Analysis Of `` City Of Thieves `` By David Benioff

This story was written, charmingly, in an unorthodox, yet loving manner. Rich with reality, the novel, led me into the atrocious, but true, glimpse into the world at the time. The phrases and paragraphs, struck me, illustrating the spliced lives of the protagonists, through complex, evocative, at times ethereal, imagery. The plot, progressive, and compelling, is profoundly sad, touching and uplifting. Flowing at a fast-pace, the plot, is a genuine page-turner, of which brought sadness in me when a disaster stroke, or warmth, when the characters embraced their connections to each other. The story covering the effects of hunger, war, prejudice, love, hatred, friendship, deception and growth, through its character development, cleverly stayed faithful to the plot, throughout. The characters, executed flawlessly on the author’s part, though not superficial, were tragic, and believable. The interwoven lives of these characters are complex, inspiring and perturbing. Being memorable, the characters had great prose, and development in the story. In the Book Thief, the use of Death as the narrator, persistent use of unintentional humour, was quite unique. Personally, I enjoyed Death’s utilization of dark, unintentional humour, as it ironically, lightened the saddest of

Russia struggled to provide food for its populations. Citizens took control into their own hands, Ludovic Naudeau wrote in October 1917, “One morning recently I was awakened by the cries of my neighbor in the next room. His boots had been stolen. The same day the manager of a newspaper office told me that he had been robbed six of pairs of pantaloons, … “Four hundred thefts every night!” he cried; that is the average for the last two weeks,”(One Aspect of Bolshevist Liberty). Russia could not even uphold itself because the economy was not successful compared to other countries. This led people to desire a change in the government; therefore this led to the Russian Revolution. People went to different maters to get what they wanted such as stealing since they were not getting the aid that they needed and they needed financial support. This caused them to protest against their government because many people from the lower class could not take care of their families. This cause led to a greater impact compared to Tsarist weak authority.

Hope and courage are two feelings that are only powerful when used together. To be courageous and not hopeful is a suicide mission; on the other hand, having hope and no courage will never give one the urge to oppose the problem. In Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief, the whole story is the epitome of courage and hope. During the second world war, the young Liesel Meminger is adopted by the Hubermann family, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, who teach her the power of words, as well as the importance of kindness. Moreover, one of the themes of this novel is the creation of hope from courage, and it is shown through the author’s use of symbolism, allegory, as well as irony.

Hope is elusive and one needs courage to ensure it does not fly away. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak develops the theme of courage and hope throughout the novel, showing people need both to survive. He portrays the theme effectively through the characterization of Liesel as well as the symbolism of Hans Hubermann’s accordion.

One of the ways the setting is so impactful throughout the book is it shows the decay of a city and country through an awful winter. The setting is so important during this book because it adds to the challenge that both Lev and Kolya face. A scene that really demonstrates the utter atrocity and discrepancy of the setting in the book is when they find the young boy at the chicken coop. During which, they see the boy cold and dying of starvation. One of the most powerful quotes in the book is, “The fierce souls who survived winter after winter in Siberia possessed something I did not, great faith in some splendid destiny, whether God’s kingdom or justice or the distant promise of revenge. Or maybe they were so beaten down, they became nothing more than animals on their hind legs, working at their masters’ command …. and dreaming of nothing but the end.” (Benioff, 34) This brings perspective to the reader and shows them the hardships that people faced each day. Lastly, the most important characteristic of the setting in the book, were the morose people of Leningrad. The reason why the people are so important to the setting of this book is because they add a depth of detail that cannot be described by the landscape of Leningrad itself. The people’s suffering is represented strongly in one quote, “You have never been so hungry; you have never been so cold, when we slept, if we slept, we dreamed of the feasts we had carelessly eaten seven months earlier.” (Benioff, 1) This quote shows how the people suffer and how remiss they were about the food they had available months before. Another powerful example of how desperate people were, was when you hear of them eating paper mixed with glue just to fill themselves up, or even saw dust. The setting in this book adds a tremendous amount of detail, (Active Voice) and

The Book Thief Analysis Essay “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” This quote said by Albert Einstein shows what life is like. At one point in life everything could be terrible and then another time it could be great.

