Events can significantly affect someone’s way of life, whether it be their personality, or how they go about living. It’s just like how a child learns from their actions and consequences, or how a person’s beliefs are influenced by their family. The world is based on influence, as well as the characters from The Book Thief. Whether is be Max, Liesel, or Hans, they all have one thing in common, their trauma and important or powerful events throughout their life have influenced them to at a certain way. After reading Parts IV and V, this seems to occur more and more often. Since events are so important in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, many connections can be made throughout it, especially in parts four and five. First of all, Liesel's’
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.
I think the theme in The book thief is courage. I chose courage because it can be shown mentally, physically, and emotionally. Hans shows courage when he agrees to help Max Vandenberg to stay with his family. Leisel shows courage when she fakes an injury to warn her parents that the nazi officers are inspecting the basements. She showed courage by putting herself in harms way to protect her family and max. Liesel also showed courage by reading “the whistler” in the basement during the first air raid. “Despite of being afraid of what might happen to her, she found the strength to refocus herself and put aside her fears in an effort to make everyone else feel calmer and less afraid”(zusak 381)this is how she showed courage for the second time.
Since The Book Thief is a historical fiction text, the fictitious characters interact in a realistic WWII setting in Germany. Three characters in the book, Liesel, Rudy and, Death develop their identities within the parameters of the Nazi-controlled society. However, if Liesel, Rudy and, Death were characters in today's society, their lives would be different.
Over the summer I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The novel contains many memorable quotes, with powerful meanings that can be applied to the reader’s life. The novel is the story of Liesel Meminger’s journey through the eyes of the narrator, Death. Liesel has many hardships in her life, but also a lot of good fortune. The novel shows both Liesel and Death’s reactions to each situation she encounters.
The Book Thief’s plot is character driven in the beginning. Characters choose to make their own decisions and consequently feel the effects of later on. For example, Liesel and Rudy intentionally make the decision to steal books from Ilsa Hermann’s library. The Hubermann and the Steiner families both make the subconscious decision to dislike the Nazis. Finally, Hans Hubermann makes the potentionally incriminating decision to harbor a Jew, Max, in his basement. These characters choose to go against their morals, yet their decisions work in their favor. Nearing the end of the book, the plot structure switches to plot driven; external forces disturbing the characters more than their own decisions and actions do. This novel is centered around the Holocaust and the war was taking place, and without this, many of the major events would not have happened, resulting in a different outcome for the characters. The bombs set off due to the war also influenced the characters by a great deal, causing their panic and fear to control their
The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak shows how the impact on the power of language has on Liesel Meimeger through the structure of the novel. The structure of the novel shows the development of the character Liesel, highlighting the impact of the power of language. In her development, she finds the ability to express herself as well as to connect to others. Books become a comfort to her and heal her, they help her grow strong relationships with other characters in her life. However, she also sees the damage words have caused through Nazi propaganda, understanding that Hitler 's words have been the cause of suffering of the people in her life. Despite this, the structure of the novel shows the ability of the character to understand that
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.
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 takes us through a journey of Liesel and her struggle through the times of the Holocaust. Moving to a new city and being adopted by a new family Lisel goes through many challenges by has her new friends and family to support her. We start with Hans Hubermann her new father, a generous down to earth man who is an ex soldier.
Since The Book Thief is a historical fiction text, the fictitious characters interact in a realistic WWII setting in Germany. Three characters in the book, Liesel, max, and Hans develop their identities within the parameters of the Nazi-controlled society. However, if Liesel, max, and Hans were characters in today's society, their lives would be different. Liesel She is almost the main character in the story and the book. Then she was small.
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 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death tells a story about humans from his point of view. This provides a unique point of view for the reader to understand the story of Liesel. Death often speaks of the horrible things that humans do to each other, but he just as often speaks of the beauty of human life. Throughout the lives of the characters, the effect of other characters love and hate is evident.
If you believe in yourself and have dedication, pride, and never quit, you will be successful. Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, creates a story of a young orphan named Liesel Meminger, who is living with her new foster family. She learns the wonders of reading from her foster father and grows to love books. During Liesel’s time with her new family, she shows determination through her efforts and kindness with her encounters with other people. Liesel in The Book Thief expresses her traits, such as hardworking, and bravery.
From reading Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, there is no denying that he is a great writer; in his book he shows all three narrative tensions, but mostly shows uncertainty because you never know what’s around the corner. When first reading this book every page I turned the more uncertainty there was, for example, what was going to happen now that she lost her brother and biological mother within the same week? Having these mysteries everywhere in this book make a reader want to keep reading because they are uncertain as to what is going to happen to this character throughout the whole book. Uncertainty and Anticipation in a way fall in the same category, both make a reader want to read on and find out more; like said earlier, Markus is a profound author because he knows how to get people involved with the story, feel emotions, to want more. He shows his talents throughout the entire book; and it works because people want to read more and more so that sooner or later they could find a steady plot or at least begin to understand the plot, or solve the mysteries as in, just what is going to happen.