Symbolism In The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

The first major use of symbolism The Book Thief conveys is the use of the gravedigger's handbook to help the reader remember characters and to help the reader more easily

When writing a book authors like to use colors and symbols to describe and help make the story. In most books color is used a lot in the story to describe things from the sky to people's clothes. The Book Thief use color theory very often. Color Theory says that people will judge a character on the environment and what colors are in the environment(“Color Theory“). We are told the color of the sky when the main narrator Death is doing his job. He does not like his job so he uses colors to distract him from taking people's souls. Death says that he looks at the sky when he is doing his job, "I do try to enjoy every color I see - the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress," (Zusak 4). The color of the sky when someone dies had a lot of meaning behind the color. In the Book Thief, the colors are red, blue, black show up in the book the most.

Liesel, the book thief herself, steals books in times of pain. All six books Liesel steals are metaphors for the feelings of loss and pain during the time of which the book was stolen. She uses the books to grow knowledge of the situations occurring around her, one stolen book in particular is “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” This book is the first of all books Liesel steals, and it is the book that caused her to grow to love words, coincidently, she finds this book in the snow on the day of her brother’s death, which is when she was filled with grief and abandonment. This book is a symbol for Liesel’s grief and as she tries to learn how to read the book, her twisted comfort in the story shows how the words had a powerful effect on her grieving process shown by the quotation, “…Not to mention the morbidity of the subject. As for the girl, there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn't even attempt to understand” (Zusak, 66)

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.

To start off, the three main symbols used in The Book Thief can be distinguished from and categorized with each other by looking at what they represent. The similarities in what these representations portray is that they all manifest the protagonists of the story. For example, the bread shows the kindness from some Germans to the Jews, the accordion serves as the benevolent Hans Hubermann's connection to the the philanthropic Erik Vandenburg, and the books epitomize Liesel and her thirst for knowledge and power. “The Jew stood before him, expecting a handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out as he presented a piece of bread, like magic” (Zusak 393). The differences between what these symbols portray is that some represent actions, like Liesel vouchsafed bread to a Jew, while some are regarded as certain people, like the accordion to Hans. In conclusion, though it may seem that these symbols assume the roles of

An incredibly important aspect in the Book Thief are books. The books are used for the plot of the book but also they were used as a symbol for many things including Liesel’s ability to read and write, Liesel’s character, and Liesel’s ability to use words during the story. The first aspect that books symbolize in The Book Thief is Liesel’s ability to read and write. Close to the beginning of the story, Liesel found The Gravedigger’s Handbook during her brother’s funeral.

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.

There is always some kind of conflict that is happening to humankind, as is depicted in The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Liesel and Ilsa are both haunted by the death of their loved ones, but throughout the novel, both Liesel and Ilsa work to get over their losses and become empowered. The mentor/pupil archetype and symbolism cooperate to reveal how Ilsa and Liesel help one another confront their pasts and move on to a more positive future in spite of the tremendous losses they have experienced. Their library sessions and shared love of words empower each of them; they both conquer fears and overcome griefs during one of the darkest time in history, WWII in Nazi Germany.

The Book Thief’s main character is Liesel Meminger throughout the book she develops more and more by opening up and doing new things. At first she was very shy and would not do hardly anything for example, “It took nearly fifteen minutes to coax her from the car. It was the tall man who did it. Quietly.”(28) That is when she first got out of the car “There was the gate next, which she clung to.”(28) This shows all the more how shy she was at the beginning of the book when she first arrived on Himmel Street. Then as the book goes on she starts to adopt her foster-mother, Rosa or Mama’s style of speaking and starts cussing some when talking to her best friend, Rudy and even the mayors wife when she terminated her mothers washing and ironing

In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, there are two different symbolic actions. The characteristic are how the germans loved to burn down things and how Liesel can hate the Germans for burning down things. The action to this, is how the germans loved to burn things down. On page 84 it mentioned “The Germans loved to burn things. Shops, synagogues, reichstags, houses, personal items, slain people, and of course, books.”

“The Führer [Hitler] decided that he would rule the world with words. ‘I will never fire a gun,’ he devised. ‘I will not have to.’…” (Zusak 445) this excerpt comes from “The Word Shaker,” a short story written by Max Vandenburg in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The quote suggests that a plebian would effortlessly be able to use words rather than guns or other tools to take over the world, as Hitler actually did in the Holocaust. “The Word Shaker,” is just one of many paragons that demonstrate that words are very potent and are shown in The Book Thief through various actions of the characters.

In The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger stole a total of five books. Each book that Liesel stole is ironically portrayed as metaphors of her struggles and happy moments in her life. The first book that was stolen was The Gravedigger’s Handbook. This book represents both happy and sad moments in Liesel’s life. It reminded her of her brother Werner’s death and the last moments with her mother before Liesel’s arrival on Himmel Street. However, this book also created happy moments and a new a bond between her new foster father, Hans Hubbermann, as they formed a routine of reading and learning new words after Liesel woke up from her nightmares. The Gravedigger’s Handbook also ignited the flame inside Liesel for her deep love for words. The next book she stole was The Shoulder Shrug from a pile

The first book that the book thief, or Liesel stole was The Grave Digger’s Handbook. That is ironic because Liesel found it while her brother was being buried. “ When the dragging was done, the mother and girl stood and breathed. There was something black and rectangular logged in the snow. Only the girl saw it. She

A theme found in The Book Thief is words have power. The Book Thief’s main character Liesel Meminger is a symbol of words have power. Liesel symbolized a love for reading. Reading changed her outlook on life, it helped her grow as a character. Liesel’s first book, The Gravedigger’s Handbook, was a symbol

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.