The Book Thief: A Literary Analysis

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 Book Thief, written by an Australian author, Markus Zusak, is a devastatingly powerful historical-fiction novel that bears several re-readings. Being one of the greatest, most divinely-written epilogues in my school library, The Book Thief, is a soul-shattering, thought-provoking story that undoubtedly can be recommended to the young and old alike. This poignant, prolonged, but achingly sad book, is the pinnacle of contemporary historical-fiction, poised to become a classic. Phenomenally breathtaking, and inspiring, bringing nothing but anticipatory dread, this lyrical, surreal book, though depressingly morbid at times, was my “gateway” to historical-fiction. The tribulations and trials provided in the novel, had inevitable passion, perspective

Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.

The Book Thief, written by Australian novelist Markus Zusak, follows a young girl living in Nazi Germany, and employs innovative techniques to convey the central idea of the extremes of human behavior. This central idea was explored through stylistic techniques and conventions such as Death as the narrator, juxtaposition, irony, lack of chronological order, narrative voices, and themes, namely the power of words.

Through all of the irony and vivid coloring, The Book Thief is more easily understood after acquiring knowledge of reading literature with greater care and meticulousness. Applying chapters of How to Read Literature like a Professor can better enhance a reader’s awareness of hidden messages and symbols within certain works of literature. In Chapter Two, Foster explains how meals suggest a communion between all parties involved in it. Markus Zusak also uses meals and food to bring families together in The Book Thief. Foster also explains, in Chapter Eleven, how violence in literature usually stands for more than just violence.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, takes place in 1940s Nazi Germany in the small town of Molching. The main character, Liesel Meminger, takes on a role as the foster child of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. She also meets a young boy named Rudy Steiner, who goes on to be her best friend and lover. In the book, Liesel faces many challenges big and small. From hiding a Jew in the basement to a thieving lifestyle, Liesel has to learn to overcome all of life's problems. Through all of this, she is supported by her foster father Hans Hubermann who is caring to people he barely knows, intelligence despite his lack of education, and generosity even when he has little for himself.

The Book Thief’s plot is character driven in the beginning. Characters choose to make their own decisions and consequently feel the effects of later on. For example, Liesel and Rudy intentionally make the decision to steal books from Ilsa Hermann’s library. The Hubermann and the Steiner families both make the subconscious decision to dislike the Nazis. Finally, Hans Hubermann makes the potentionally incriminating decision to harbor a Jew, Max, in his basement. These characters choose to go against their morals, yet their decisions work in their favor. Nearing the end of the book, the plot structure switches to plot driven; external forces disturbing the characters more than their own decisions and actions do. This novel is centered around the Holocaust and the war was taking place, and without this, many of the major events would not have happened, resulting in a different outcome for the characters. The bombs set off due to the war also influenced the characters by a great deal, causing their panic and fear to control their

11 million people died during the Holocaust. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger loses many of her loved ones. At the beginning of the book, Liesel’s brother dies of illness on a train, and her mother is taken away by the Nazis for being a communist. After losing everyone she ever cared about, the story drags Liesel into a humble household where she discovers her passion for books, and her love for her family and friends. However, her loved ones are once again torn away from her as Himmel Street, the street she lives on, gets bombed. She loses her foster parents, her best friend, and everyone else she came to know. As a result of these adverse events, Liesel’s innocence was stolen from her. In The Book Thief, loss plays an essential role in developing characters, especially Liesel. After losing Werner, her brother, Liesel is plagued by

In The Book Thief, a work of historical fiction, written by Markus Zusak introduces the main character Liesel Meminger, the reader starts to see how she keeps having many conflicts but always stays positive. Liesel has many conflicts, for example her brother dies early in the book and that shapes the way she is. Later on Liesel steals books and that makes her happy because the first book she stole was the grave digger's handbook and that is how she remembers her brother. Liesel steals and reads books this is how she finds happiness with all the bad things going on around her. In the end of the book most of the people she loves die and it is hard for her to find happiness again. The author uses the setting and point of view to express theme and to make the reader feel sympathy; He uses this because with the theme of finding light in the darkness, deaths perception, and the setting of Germany makes the theme clearer.

Liesel Meminger is the daughter of Paula Meminger. She is also the sister of late Warren Meminger. Consequently, she steals the first book in the novel, called The Gravedigger's Handbook. Therefore, Death gave her the nickname of “ the book thief” before us knowing that she would become “the book thief”. Liesel Meminger is the hardworking, book-thieving, kind-hearted protagonist of The Book Thief. She loves books so much that she steals them, even before knowing how to read. All of this started because stealing books reminds her of Warren Meminger. This is even she bonds more with Hans Hubermann, her foster father, dedicates his time to teach her how to read. We might be asking, why hasn’t she gotten an education at the age of 10. The answer is not as clear as others, but it definitely has to do with Liesel father’s communist affiliations. He was part of the German Communist Party, that was popular when Hitler took over. This is also the reason why she had to be fostered.

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.

“The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it,” said comedian Roseanne Barr. A leader can overpower people; she can take control of what one can or cannot do, but only oneself can control how she treats others. In The Book Thief, Hitler is overpowering the Jews; Liesel, who is living with a foster family, and her family shelters Max, a Jewish man, during the Holocaust. Marcus Zusak’s characters, Liesel, Rosa, and Hans, explain their struggle of staying true to their core beliefs during Hitler’s reign in Nazi, Germany, showing the importance of making the correct decisions even when faced with a difficult situation.

2. It is ironic that Liesel steals books because the first time she steals the book she is not even able to read yet. The first time she stole a book was at her brothers funeral to keep as a memory of him and also her mother. Liesel was upset and "she started to dig" for The Gravediggers Handbook (Zusak 23).This seemed ironic also, because she dug for a book in the snow at her brothers burial. Hitler used words as a powerful tool to change the way a whole country viewed Jews. Words turn into something to use as hate from the Nazis and Hitler toward the Jews. Germans are scared of words that show how Jews really are .They have bonfires and they throw the books in the bonfire and burn them, along with the truth about Jews. Even though Germans in general have a hatred towards books, Liesel is saved by words. Max, who is a Jew is also saved by words. Max

Jane Eyre, a novel by Charlotte Brontë, contains several notable themes and messages sent to its readers. Jane Eyre is a coming of age novel that is a story of a girl's quest for equality and happiness. A common theme that recurs throughout the novel is the importance of independence.Charlotte Brontë utilizes several techniques to convey this message, incorporating her personal experiences, as well as including symbolism and motifs. Charlotte Bronte subjects Jane to several conflicts that occur because of Jane’s desire for independence and freedom, such as love, religion, and gender inequality.

Jane Eyre was written in a time where the Bildungsroman was a common form of literature. The importance was that the mid-nineteenth century was, "the age in which women were, for the first time, ranked equally with men as writers within a major genre" (Sussman 1). In many of these novels, the themes were the same; the protagonist dealt with the same issues, "search for autonomy and selfhood in opposition to the social constraints placed upon the female, including the demand for marriage" (Sussman). Jane Eyre fits this mould perfectly. Throughout the novel, the reader follows Jane Eyre on a journey of development from adolescence to maturity to show that a desire for freedom and change motivates people to search for their own identity.