Archetype And Symbolism In The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak set in Munich, Germany during the Nazi reign from 1936-1943. The novel incorporates a main character that is, in the beginning, an innocent child who doesn't understand the world and takes her on a journey where she grows up and matures through the hardships and challenges of her life. The story is narrated by the character Death, who is a fresh take on the Grim Reaper, only wearing the black cloak when it's cold and never carries a syte. Death describes the life Liesel Meminger, an orphaned girl who witnesses her brother's death and burial and finds herself being adopted by the benevolent old couple, the Hubermanns. The rest of the story follows Liesel's journey through her incredibly challenging life with the Hubermanns and characters such as Rudy, The mayor's wife, and Max helping her along. Symbolism in The Book Thief deepens the story by conveying many different ideas and emotions that supports the reader's understanding of the story. This is especially apparent with the use of the gravediggers to help the reader remember characters, the use of color to help the reader feel the proper emotions and remember the correct events, and the use of Liesel's changing feelings about Rudy to convey how Liesel grows and matures through the book.

The Book Thief is set in the time of World War 2 where the Holocaust is present and disaster is everywhere. Throughout the story, Liesel, the main character, learns that words are extremely powerful and hold the ability for people to use them for good or for evil. Among the disaster and altercations, Liesel uses her literature to comfort her and make herself more powerful due to her knowledge, which demonstrates the theme of the story, the comfort and power of literature and words softens the pain of loss.

Death. To many, it is the end of life and start of a new beginning from this world, but in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death is our narrator. He is the one who guides us through the life of a young German girl named Liesel during Nazi Germany. Death manages to see her three times, and soon enough, becomes fascinated by her and the trials she must face in her life. Liesel manages to change Death’s character, surprising him in a way he thought humans never could and changing his viewpoint on them forever.

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.

After reading and scrutinizing The Book Thief, one can see that bread, the accordion, and books, the three main symbols used in the novel, are indispensable to the merriment of the book. To add information, these three symbols all represent different things, actions, and people, but can all be compared and contrasted. Three different ways that these emblems can be compared and contrasted is by looking at what they represent, why they represent it, and the reasoning behind why the author used that specific symbol.

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.

The Book Thief’s main character is Liesel Meminger throughout the book she develops more and more by opening up and doing new things. At first she was very shy and would not do hardly anything for example, “It took nearly fifteen minutes to coax her from the car. It was the tall man who did it. Quietly.”(28) That is when she first got out of the car “There was the gate next, which she clung to.”(28) This shows all the more how shy she was at the beginning of the book when she first arrived on Himmel Street. Then as the book goes on she starts to adopt her foster-mother, Rosa or Mama’s style of speaking and starts cussing some when talking to her best friend, Rudy and even the mayors wife when she terminated her mothers washing and ironing

Finally, the Hubermann’s bond with Ms. Holtzapfel improved through words as well. At the beginning, “it was a tradition for Frau Holtzapfel, one of their neighbors, to spit on the Hubermanns’ door every time she walked past” (Zusak 44), showing that their relationship was pretty rough. However, things started to change after Liesel read the The Whistler in the bomb shelter. Liesel got an offer to read to Ms. Holtzapfel for her coffee ration and the cessation of the door spitting. When the sirens blared, Ms. Hubermann “waddled swiftly through the gate and stood in the open doorway. ‘Holtzapfel!’ …’Holtzapfel, get out here, you miserable old swine!’ Tact had never been Rosa Hubermann’s strong point. ‘If you don’t come out, we’re all going to die here on the

What would the story of a book be like if many important parts were just removed? What if many symbolic items were just taken out? Symbolism is when items hold a deeper meaning within a story . The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a great example of symbolism within a book. Through symbols such as the accordion, the Nazi Flag, and books, Zusak demonstrates how ordinary objects can represent a deeper meaning to readers and the characters within the story of The Book Thief.

In the book The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the theme words are more powerful than actions becomes clear through plot, character, and setting. This book takes place in Germany when Hitler was in rule. During this time we meet a Jew, Max, who is running for his life. Max is more afraid of what Hitler will say than do. He comes to the Hubermann household for protection where he meets Rosa, Hans, and of course Liesel. Rosa and Hans Hubermann how haven’t joined the Notizie party, but Hans has sent out an application to join. Hans was in World War 1 and his life was saved by Max’s father. Max’s father had an accordion and he died in this war. Han’s took the accordion back to Max’s mother when she told him he could keep it. Hans told Max’s mother that if she was ever in

Brandon Rubsamen English II Honors – Period 2 Ms. Foster 31 August 2016 The Bomb Thief It started with an air-raid, and ended with one. The story of a book thief, Liesel, and her best friend, that is.

Words are used for empowerment all over the world. Something as simplistic as being able to read a book can shape someone’s life in a positive way. Liesel does this by stealing books so she can learn to read and interpret them. The books that Liesel reads assist her view of the world in a different way than how it is presented to Liesel in Nazi, Germany. Liesel steals these books to empower herself, and this results in her empowering others like Max and Rudy. Liesel empowers Max by reading stories to him, “Max has woken up, you must come home” (Rosa 270). Rosa also recognizes the power that Liesel has to influence Max. In The Book Thief by Mark Zusak, Liesel aspires to discover the power of words and empowers herself by stealing and reading

Shared Humanity in Major Works When put into situations that test the humanity of people, what characteristics still show through? Shared humanity is a term used to explain what all humans have in common, and has six major categories: Loss, Morality, Survival, Relationships, Choices, and Emotions. The characteristics that seem to come out naturally, even in strange circumstances, are often things shared with all other humans. Major works, such as The Book Thief, How I Live Now, and Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix often show many examples of Shared Humanity and its effect on our lives.

The novel The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak begins with a prologue, explaining what is yet to come in the book. Zusak then takes readers through the death of the main character Liesel’s brother, and how Liesel is taken to a foster family, the Hubermanns. Readers are introduced to Hans’ love, Rosa’s swears, her new best friend Rudy, some of the racism characters face, and how little Liesel knows about reading and writing. Liesel faces many things children now usually never face, and eventually, with the help of her Papa Hans, she learns to read and write. Zusak shows the misunderstanding and how uneducated Liesel is, and yet how they allow themselves to perceive words in other ways through synesthesia.