Examples Of Dehumanization 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.

War cannot exist without hatred, and hatred cannot be soothed by more hate; it can only be masked by love. World War II was a time for darkness and death, injustice and inequality. People were subjected to acts of inhumanity and hatred, simply for being who they were, having thoughts and showcasing their opinions. Markus Zusak introduces characters such as Liesel and the Hubermanns, who live in Nazi Germany, in the midst of destruction and horror. The war deeply affects their way of living, bringing unwanted conflict in their lives. In The Book Thief, love is a prominent theme which works to hide and soothe the hatred brought along by the war; Max Vandenburg, a Jewish person, finds that the love shown to him by the Hubermanns overpower the hatred he faces because of how he was born, and Liesel and the Hubermanns learn that showing love when the war comes to Molching can help create a sense of comfort and safety.

With over 70 million people dead, World War II was one of the most horrific wars in the last millennium. During the war, Germany is corrupted and dangerous for anybody who is not German. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, is a story about an orphan who lives in Molching, a town where the Holocaust and the bombing occur. Throughout the novel, she steals books in order to become a better reader and writer. The city of Molching and the characters and not real, but the details of the events, settings, and people are accurately portrayed in the novel. Therefore, the portrayal of racism and the conditions of Jews in Nazi Germany are accurately depicted in the Book Thief.

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.

Stripping the Jews of their identities was first shown when there was no differentiation between one another. For example, when all the Jews are forced into a single ghetto, “There was no longer any distinction between rich and poor, notables and the others; we were all people condemned to the same fate-still unknown”

Dehumanization usually involves members of one group asserting the inferiority of another group through acts or words. But during the Holocaust, the Nazis did not stop at simply asserting their own superiority over the Jews; they stripped them of their sense of self and individuality and reduced them to the numbers they had tattooed on their arms. The theme of inhumanity is omnipresent in every story and every memory recounted in the memoir. Night makes you question the power of humanity. It makes you wonder how ordinary human beings could bring themselves to commit the kind of atrocities that we now deem unthinkable. But then again, people say that the most human thing of all is

Adolf Hitler used his words to influence the German people into following him into World War II and then the Holocaust. Because Hitler was so persuasive he made a whole entire country following him into a world full of death, evil, and unjust. In the novel, The Book Thief and in Nazi Germany, symbolism and influence is presented to show the horrors of war through the protagonist in The Book Thief having horrors of war through night terrors, the Nazis showing how much influence they have over people, and how both of these ideas reflect in real life today. In The Book Thief, Liesel and Max both show how the world they are surrounded by is hurting them through both their night terrors.

The mayor and his wife take Liesel to their home it says, “A few blocks down Munich street, there was a clear line separating the bombed from the fortunate” (Zusak 545). They were bombed by enemy forces and all the houses in Liesel’s block were destroyed. The mayor and his wife since they had more money and were of higher class were not bombed at all. Liesel went to find Max in the crowd of Jews “The whip sliced her collarbone and reached across her shoulder blade” (Zusak 513). Since they are Jews they aren’t suppose to be talked to but Liesel talks to Max and gets whipped. In this case the jews are of lower class, but also Liesel because where she lives wasn’t exactly the richest neighborhood. Classism has lead to destruction and chaos and has many other effects

Rudy painted himself black to try to look more like Jesse and when he got caught he was “being Jesse Owens” and that was his only reason for him doing what he was doing (Zusak 58). Even though Rudy was taught that in that time Aryans were better than every other race he still like Jesse Owens and didn’t see him as a bad person and seen him as an idol that Rudy one day wanted to be. Even though society tried to separate people Rudy liked Jesse Owens because he could run fast. Also when he was told that Aryans were better than other “races” “but nothing was clear” and he didn’t know it was because he was Aryan (Zusak 61). All though he was being taught that being Jesse Owens was a bad thing he still didn’t get it.

While reading To Kill a Mockingbird I came to a section where Miss Gates was talking to her class about Hitler and what he was doing to the Jews. She stated, “They contribute to every society they live in, and most of all, they are a deeply religious people” (Lee 245). She is talking about the Jews in this quote and when she began talking about Hitler I immediately made a connection to The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak.

One of the clear points in this story is the compassion for human kind. An example in the movie was when one of the Jewish workers, Pavel, helps Bruno when he gets hurt, despite the fact that Bruno’s family is under the wing of the Nazi regime, who despises all that Pavel is. If the Germans believed that Jews were so “unclean” and “nonhuman”, then why was Pavel, a Jew, allowed into their home to help prepare the meals and, even at one point, serve them dinner? Perhaps this part of the film took away from a more realistic feature but it allowed for the showing of

In the the novel, The Book Thief, my favorite character was Rudy Steiner.Throughout the novel he went through a variety of changes making him a dynamic character. As Death introduces the character to us he points out that, “On Himmel street he was considered a little crazy.” (pg. 48) and then briefly explains the Jesse Owens accident. The Jesse Owens incident actually tells us a lot about Rudy. For one, Rudy is oblivious to the obvious racism around him. He could care less what race Jesse Owens is, all that matters was that he was a good athlete. It's the same for the Jews.If Jesse Owens was Jewish Rudy would still idolize him. He doesn't exactly recognize why people might be treated different due to race or their beliefs. And then, Death explains

Detail is the most telling in regards to the surrounding of characters. Mark Zusak uses detail in this excerpt to depicts Max Vandenburg's departure. “Somewhere near Munich, a German Jew …” commonly describes Max as if he was a foreign stranger. This detail, intended to describe Max, depicts a distant point of view that suggest once again Max has to disappear from the sight. “Munich” listed in the first paragraphs firmly establishes a location for the departure of Max. In previous chapters, it is stated that Jews have to walk through Munich to get too Dachau, a concentration camp. This detail demonstrates how close the Hubermans and Max are to their “enemies”. In addition, Hans and Max meet “where the broken bridge leaned among the river and

In the movie, Amon Goeth, the commandant of the Plaszów camp, sits on his balcony and shoots Jews with no reason to. During one of the early scenes, a young girl yells, “Bye Jews, bye Jews!” as the Jewish are rounded up into the Kraków ghetto, showing that the hatred of the Jewish is learned and accepted by both young and old. One person can convince many others that their way is the right way and the only way.

I should have known that Hans was a true Nazi soldier at heart. The way he acted towards the other children in primary school should have been a red flag for me. He has all of the characteristics of a mean and vile antagonist. Hans was the diplomatic ruler of the playground. He loved to take control of innocent, harmless, and impressionable children. There was never a time when my peers and I weren’t segregated under his command. My best friend Amir, who was Jewish, was never allowed to be on my side of the playground. I sit here wondering how I ever saw Hans as the hero in the storybooks when in reality, he was the one with the dark side.