Symbolism 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.

The Holocaust was a brutal event in World War Two and millions of people were killed. Although this occurrence was brutal, beautiful things happened too. Beauty and brutality co-existed throughout the the Holocaust and changed people's lives. Markus Zusak used imagery to represent beauty and brutality co-existing in “The Book Thief” throughout the lives of Liesel, Hans, and Death.

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.

In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death, the narrator is trying to understand humans. To accomplish this, he follows the life of a little girl named Liesel Meminger. Throughout the book, he learns from her and others that humans can be both beautiful and ugly. He sees both the goodness of Liesel and others, and he sees the evils brought about by Hitler and the Nazi party. Throughout the book, Death’s understanding of humans and their ways is heightened by his study of Liesel and of other people.

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.

Zusak states how others survivors of war are being seen as grief and guilt. Max has hidden to save his own life. “The price was guilt and shame” as his family did not have the same chance by his guilt and finding escape from Nazi persecution. He is putting the Hubermans at risk which was why he os felt by guilt. During the first world was IIsa Hermann is fortunate that Liesel comes into her life to help her live again. In the novel Zusak says, "If only he'd turned for one last look at his family as he left the apartment. Perhaps then the guilt would not have been so heavy. No final goodbye" He believes that he is deserting his family. His guilt overtakes him, and desertion makes him feel guilty and that he is worth nothing.

Brutality and Beauty are both aspects of the human spirit and therefore are evident in society and have been through the ages. History can be examined to bring forth examples of both, often side by side, often in times of great destruction such as in times of war. In the novel, The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak explores and compares the juxtaposition between great brutality and beauty in the human spirit evident in the German town of Molching during WW2. The author demonstrates how the characters in the novel can overcome cruelty and ruthlessness with acts of extraordinary kindness and humaneness. This is shown through the novel with Max and Liesel’s friendship, when Hans gives one of the Jewish camp prisoners a piece of bread and when Rosa and Hans protect Max from the Nazis. Zusak illustrates that a human’s capacity for hope is difficult to destroy regardless of the circumstances.

The book The thief of always by Clive Barker is a fable about a young boy who bored out of his mind and finds the Holiday House, the dream house and the house of illusions that the evil Mr.Hood snatches away time. Little details like the illustrations make a giant difference on the plot of this fable. Barker does many important stuff with the illustrations in the story such as foreshadowing, creating suspense, and symbolism.

After reading and scrutinizing The Book Thief, one can see that bread, the accordion, and books, the three main symbols used in the novel, are indispensable to the merriment of the book. To add information, these three symbols all represent different things, actions, and people, but can all be compared and contrasted. Three different ways that these emblems can be compared and contrasted is by looking at what they represent, why they represent it, and the reasoning behind why the author used that specific symbol.

In Markus Zusak's novel The Book Thief, the principle character, Liesel Meminger, tries to make due through World War 2 while attempting to figure out how to peruse and compose. All through the book the writer needs the peruser to see that words are a thought or story, as well as an energy to control a man's psyche or activity, and this spared Liesel at last.

In Markus Zusak’s, The Book Thief, adversity is an important factor in shaping character. Liesel, Max, Rosa and Hans Hubermann all face hardships that help their character develop.The Book Thief is set in Germany during the time of WW2 when Hitler, the Fuhrer, rose to power. This was a hard time for Rosa and Hans because of their struggle to raise a foster child. It was also tough for Liesel because she had to get accustomed to a new place with different rules, but out of everyone, Max definitely faced a lot of problems.

The prologue and part one of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak not only introduces the plot of the book and the characters, but Zusak uses symbolism throughout to help enhance the significance of certain parts in the story. One symbol that is promptly mentioned in the beginning of the book is Liesel Meminger’s strong relationship with books. The first book Liesel ever encounters is The Grave Digger’s Handbook and she finds the book in the snow of the graveyard. This book symbolizes the first book she has stolen and tried to read. Liesel at the time did not know how to read, but she eventually learns how to read The Grave Digger’s Handbook with the assistance of her foster dad. This is shown when the book falls on the floor when Hans Hubermann,

Batman The Long Halloween brings out the idea that there is a good and evil in everyone, but some have a harder time containing the evil. It shows us that the world has the power to compel people to act out and possibly commit terrible crimes. Even the ones we least expect. In the novel, Harvey Dent was first working against evil to take down The Roman and eventually was compelled to become the villain known as Two Face which completely blindsided Batman.

As you can see, The Book Thief is a sensational book that would leave any reader astounded of the significant storyline. The fantastic quotes and the exceptional writing style will leave readers in deep thought. I personally thought the book was amazing and was a book that will stick with me for a very long time. The main concept I enjoy about The Book Thief is the narrator. Death gave the book an interesting twist and was a smart choice considering the book is set in World War II, where there was death at every turn. Although, I did not like the foreshadowing Death gave, his foreshadowing gave away the ending. This quote refers to Death foreshadowing the Rudy’s death caused by the bombing: “*** A SMALL ANNOUNCEMENT ***ABOUT RUDY STEINER. He

The book “The Book Thief” had a very good start to it. When I started to read it I was a little confused by the name of it but then I found out what it meant. In the book it had introduced a couple of characters and the characteristics of the book. I realized that most of the celebrations in the book is just stealing books or celebrating Hitler’s birth day but the thing that caught me was the title and wondering what it meant but I realized that what is the point of stealing books is. But I realized what the title was. It’s just talking about how in Germany when world war 1 started people would celebrate when Hitler came back they would steal a book and lite it on fire. My favorite quote is, “You must make sure you use a good shovel. You must