Themes And Symbolism In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

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Ana Rodriguez Final Essay: The Book Thief December 11, 2014 Dr. D As the title of Markus Zusak’s work of fiction entitled The Book Thief implies, books and their significance are a recurring theme in this adolescent coming to age tale set in Germany during the beginning of World War II. Many of the most poignant moments wrought in the life of the protagonist, Liesel, are symbolized by books. As such, the significance of books and their effect on Liesel fluctuate according to the various situations in which she finds herself. Books ultimately have a transporting quality in which they can transport the reader to other places. Within this tale, however, books symbolize a means of hope, understanding, and an escape from the Whenever Leisel encounters people that are suffering, she typically reads to them. Doing so is a way to pass the time and to take their minds away from the problems of reality, and to transport their intellects and spirits to another place in which the suffering and injustice they encounter simply does not exist. When Vanderburg is sick and unable to sufficiently move about, Liesel reads to him. When people are hiding in a bomb shelter during an air raid and shortly thereafter, Liesel is able to largely clam the masses by reading to them. This point is not emphasized as much in the film version of this work, in which images (such as school children marching in Nazi attire) replace the focus on words and books found in the novel. Probably the most palpable way that Zusak emphasizes the symbolic value of books as representing, hope, understanding and a transport to another reality is near the book’s conclusion, when Liesel’s entire street is bombed and she is the only survivor. The book that she had been writing is decimated in the ravage. Still, it is immensely noteworthy that the narrator, a personification of Death, rescues the book from obscurity and takes it, showing that the understanding, and safety from reality that books provide can even transcend death, and that they ultimately live on to propagate their symbols for

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