Effects Of Guilt In The Book Thief

Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.

At age two, Max’s Father was shot. When he was nine, his mother became broke, so his mother and him moved into his Uncle’s house with his six cousins. Then, when Max was thirteen, his Uncle died. After his Uncles death, Max decided that he did not want to die a meaningless death. Max wanted his life to have a purpose. He then began fist fighting. But his fist fighting career came to an end when the Nazi Party’s hate towards Jews took over the people’s minds rapidly. Soon, Max had to go into hiding. Max had felt guilty and selfish for going

“Why do I want to live? I shouldn’t want to but I do.” (Zusak 487) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is encircled with the idea of trying to find freedom from one’s guilt. Several characters’ in this novel such as Hans Hubermann, Max Vandenburg, as well as Ilsa Hermann all experience guilt throughout the story which slowly eats away at their lives and it’s up to them as to how they will deal with their guilt. Guilt came in to Hans Hubermann’s life when he escapes death in World War I. Hans friend Erik, saves Hans life and now, Hans carries the guilt of Erik’s death and promises to help Erik’s family. Little did Hans know, that in the near future he would save Erik’s son, Max Vandenburg from death. Previously, Max Vandenburg left his family

Guilt is a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense; real or imagined, and affects normal people everyday at various stages of life. When loved ones and those that are close pass away, it is not uncommon for those left behind to experience feelings of accountability known as survivor’s guilt. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, survivor’s guilt can be identified in three main characters: Liesel, Max, and Hans, and creates profound emotional and behavioral effects on these characters throughout the novel. The debut of survivor’s guilt appears after the death of Liesel Meminger’s little brother, Werner.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, shows the theme statement of surviver's guilt can be dealt with through kindness and friendship, and is proven in how characters manage the guilt by assisting the living. To start, Hans' life is

According to Napoleon Bonaparte, courage isn’t having the strength to go on … it’s going on when you don’t have strength. Liesel, Max and Hans are the main characters in “The Book Thief” that have acts of courage entirely change their lives. This novel takes place during WWII in Germany. Countless Jews are desperately looking for the courage to endure the harsh rule of the Nazis. On the other hand there are some Germans who use their courage to stand against the Nazis in their own exceptional ways. The characters in “The Book Thief’ show acts of courage and this greatly affects the course of their life and relationships with other characters.

Also, Hans feels guilty for what he did to Erik’s son, Max Vandenburg. Since the Vanderburg family is a family of Jews, the believe only one person in their family would survive, because of this the only person they try to save is Max, sending him to hide (which Max feels guilty for leaving his family behind). Though he stays at his friend’s store for sometime, when it gets too dangerous for him to be there, his friend, Walter Kugler goes to Himmel Street and Hans agrees to take Max, feeling it’s the least he can do for Erik. For the period of time that Max is in the Hubermann home, he becomes close with Hans, Ilsa and Liesel, with him writing books for Liesel, making a snowman in the basement and fist fights Hitler in the basement. To get to the Dachau Camp, at least once a

The acts of human nature can become a very difficult concept to understand. Markus Zusak uses Death throughout the The Book Thief to express the complexity of human nature. Death illustrates how complicated beings humans are and how they hold the capacity to act in both evil and beautiful ways. Throughout the novel Death helps give readers insight to the ignorance displayed and the pain it may cause a person. In the most troublesome and discriminatory times of the Holocaust, Death will point out the beautiful acts of compassion carried out by characters involved in the novel. Sometimes beauty and pain is mixed within the sacrifice some make for those they love and are loyal to.

Life is a precious thing, and it is so precious that some people will undergo severe anguish to hold on to it. During the 1930’s and 1940’s in Germany, people of the Jewish religion were diabolically oppressed and slaughtered, just for their beliefs. Some Jews went to extreme measures to evade capture by the German law enforcement, hoping to hold on to life. Krystyna Chiger was only a small child when her family, along with a group of other desperate Jews, descended into the malignant sewers to avoid the Germans. After living in the abysmal sewers for fourteen months, her group emerged, and when she became an adult, she authored a novel about her time in the sewer. When analyzing the literary elements utilized in her novel, The Girl in the Green Sweater, one can determine how tone and mood, point of view, and conflict convey the message of struggle and survival that was experienced during the Holocaust, and how they help the reader to understand and relate.

Guilt plays a very big role in “The Book Thief”. It is one of the ways in which characters suffer. Guilt is a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation. The feeling of guilt is inescapable and it constantly makes you “look behind your back”. Analyzing my observations, I concluded that there were two major characters that experience guilt: Hans Hubermann and Max Vandenburg. “Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then, think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.” (Zusak 211). This was a description of the feeling of guilt that Hans Hubermann was experiencing. He felt guilty because hiding a Jew. In Nazi Germany, this was very wrong. In fact, it was considered a crime. This feeling of guilt was eating him. Max Vandenburg was also being

Words can influence the mind in many ways that thought may not be able to. They are carefully placed and shared in different ways by each and every individual. Words have powerful impacts and can majorly impact how one may think, feel, or even lead others to feel. Written by Markus Zusak, “The Book Thief” describes a story of an innocent foster girl, Liesel Meminger, who resides in Munich, Germany at one of the most troubling time periods in history, Nazi Germany. A tale narrated by the one and only Death himself, shows the perspective from his point of view, as well as others, describing how Liesel had been seized away from her birth mother at a young age, and put into a foster family. Her new family, the Hubermanns. As she matures and grows into a more critical thinker, understanding and analyzing everything that carefully happens around her. Her foster-father, Hans guides her and teaches her how to read, which little does she know sparks her journey, the art of stealing books. Liesel soon discovers that words aren 't simply lines on a page, they are strong emotions packed into a form that merely is held in her delicate hands. Not only did she hold the pages of emotion, she held a power, a dangerous weapon of words, a weapon of control, and every book that she had stolen was giving her unimaginable power that made her think in ways that she would’ve never thought she could have. As with Nazi propaganda, and a gift that enabled her to broaden her worldview. Liesel evolves

In the novel The Book Thief written by Marcus Zusak, Max found himself in a situation where the propaganda that Hitler has set affected his life in many ways. With the help of Liesel’s words and reading and the care that the Hubermanns gave, Max grew stronger and he had the courage to stand up and protect himself from the force that Hitler had set against the him and the Jews. By having the his power of will, Max was fighting Hitler in his own circumstances even if it 's just in his imagination.

In Nazi Germany, the axis fought extremely hard to oppress Jews and dehumanize them. These ideals were pushed upon the German citizens relentlessly during Hitler's reign through laws. In the book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the author presents the readers with characters who are under Nazi rule. These characters are all affected by the government in different ways, but the overarching theme of the book is the dehumanization of good people. Hans, Rudy, and Liesel all give humanity back to someone who has been dehumanized, even in the face of adversity.

Markus Zusak’s compelling novel, The Book Thief, is a multilayered and intricately created text that embeds a multiplicity of meanings as it explores diverse ways of representing the complexities of trauma and the human nature. The incorporation of trauma into literature has enabled an enhanced explication of the power and complexity of the relationships among cataclysmic historical events. Zusak’s exploration into trauma and the various coping mechanisms employed by individuals is a poignant reflection upon the human condition and furthers our understanding of the German community within Hitler’s rule. Zusak’s novel demonstrates the presence of all the major concepts in trauma theory, most predominantly intergenerational transmission of trauma.