Essay On Color Symbolism In The Book Thief

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.

Today’s society has many different associations for the color red. Red is most often paired with intensity, anger, and aggression. Red is often times a standout color, not modest at all. Policemen are told that when radaring, they should look for red cars first because

Death can be thought of as a very violent being and people often associate it with maliciousness. The animated coloring plays to a reader’s familiarity of certain colors and what they represent to create a more vehement image. In the chapter titled “Beside the Railway Line”, Death states that something is blinding white when Liesel’s brother dies. It could possibly be comparing the white snow with the cold of death. There is also repeated mention of the colors of Rudy’s hair and Hans’ eyes. Rudy’s hair is described as being “lemon yellow”. Humanity mostly affiliates the color yellow with happiness, memory, communication, youthfulness and carelessness. But in The Book Thief it is twisted into a grim style. In the novel, Rudy is very happy and he cherishes his youth. When he dies, Liesel remembers the kiss he kept asking for and the mean things she would say to him and it causes great pain for her. Death almost always explains the way a person is when it comes for them. He says that Hans’ silver eyes were open and that Hans’ came peacefully. Silver is often correlated with love and peace. Only because Liesel loved Hans so much, is that why the silver of his eyes are so very important. Death gives a tranquil atmosphere to the violence it concocts. Readers become comfortable with Death the idea of it and frequently miss the gesture of violence.

Colors are apart of our everyday lives. They help us on dreaming, creating and increasing youthfulness. The author used colors to illustrate an importance behind objects, emotions, and characters. The various colors symbolize location, character traits and appearances.

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.

Throughout history, colors have been used to symbolize different meanings based on associations with culture, history, politics, and religion. In The Scarlet Letter, the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism through colors such as red, black and white in the form of sunlight, to represent emotions and ideologies of Hester and the people around her.

Red, like any other color in this novel, is symbolic, perhaps more so than others. Love and tragedy, though seemingly opposite, are both symbolized by red. On page 12, Zusak says through Death, “The last time I saw her was red.” (Zusak 12) Death is saying this about seeing Liesel Meminger.

In literature, red is often associated with blood and violence. Four researchers, Erella Hovers, Shimon Ilani, Ofer Bar-Yosef, and Bernard Vandermeersch, studied colored symbolism and concluded; “Color symbolism is one of the symbolic frameworks used extensively by contemporary societies to convey information and abstract messages through material objects” (Hovers et al.,2003.) Through the use of colors, May vividly expresses the emotions of the speaker towards society, regarding the topics of warfare and education. He specifically selects certain colors, like black and red, to stir up emotions within Jontae. The colors create a symbolic image, ultimately leading up to represent the violent scenes taking place. May writes his fear; “I know how often red is the only color left to reach” (18-19), to show his apprehension for Jontae a young male in society surrounded by warfare. Red in literature often represents blood, sacrifice, and violence. Using colors throughout the poem, creates a more vehement atmosphere, in which Jontae is left to choose between warfare, and discovering his identity in an alternative

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.

One of the main characteristics of war is its ability to take away individuals’ feelings of strength. Such individuals will become unable to feel a sense of identity unless they find some source of power, no matter its form may be. The main characters in The Book Thief and Between Shades of Gray use art and literature as a means for empowering themselves within the conflict-ridden setting around them: World War II. The “testimony [of these characters is produced] to create an absolute record, to speak in a world where [their] voices have been extinguished” (Sepetys 338). Liesel, the main character in The Book Thief, and Lina, from Between Shades of Gray, create testimony of their endurances by leaving behind writing and drawings that tell their story to future generations after being forced into silence during their own lifetime.

The first way the author uses symbolism to show the overall theme is with color. Numerous times in the novel Janie is wearing a

References to black and white carry the most weight and contribute much to the actions of the characters; those colors often are used as a comment on race, on good and evil, on sexuality,

An item is never just an item, an idea is never just an idea. There is always is deeper meaning behind an object's physical form. Throughout The Book Thief, Zusak uses elements of symbolism to create a novel layered with hidden values. Possessions in the book soon become representations of the memories and emotions the characters live with. This is why the theme of The Book Thief is simple objects can have complex meanings.

The color white is associated with purity and innocence. Gatsby and Nick, the main male characters in the story, can be affiliated with this

In history, art has been known as a production of works for emotional power. Art is formed by artists who have a story to share. It is used to express a deep emotion they cannot quite put into words, for example, sorrow or grief. Throughout the novel, Markus Zusak shows people distracting themselves from desperate times of sorrow through art. The use of art in The Book Thief represents creative outlets used as a coping mechanism for each character. The forms of art in the midst of pain are an accordion, a sketchbook, and books. To someone who were to pick up one of these items wouldn’t see much importance but to the main characters, they are what keeps them inspired and hopeful during the catastrophic events caused by Hitler.