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Literature`s impact on society
Literature`s impact on society
Literature affected by wars
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Imagine being in Germany during World War II and the only things able to help you through this period of darkness is books, that’s what life was like for the main character, Liesel Meminger, in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The entire story revolved around how books help you through thick and thin. For Example, Mein Kampf led Max to his refuge, Liesel would read to people when they need it (like when Max fell ill, or when everyone was in a bomb shelter), reading helped Liesel cope with her brother dying, and also so much more. The books that Max write for Liesel help her understand what he’s going through during this time. For example, The Standover Man shows everyone that Max was always protected by someone who cares about him throughout his life. In short, books have a very important meaning in …show more content…
Many examples being, The Grave Digger’s Handbook is Liesel’s last connection to her deceased brother because she picked it up from laying in the snow after her brother’s funeral. The stories that Max write for Liesel show just how strong their friendship is. The last example being, the Mayor’s wife let Liesel use her husband’s library after seeing Liesel steal a book, showing that they can trust each other. At first, Liesel was afraid of the Mayor’s wife, so when she asked Liesel to come inside, she was a little hesitant. However, “For some reason, though-most likely the lure of the books-she found herself walking in” that was when everything between the Mayor’s wife and Liesel changed. In conclusion, books are very important, whether they save your life, build your friendship, or connect two people. Books are the center of most relationships in The Book Thief because books are the most powerful thing known to mankind. Whether you learn to read in a dank basement, write your friend a story, or give someone the joy of books, you will have a strong relationship with that person because you bond over
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
Liesel experiences abandonment throughout her life, and the novel during a suppressed time in World War II Germany. Through her experiences Liesel’s learns to equate abandonment with love knowing that circumstance have forced her loved ones to leave her.
2. What is ironic about Liesel’s obsession with stealing books? Discuss other uses of irony in the novel.
Loss can be a heartbreaking experience or just an inconvenience. It is significant in both books because of what the characters loss or what the characters loose. Whether it is a family member or an object, all the losses have some significance to the war or symbolism. In the novel, the book thief Liesel loses her mother. “ There was a chaos of goodbye”(Zusak 25). “The sudden realization that this would all be for nothing - that her mother would never write back and she would never see her again.” (Zusak 99). These two quotes explain Liesel's loss of her mother. When Liesel joined her new family and she never got a letter back, she realized that her old life is behind her and she can never go back to her mother. Her mother is thought to have
As a final point, literature informs humanity about these types of topics proven in The Book Thief with friendship, courage and perseverance. It teaches the readers that friendship relies on trust between two people and mentally help a person to live a continuing life. It also demonstrates that with courage, people will overcome that fear of doing things they have never thought of doing, but will face the fear of the outcome. Further, with perseverance, anyone can feel like they can accomplish the impossible and thrive to be successful. Perhaps, since we humans educate ourselves mostly from literature. It is the only piece of advice we can take and learn our valuable lessons from.
During the class discussion of The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, I believed that there were many great answers to the discussion questions. One of the questions was, “Do you think Liesel is wrong for stealing books? What about apples?” Most people agreed that is was not okay to steal the apples, although a few people thought it was fine. Almost everyone believed it was acceptable to steal the book, and I agree. I believe that there are and always will be multiple sides and differing opinions on the topic of stealing and are all worth taking a look at.
The heavily proclaimed novel “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is a great story that can help you understand what living in Nazi Germany was like. Throughout the story, the main character, Liesel goes through many hardships to cope with a new life in a new town and to come to the recognition of what the Nazi party is. Liesel was given up for adoption after her mother gave her away to a new family, who seemed harsh at first, but ended up being the people who taught her all the things she needed to know. Life with the new family didn’t start off good, but the came to love them and her new friend, Rudy. As the book carried along, it was revealed that the Hubermanns were not Nazi supporters, and even took in a Jew and hid him in their basement later on in the book. Liesel became great friends with the Jew living in her basement, Max, who shared many similarities which helped form their relationship. Both of
People nowadays have lost interest in books because they see it as a waste of time and useless effort, and they are losing their critical thinking, understanding of things around them, and knowledge. Brown says that Bradbury suggests that a world without books is a world without imagination and its ability to find happiness. The people in Fahrenheit 451 are afraid to read books because of the emotions that they will receive by reading them and claim them as dangerous. Bradbury hopes to reinstate the importance of books to the people so that they can regain their “vital organ of thinking.” In Fahrenheit 451, Montag steals a book when his hands act of their own accord in the burning house, regaining his ability to read and think on his own (Bradbury 34-35; Brown 2-4; Lee 3; Patai 1, 3).
For as long as language in its most rudimentary form was created, people have never stopped writing stories. Before people wrote things down, stories and legends were passed down by the elders of a family or tribe. Over time, things can be forgotten, and that is why it is important to write these things down. Stories were created to teach children good from bad, to inspire people to do great things, and for general enjoyment. These stories have taken many forms ever since the original spoken tale. Movies, comics, television shows, and much more have been introduced in order to tell more intricate stories. One of the best, and original mediums for story keeping is a book. A good book can elicit any emotion from you, just as a film or television show could. A good writer knows how to take hold of an audience, and allow them to explore a whole new world as they are sitting on a couch. Both Shakespeare's Hamlet and George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords are considered to be amazingly written stories. It is interesting to see how two highly pleasing books relate to each other, a...
Some people think words are just written letters, but unfortunately, for some, words are dark memories of a time filled with despair, remorse, and a gnawing uncertainty as one thinks of their future. Words can also teach us a lesson and educate us of the past. Literature can help us remember and honor the victims of the holocaust by preserving their stories and learning from their actions and feelings, including the Acceptance Speech, Anne Frank’s diary, and Levi.
An example would be when Max and Liesel “hugged and cried and fell on the floor” (Zusak 548). Liesel's relationship with Max is the most important conflict throughout the novel.
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
Literature can be a powerful tool, the Nazis were able to see this, thousands of books were burned during the Nazi regime for many reasons, but this didn’t stop people from finding ways to preserve literature. The Nazis burned books as an act to control people, hatred of the Jews, and fear of different ideology. Around the world people were shocked and took action against this act of war on literature. American publishing houses started to produce books for the soldiers fighting in the war against the Nazis. Two libraries were also built, they were different but with a similar goal, in order to fight against the war the Nazis had started against literature. The Nazis succeeded in burning thousands of books in an attempt to control people but they were unable to stop people from finding ways to continue fighting for their own ideas through literature.
There are a lot of books that explain us about life and make us think about it such as, what make us happy or what we want at the moment. For example, there is a book for kids and teengaers called “The Giving Tree” that describes the love of a tree towards a boy. In the story the tree gives everything that she has to the boy to make him happy because she loves him. At the end of the story the reader is going to ask himself/herself about some lessons that she/he learned from the book and the sad story of the tree.
We read about characters confronting life experiences in some way like our own and sometimes find ourselves caught up with the struggles of a character. Each reader gets a new and unique event and the words speak to us now, telling us the truths about human life which are relevant to all times. Literature enriches us by putting words to feelings.