Brief Summary Of The Book Thief By Ishmael

Throughout the novel, Ishmael and his friends begin to those their humanity and become completely different individuals because of their exposure to the war. The

Question: How do you think Ishmael managed to be happy during the war despite everything that has happened to him?

“I hate getting flashbacks from things I don't want to remember. ”“In violence, we forget who we are.” these are some of the quotes that come to mind when I think of the violence and the consequences and after effect that Ishmael experience in the novel. Throughout the novel Ishmael encountered many deadly and violent events. From his experiences I have learned that the consequences and aftereffects of violence makes a person feel as though they are losing himself and/ or as though they are dying a little on the inside, many lives may or may have been taken, are some of the lesson I learned from his experiences.

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.

Ishmael has to run from village to village, through forests, or extremely hot sand to escape the constant danger of the RUF. When he was first starting to run away, he was with his brothers, later on he was by himself, and throughout the rest of his running following him into war was past time acquaintances that now became his friends. Him and his new friends became severely injured at one point, and they experienced a death amongst themselves with no certain cause other than exceeding anxiety. In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael states, “Each time I lifted my feet, the veins in them tightened and I felt the sand particles digging into my bleeding soles.” This occurs when Ishmael and his friends are forced out by a village that took their shoes, and the boys were forced to walk on the 120 degrees hot sand. Speaking of villages punishing the boys, there were many difficulties when the new friends would stop at different villages for food or rest. Due to the chaos of war, many villages thought the boys were sometimes rebels, spies, killers, or thieves, making the

He didn’t know how to act or what to say but all his uncle could do was tear up and remember Ishmael’s resemblance of his dad. Ishmael then slowly open up to his uncle and goes home with his uncle. In conclusion, No matter how hard your past was you can overcome it with caring supporters by your side. The message in the book is really motivational to me, it make me feel like life is too precious to hold on to the past and not move on towards the future. Throughout the story Ismael had supporters who motivate him to keeping him going. Now he is a successful man who lives in New

This line showed how Ishmael had realized how bad the war actually was and that it was making a grown man cry like a child. If the grown manis

After his home was attacked, he fled away to the only escape route out of town. In fact, “Everyone headed for it” (24). He was no longer living like a normal boy, instead, he now is a wanderer without a home. Instead of gaining friends now, he began losing them. His friend once ate an animal and then “Saidu’s body was washed and prepared for burial the next day” (85). Ishmael lost his closest friends to him because of the war. Never in his life had he lost someone close to him like that, and especially not because of war. Not only that, Ishmael joined the army. He was forced to do so in order to live. He used to be innocent and not have to join any war but now, “With trembling hands I took the gun, saluted him, and ran to the back of the line, still holding the gun but afraid to look at it" (111). Ishmael is now carrying a gun and has joined the military to kill the enemy. An army is a place where you are trained to kill, and now Ishmael, only a boy, is joining that group. Not only that, Ishmael also took various drugs. Some days the only things he ate was “...sardines and corned beef with gar, sniff cocaine, brown brown, and take some white capsules” (122). He could not get off of them and would do anything to get more. He had never taken drugs before, but now he was addicted to them and would not get off of them. But, by far, the largest transformation is that Ishmael began to kill people. He once played a “game” where

The rebels killed his family and friends so he tries to gain revenge since they did destroy other aspects in his life too. Once Ishmael finally got to the village his family was staying, the rebels attack

In chapter 9, he says that, “It was a calm walk along the sand, since we didn’t except trouble in this part of the country. We chased and wrestled each other in the sand, played somersault and running games. We even bundled up Alhaji’s old shirt and tied a rope around it to make a soccer ball. We then played a game, and each time one of us scored a goal, he would celebrate with a soukous dance. We shouted, laughed, and dang our secondary-school songs” (59). This shows Ishmael and his friends becoming children one more time. For an instance they had forgotten everything around them. At first they were scared of the ocean, they feared the crashing waves on the shore, and show their inexperience. This scene is powerful because it shows what his life would have been if he hadn’t been dragged into the

The reader could likely relate to at least some of the situations Ishmael faces. One can relate to hunger around the world that put many people in starvation. Hunger is a serious problems because numerous people are facing it every day. Ishmael describes in chapter 4 in detail “we got hungrier day after day, to the point that their stomachs were hurting and their vision blurring at times” (27). This is the effects of starvation when food gets scarce or when food is not abundant. Ishmael and his friends stole food from various people in order to fight starvation and survive the day to day journey.

When Ishmael was thirteen a war broke out in his country. He demonstrated great courage, determination, and strength from the beginning of his treacherous journey until the end. One day Ishmael’s village, Mattru Jong, was raided by rebels and everyone had to leave. There was only one way to escape and everyone in town rushed there in a panic. The rebels didn't wanted everyone to abandon the village they "began shooting their guns at people instead of shooting into the sky” (Beah 24). They knew that they had to find a way to escape because it was especially risky boys their age. Aware of what could happen to them they were determined to escape. With great courage “they [We] dodged from bush to bush and made it to the other side...Immediately

Early in his account, Ishmael Laments how “the war had destroyed the enjoyment of the very experience of meeting people” (pg. 48). From the story after the death of Ishmael’s family by the rebellion, trust and survival are being forced to Ishmael's life. Some of the consequences suffer from the violent is Ishmael have trust and survival issues. Ishmael are put in the condition where he have to fight for his own food with the boys. Go through survival by not get killed by the rebellions. He also have protect himself from starving and get killed. Ever since the attack of the rebellions started all villages are being scared and have no trust of the people not from the village. Ishmael is traveling with the boys and when he is going through villages

When Ishmael first meets the narrator, he tells him his life story so that the narrator would consider him as a teacher. Ishmael was taken from his home in the wild and put in captivity to be displayed in an exhibition. From being held in captivity, it’s due to that reason that Ishmael believes that he can teach the narrator about captivity. What surprises the readers is that Ishmael doesn’t hold resentment or anger towards the people he called his captors. Instead he feels a sense of sadness and pity of them due to the fact that these men are also held captive. He shows readers that he believes that is captors are held by mother culture, which creates limitation for people. It’s for that reason he

When he comes back, Ishmael is gone. After running around to find him, he discovers he is in the circus. Ishmael dies of pneumonia before the narrator is able to save him from the circus. Because of this, he continues the teachings of Ishmael in his honor to aide in the end of the takers and the rise of the leavers.