Irony In The Bicycle Thief

In Bicycle Thieves, the female lead who plays Maria Ricci is also shown to be a working housewife, however her appearance is far more realistic than that of Joan Crawford. Maria Ricci is shown to be wearing tattered clothing, her hair is unkept, and she has what appears to be a completely naked face. Neorealism in Bicycle Thieves captures the raw essence of a woman living in poverty, who’s life revolves around her home, and the living conditions she has to endure on a daily

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)

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

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.

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.

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).

“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

Bicycle Thieves gave viewers a clear view of crisis of masculinity within Antonio and this was further highlighted with the presence of a protagonist child in the film. In the film we see Antonio’s struggle to save his expected capability to provide for his family as a man (Ruberto & Wilson). However, the fact that Bruno was employed at the time Antonio got himself a job pointed out his incapability as a man and viewers starts to see Bruno as a small man rather than just a child because he was seemingly adequate

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.

The film however, operates in two distinct modes: the narrative of a profoundly human struggle for survival that remains common to all, and the unromantic depiction of Italian class struggle in the postwar era. In the latter mode, the film illustrates a series of behaviors, and social structure that remain indifferent to Antonio and his desperate situation. It identifies Antonio and his family by their situational relationship, with the various groups present in Rome during the postwar period. E.g., Antonio’s family is displaced from his local group of communists, churchgoers, and market folks

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”.

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.

In Italy, directors focused on the moral and economic conditions that came with the postwar generation quickly after the war and addressed the war instead of not acknowledging as German cinema did for so long. Unlike Alice in the Cities and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, films such as Bicycle Thieves depicted dislocation during the postwar period in the Neorealist style, made in 1948, this film differs greatly from the two former films discussed. In Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica delivers a political message regarding the difficulty of survival in postwar Italy, but also conveys a sense of psychological dislocation through the character development of Antonio Ricci. In many ways, Italy’s economy is much to blame for Ricci’s two-year unemployment in which the film begins, however, Ricci has as many internal struggles as he does externally. Neorealism lies heavily on the depiction of real life problems depicting common people and often used people from the street as actors, in this film the man who played Ricci, Lamberto Maggiorani, actually was a factory worker, which helps solidify the film’s authenticity. Towards the end of Bicycle Thieves, Ricci’s efforts to retrieve his stolen bicycle fail when the people that live near the boy who stole it side with the epileptic boy as he has a

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