How Can We Be Both
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” wrote a famous author by the name of Charles Dickens about his story. He could not have gotten mankind more spot on. In each and every one of us there is a bit of both good and bad. We are not painted in black in white, but in an array of colors with an array of emotions and feelings. Another man that ponders about humanity is Marcus Zusak. In his book, The Book Thief, the narrator wonders “how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant”. Death, the narrator, has been through the ups and down of humanity and is perplexed how the same thing could be good and bad, pretty and ugly. Many of the characters in this
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All that they mostly wanted was food. They would steal from farmers and grocery stores. One day, though, they decided to steal from a person they thought had too much. They watched this person’s routine and learned that he would carry his groceries home on a bike every Friday afternoon. On one particularly cold Friday, Rudy poured water on the street that he knew Otto Sturm, the victim would cross, so that the water could freeze and make Otto slip and fall. In no time at all he was “losing control of the bike, sliding across the ice, and lying facedown on the road.” (163) The kids became very alarmed, thinking that they had killed the man and still felt guilty afterwards. Death gives us a bit of insight and tell us that Rudy will later on become a giver of bread instead of a stealer. “Proof again of the contradictory human being”, Death comments.(164) We are all human and we can all create and destroy. Take and give. Sometimes humans use too. Liesel, for example, used Frau Hermann as an emotional punching bag. When Frau Hermann said that she could no longer continue paying for Liesel’s Mother’s business, Liesel was devastated. Why wouldn’t she be. Frau was their last client and her family was barely getting by with food. Liesel felt hurt and said some horrible thing, like “about time you do your own stinking laundry” and “about time you faced the fact that your son is dead.”(262)The things that she said only got worse.
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Liesel Meminger is a nine year old girl that was living in Germany in 1939. Her mother was taken away from Liesel and her brother. When Liesel and her brother where going to go see their mother Liesel brother died. She found a book called “The Grave Diggers Handbook”. Liesel was taken to a foster home. She gets along with her foster parents. The foster parent’s names are Hans and Rosa Hubermann. The foster parents of Liesel show her how to read and write. Liesel best friend name is Rudy Steiner they have many memories together. They both are thieves, Rudy and Liesel. Rudy has a big crush on Liesel. Max Vandenburg is a Jew being hidden in the basement of Liesel basement. Liesel and Rudy stole books from
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
In the eyes of humanity for all generations, death has been perceived as a very grim topic. In Markus Zusaks’ The Book Thief, Death is regarded in a way that contrasts the normal beliefs of humanity. Throughout the book, he is very compassionate and seems to empathize with various sensitive situations. While narrating the novel, Death expresses in several ways that make him seem more compassionate than expected, such as his overwhelming emotions toward malignant events, his allusions to the fact that he wants to be compassionate to the reader, and the fact that Death does not take pleasure in his job.
Over the course of reading The Book Thief, readers will come to know about Markus Zusak’s constant use of descriptive words, figurative language, and character plots throughout the story. In one particular part of the novel, Zusak shows an example of all three of these points to support one of the many central themes he gives us. While Liesel is standing in front of the burnt offerings near the town hall and the square after a Hitler rally, she sees a book underneath all of the hot ash. This moment allows Zusak to go into explicit detail to make a point about the significance of the moment to the reader. In The Book Thief, Zusak uses vocabulary that evokes recklessness and stealthiness, personification about books, and Liesel’s internal
“The Book Thief,” is a No.1 International Best-selling novel by Markus Zusak. In the two chapters: “The Long walk to Dachau” and “Peace,” the themes of cruelty and kindness are strongly portrayed through many literary techniques and other ways. My analysis on this question is to see how and why these two themes are illustrated in the two chapters, and under what circumstances they chose to behave like that.
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.
The Book Thief is about a young German girl named Liesel Meminger as she goes through life while living in Germany in 1939. Liesel and her foster parents live a normal life on 33 Himmel Street. There is only one difference between their family and the others, they are hiding Max Vandenburg (a Jewish man) in their basement during the time of the Holocaust. This story, narrated by Death follows the life of Liesel from her first step into 33 Himmel Street, until the day she died in Sydney, Australia.
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.
Liesel most definitely could have trusted Rudy with the secret of having Max hidden in her basement. Rudy was clearly Liesel’s best friend and partner in crime when Liesel was doing her acts of thievery stealing the books from the mayor’s wife bookself. The devotion to Liesel Rudy also had was strong and I believe Liesel could have trusted Rudy.
Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, was able to entice his readers by successfully framing the book thief 's story and giving us a better understanding of the book through the use of many color metaphors by the narrator. The prologue is my most beloved part not only because the color metaphors give captivating descriptions of every scene at the beginning of the story. Additionally, in the prologue—the author introduced us to such an “unlikely” narrator, and to the protagonist. Death, who associates the demise of others with the changing “colors of the sky,” and what those colors mean to the story; and the book thief—as a survivor.
Life during the 1940’s was hard for the entire world. As Germany caused suffering and loss in multiple other countries, the people of Germany suffered as well. The Book Thief follows the story of a German girl named Liesel, who was forced to be taken away from her family at a young age. She then becomes the foster daughter of Rosa and Hans Hubermann, whose children have grown up and left. Liesel struggles to understand why her mother had left her, and why Hitler was causing all of the bad things in her life to happen. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak uses the theme of loss to show how it can bring people closer together.
There are many books that will teach you important lessons. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak there are many lessons to be learned. Some of the lessons that the book teaches is that courage is the key to achieve anything, fear can be distracted, and Death’s kindness. These lessons are important to learn.
Cruelty is laid upon Death while he has no choice. This is what Death has to do for his job and he has no choice. In “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak, Death is seen as a cruel character. In these next three paragraphs, I will show how Death is caring for humans through his interactions with the world, Liesel, and Max. As you read on think to yourself how Death has made an impact in your life or in a close friend or family member’s life.
Firstly, The Book Thief has several paradoxes embedded throughout it, as Markus Zusak uses specific scenarios in Liesel’s life to express the depth within the contradiction of two distinct conclusions. In the first few years that Liesel started living on Himmel street, Hubermanns had welcomed a Jew named Max Vandenburg to live in their basement, despite being aware of the consequences of this and knowing that by doing this, he would be putting their own lives in jeopardy. Max and Liesel have numerous amounts of similarities, as they both were able to understand each other’s feelings and emotions. Later on as Max continues to live with the Hubermanns, daydreams start to commence and cloud his daily thoughts. In his imagination, Max boxes
Humanity is inherently flawed. Charles Dickens illustrates this in his novel A Tale of Two Cities as he writes about the lives of the Manettes and the people they draw around them. In this novel, Dickens uses Sydney Carton, a main character in the novel and the lover of Lucie Manette, to reveal his thoughts about the inherent nature of humanity. The characteristics of humanity change and mutate with the experiences of each person and the workings of their own mind, as illustrated by Mr. Stryver’s inhumane and thoughtless treatment of Sydney, the first time Sydney saves Charles Darnay’s life, and Sydney’s love for Lucie Manette.