda’s novel Ways of Dying, were all true ways of dying that Zakes Mda, saw himself, read about in the newspaper or read when he was doing research. The very true deaths that he portrays in the novel really paint a picture of the structural and political violence that was going on in South Africa during the apartheid. This violence and oppression really creates a tragic background for the novel however, Zakes Mda challenges the norm of violence and finds a way to portray it as something somewhat idiotic, which in turn makes Ways of Dying quite comical. He also combines fantasy and magic to the novel, which emulates all the spectacular and wonderful parts of South African beliefs and traditions. Zakes unique way of combining the depiction of how ridiculous it is that death has become so normalized in South Africa and magic and fantasy makes Ways of Dying an ...
“Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.” Those who access the great potential of literature and language attain widespread liberation and selfhood. This reward allows people to formulate and trigger defiance against the conscious subjugation to which they have fallen subject. Language also can be used as a form of mind and moral control, whether it be by oppressive reigning powers or as a moral code. Both these concepts reveal the true, exceptional and uncontainable power of language, the underlying notion in many highly accredited works of literature. Novels such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, 1984 by