Symbolism In The Book Thief

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

Hope is elusive and one needs courage to ensure it does not fly away. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak develops the theme of courage and hope throughout the novel, showing people need both to survive. He portrays the theme effectively through the characterization of Liesel as well as the symbolism of Hans Hubermann’s accordion.

The Book Thief is set in the time of World War 2 where the Holocaust is present and disaster is everywhere. Throughout the story, Liesel, the main character, learns that words are extremely powerful and hold the ability for people to use them for good or for evil. Among the disaster and altercations, Liesel uses her literature to comfort her and make herself more powerful due to her knowledge, which demonstrates the theme of the story, the comfort and power of literature and words softens the pain of loss.

Foreshadowing is a major technique Zusak uses in The Book Thief to portray the power of words. Within the first pages of the novel, the narrator gives the audience a glimpse into the novel’s content. This not only adds intrigue and encourages the audience to continue reading; it also foreshadows central themes – ‘some words’, ‘quite a lot of thievery’, and central characters, ‘an accordionist’, ‘a Jewish fist fighter’. The meaning and importance of these small phrases are not revealed until much later in the novel. ‘A Jewish fist fighter’ refers to Max Vandenburg, and foreshadows his appearance. His presence highlights the brutality of Nazi Germany, the immediacy of war, and the kindness and compassion of humans. Max is also an instrumental

Ambiguity is a concept I came across while reading The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. The novel discussed numerous paradoxes of the human experience, and thus stimulated my mind into exploring branches of philosophy previously unknown to me. Though the concept is a simple one, the source of ambiguity is much more complicated. From my reading of this story and study in a psychology class, I learned that one’s natural instinct and nurturing environment is what affects one’s perspective. Equally important, no matter how similar common the human condition is, everyone is different. No person has the same life experiences, and thus has a different perspective. These conflicting perspectives are what lead to ambiguity, which leads me to quite a harsh

Why the book Thief? Why not “the food thief or the money thief”? What is the significance of the books? After reading the book thief we are left with many questions relating to the books. Do they mean anything? After reading the book it is very clear that there is, infact a very strong point to the books. The books in the Book Thief are a symbol of nonconformity.

The Book Thief Analysis Essay “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” This quote said by Albert Einstein shows what life is like. At one point in life everything could be terrible and then another time it could be great.

Zusak, Housman, and Maupassant used symbolism to indirectly convey deeper meanings of the objects in their pieces of writing. The accordion, Mr. Hubermann’s favorite instrument, symbolized the theme of optimism in Zusak’s The Book Thief. Mr. Hubermann received the accordion from Erik

Many are familiar with Anne Frank's diary and have even sat down and watched the movie The Diary of Anne Frank. With her diary we learn a lot about Anne and her family, as well as the tragic story of their life, and the lives of many other Jews. However, this is not the only movie that gives us an insight in the life of a young girl during World War II. The Book Thief is in many ways similar to The Diary of Anne Frank in which the viewer is provided the experiences of the war between two very different young girls that have to adapt to a new home and possess an increasing hunger for knowledge.

Words are more influential than thought. Words can have such a powerful impact on how you interpret things, how you feel, and how you can make others feel as well. The word choice used in The Book Thief demonstrates many themes throughout such as death, friendship, guilt, reason, and the struggle between ones inner self and the society in which he is surrounded. As complex as this may sound, the method was used in a simplistic fashion to construct the meaning and details of certain situations through the senses that ultimately capture how the characters take in the world around them. The power of words in the novel The Book Thief is used to control individuals and gain power if rooted from bad intentions; however, the power of words also

The developmental stage of a young child’s life is very crucial and can be impacted by the media. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger is a young girl living in a very important part of Germany’s history, the Second World War. Liesel’s childhood unfolds and develops against the backdrop of a time when words, books specifically were used for power and control. Liesel is someone who has a love for reading and, as such, books become very important to her, not only for her education but for her rebellion and discovering her true identity. Throughout the novel, books become a crucial symbol used to convey the desires and discovery of identity for the main character as her childish ignorance changes to her mature adulthood.

For my opening body paragraph, one important literary device that both authors used is symbolism. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak starts of the symbol around the end of the book. Even though The Book Thief is a morbid and a demonic book which has a lot of war and death in it, the dominoes represents how they, “were falling like dead bodies in the living room.” (410). Well, in The Things They Carried, it also has the same symbol which relates back to dominoes and how Tim protested against the war, but not enough to be considered a pacifist. Also, how he thought about, “Ho Chi Minh a Communist stooge, or a nationalist savoir, or both, or neither?... What about SEATO and the Cold War? What about dominoes?” (38). That showed how the

Books in The Book Thief are used in ways never thought of by their author, and in turn cause both damage and

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.

“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” Unless, of course, the cover hints at a major literary element used throughout the entire book. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is printed with a series of dominoes on the cover. Simply picking up the book for the first time, a reader would not know the meaning behind the image; but as the story unfolds,its significance and meaning is realized. Cause and effect has a major impact on our lives. Actions all have a reaction and a consequence. The Book Thief is an excellent example of this. When Hans helped the Jewish man in the street, he was viewed as a “Jew-lover” which resulted in fear that his house would be searched for hidden Jews. Because of the fear, Max was forced to leave for all their safety. When