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The Book Thief Literary Analysis

Decent Essays

“I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that’s where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate” (109) quotes Death, right before the bonfire of banned books is lit. The novel The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is filled with pages of destruction and mortality. Although it is unclear what Death, the narrator really is, he is mostly portrayed as an immortal human who shares the same feelings as we do. During the reign of Nazi Germany, Death is occupied picking up souls of soldiers and Jews. To distract himself, Death describes the vivid colors he sees during one’s death. He is troubled by the way humans destroy one another because in the end we all die. Death finds peace in telling the story of Liesel Meminger, an adopted girl who helps her family hide a Jew in their basement. Liesel steals books and understands the power of language at the time of Nazi propaganda. When Himmel street is bombed and Liesels life is changed forever, Death takes the autobiography that Liesel was editing. He then narrates the story of Liesel along with the events of both destruction and mortality taking place in the rest of the world. “That’s the sort of …show more content…

Inner voices called out to me. Why him and not me? (389). The prisoners were forced to march from camp to camp, they were most likely killed if they stopped. The condition of the Jewish prisoners shows the awful cruelty of the Nazi soldiers. The prisoners are exhausted, starving, and many are near death, yet the Nazis show no sympathy whatsoever. While the rest of the community is watching, Hans feels compelled to do something. Therefore, Hans Hubermann, one of the onlookers, offers a small piece of bread to one of the old prisoner. Upon seeing this the soldier whips both Hans and the old man. The act and quote portray that many Jews wanted to die rather than be tortured for choosing their

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