The people saw a time of unification and of increased economic profits.  For about 175 years, the Russian Empire experienced a little bit of everything, from Industrialization to revolutions, to social changes, to numerous wars. At the beginning of this time period, the Russians found themselves struggling with some of the most basic things the rest of Europe had--roads.  Russia had been lacking the infrastructure to connect its' large territory, and help bridge the gaps between the people in the empire.  Not only that, but after all of the famines and other difficulties Russia was having, there was a large migration into urban areas, leaving many places along the countryside to fend for themselves.  And the peasants in these areas were often burdened with such heavy taxes, they could not afford to feed their own family, let alone get to a market in an attempt to make a

In the novel The book Thief, Markus Zusak explores that death and war are often more difficult for those who survive. At the center of the text is the idea that those who are left behind after tragedy suffer greatly. This is revealed through the hardship of life and experience a gentle transition. This was shown as an experience of Liesel who struggles as well as the other characters that have difficult processing their grief and guilt. Zusak’s novel acts to alert his readers the dangers of war and by the hardship of life and experience a gentle transition.

In The Book Thief, a work of historical fiction, written by Markus Zusak introduces the main character Liesel Meminger, the reader starts to see how she keeps having many conflicts but always stays positive. Liesel has many conflicts, for example her brother dies early in the book and that shapes the way she is. Later on Liesel steals books and that makes her happy because the first book she stole was the grave digger's handbook and that is how she remembers her brother. Liesel steals and reads books this is how she finds happiness with all the bad things going on around her. In the end of the book most of the people she loves die and it is hard for her to find happiness again. The author uses the setting and point of view to express theme and to make the reader feel sympathy; He uses this because with the theme of finding light in the darkness, deaths perception, and the setting of Germany makes the theme clearer.

Brutality and Beauty are both aspects of the human spirit and therefore are evident in society and have been through the ages. History can be examined to bring forth examples of both, often side by side, often in times of great destruction such as in times of war. In the novel, The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak explores and compares the juxtaposition between great brutality and beauty in the human spirit evident in the German town of Molching during WW2. The author demonstrates how the characters in the novel can overcome cruelty and ruthlessness with acts of extraordinary kindness and humaneness. This is shown through the novel with Max and Liesel’s friendship, when Hans gives one of the Jewish camp prisoners a piece of bread and when Rosa and Hans protect Max from the Nazis. Zusak illustrates that a human’s capacity for hope is difficult to destroy regardless of the circumstances.

In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn shows how Soviet prisoners, known as Zeks, are treated while being in the gulag for one day through the eyes of the protagonist and omniscient narrator named Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. Despite being in an environment such as the Soviet Union, where there is harsh tundra and not much food to eat, Shukhov tries to make good use of what he has received while trying to keep himself alive. The purpose of Solzhenitsyn’s portrayal of food is to show its overall significance and that it is used as a means of trade and survival. Over time, the power of food reveals its significance to the Zeks and especially to Shukhov and food allows both groups understanding towards the necessity of food for their vitality and well-being additionally.

Markus Zusak’s Book Thief chronicles the life of Liesel Meminger and those who crossed her path. Through his use of Death as a narrator, a profound underlying message of the wondrous complexity of the human world is presented, balancing the ever-present forces of evil and good.

Themes are inserted within literature by the author in an attempt to provoke readers to think about the topic provided. In the novel, The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, many topics are presents, such as, courage, suffering, and human behavior. The most prevalent, however, is the courage possessed by certain individuals. This theme, bravery, is evident throughout the entire course of the novel in Liesel Meminger, the Hubermanns, and Max Vandenburg.

Imagine yourself being alone in the world, isolated from everyone else. You have no friends or family and are discriminated against by the rest of the world. Now, imagine the things you would do to escape this isolation. If you are anything like the characters in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, then you would take great risks, even if they can result in your death, to get away from this solitude. In the novel, isolation plays an important role in the character’s lives as it causes a great deal of pain, creates life changing moments, and affects the character’s actions in such a way that causes them to take dangerous risks in order to escape this isolation.

This is the environment that many, including Lev and Kolya, grew up in, and these are the experiences they had to endure. Benioff has done his research, and it shows; the things that are happening in the story were based off of experiences the author has taken from real life. Lev talks about the lack of food and starvation in the city, mentioning that the rumours of people eating their family pets may have been true. He also mentions the ration bread being made out of sawdust because in the book and in real life, bakers had to get creative and come up with ways to make bread without their usual ingredients. The history of Leningrad is an important connection in regard to the novel because it wasn’t fictional, but a real place. The story gives