Irony In The Bicycle Thief

“Electing a thief”, a short story written by Li Rui, is about a leader in the village who discovers the disappearance of a bag of grain from the storehouse and came up with the idea of “democracy” to get clues on finding the thief. (Li 321) The leader wants all the men from the village to vote for a thief but surprisingly, it turns out that the entire vote is unanimously against him. The head angrily quit his job and all the villagers are very excited about the joke they played on the captain but not for long, their heart suddenly filled with fear. “When they’d had their fill of laughter, some began to worry.” (Li 321) They recognize his significances to the village and now, being at a

Everyone learns how the power of descriptive words and imagery, and this tool is very prominent in The Book Thief. Not only does it help the reader picture the world the characters are living in, but it also enhances the historical context and the sense of unrest and suffering. An example of this technique in action is when the text says “Their bodies were welded together and only their feet changed position or pressure. Stillness was shackled to their faces. They watched each other and waited” (Zusak 375).

I noticed when the man and the boy are robbed by the thief the two contrasts are shown. The thief robs them of all their belongings leaving them with nothing. This is a morally wrong act in my opinion. Stealing someone's belongings and leaving them to die is unjustifiable. This reveals humanity's desire to go against one another when times are at the worst. On the other hand when the man and the boy catch the thief they

The Book Thief Seminar Questions- due 3/27 on Turnitin.com AND in class on 3/28 or 3/29. ***NOTE: These questions are a formal writing assignment. Your responses MUST be typed, MUST be in your hand on the day of the seminar, and MUST include full paragraphs and specific references to the text, including page numbers, in order to receive credit.

There are two sides to the same coin. Love through kindness versus harshness, crime through necessity versus greed, coping through anger versus isolation. The Book Thief’s characters compliment each other through their parallels and differences. It is run by a concept of ‘differences yet similarity’ and shows the reader that the world is run by this consistent theme.

Adam Szymkowics’ Pretty Theft is about the unexpected troubles and dangers that follow the life of the, young female, protagonist Allegra. After observing the play, Allegra encounters four-male figures in her life: Allegra’s father, Bobby, Joe and Marco. These men have not only taken advantage of her innocence but, affected her life significantly throughout the play.

To this, I argue, why would the thieves abandon all their hard work just because of some random man yelling? It makes no sense for a country like Italy, known for its rich culture and history, to employ fools resembling Giufa in its justice departments. Either the thieves enjoy wasting their efforts, or Italy is burdened by incompetent officials in its justice system. Some might disagree, suggesting the thieves were just being overly

The gangster genre within films in America has accomplished numerous positive criticisms and constant willing audiences due to containing outstanding spectacles and mind-blowing action. The Godfather, being second on the IMDb Top 250 Movies, has set a new popular concept to life within the Mafia from their point of view. Doing so, creating a positive association. Yet within Italy, the same topic contains a complete different view. Movies such as I Cento Passi demonstrate unenthusiastic view by those whom are outside yet negatively affected by those members. Unlike American films, the gangsters are not as often viewed at the protagonist and are the main causes for the problematic events. But how different is Italian Mafia and American

Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thieves is a simple story set amidst a post-war Rome. It is a neorealist film characterized by setting the story amongst the poor and working class. The film surrounds the difficult economical and moral conditions of post WWII Italy, reflecting the conditions of everyday life: Poverty and desperation, with the implicit message that in a better society, wealth would be more evenly distributed. The plot is simple, surrounding a man, his son and a bicycle. The film tells a story of Antonio Ricci, an unemployed worker who finally gets a job to paste advertisements in the city of Rome. To keep this job, he must have a bicycle, in which his wife, Maria had to pawn their bed linens to get money to redeem their

The Book Thief is a story about a girl who had lost her mother and brother and was sent to live with foster parents. Throughout her life of living with her foster parents she had developed a characteristic of stealing. In the story thievery is a symbolic meaning is by she had, had her life stolen from her in a way, it is also a literal meaning by she steals things, materialistic objects. This is important to the story because she it is a big part of the story. She becomes known to people as “the book thief”.

In the film The Bicycle Thief the audience is able to witness all the elements of neorealism. The use of non professional actors, to low class working characters, the flattening of scenes, and the location where it was shot at; are just a few of the essential elements that can be found in this film along with copious neorealist films. It is clear that the director used a variety of shots, angles, and set-ups in order to create certain emotions at very specific scenes in the film. From the start we are able to obtain a feel about the film’s tone as a result of the lack of color. The use of black and white truly helped the audience experience what Italy was like during the post World War 2. As a result of the depressing post war we are able to detect how the act of trying to improve oneself can sometimes lead to desperation.

This story was written, charmingly, in an unorthodox, yet loving manner. Rich with reality, the novel, led me into the atrocious, but true, glimpse into the world at the time. The phrases and paragraphs, struck me, illustrating the spliced lives of the protagonists, through complex, evocative, at times ethereal, imagery. The plot, progressive, and compelling, is profoundly sad, touching and uplifting. Flowing at a fast-pace, the plot, is a genuine page-turner, of which brought sadness in me when a disaster stroke, or warmth, when the characters embraced their connections to each other. The story covering the effects of hunger, war, prejudice, love, hatred, friendship, deception and growth, through its character development, cleverly stayed faithful to the plot, throughout. The characters, executed flawlessly on the author’s part, though not superficial, were tragic, and believable. The interwoven lives of these characters are complex, inspiring and perturbing. Being memorable, the characters had great prose, and development in the story. In the Book Thief, the use of Death as the narrator, persistent use of unintentional humour, was quite unique. Personally, I enjoyed Death’s utilization of dark, unintentional humour, as it ironically, lightened the saddest of

1) Prescribed Text – The Book Thief a. Compose a summary/synopsis of the text (plot/themes/characters/key concerns). (100 words only)

I believe at one time or another, we have all been the victim of a form of gossip, backbiting, or betrayal. When victimized by slander, gossip, or backbiting happens, emotions shudder in mazes of hurt and anger.

When in poverty people can not pay off the rent for homes so the result is living in the street. While living in the streets in people's eyes joining gangs seems like a great idea. By not having enough money many people decide to steal from local shops. Some gangs are dedicated to stealing things while others have to beg in order to survive. As shown by Getachew in the book stealing is a fowl in his group let alone stealing a drug as he is underage. He had decided to steal a pack of cigarettes and was chased by the police. When the group had come to realize this he got a punishment and the joviro Million showed no mercy. This comes to show that poverty has a large effect on the society. Along with that, this also opens the eyes of IB students helping them understand how important the role of society plays in