The Book Thief Trauma Analysis

Relationship to meaning: Death is an omniscient narrator giving us the unbiased view of all the things going on during the WWII in the novel and describes the main characters like Liesel’s, Max’s or Hans Hubermann’s etc. point of view and feelings in the novel associated with WWII but focuses mainly on the events during the WWII and a lot of the times foreshadows character’s destiny.

A common misconception of Markus Zusak – author of The Book Thief – is based off the incorrect origin of which culture and religion the book came from. The man is neither German nor Jewish, two main components that show themselves significant in the writing. Although beautifully crafted and eloquent within its wording, The Book Thief is based off secondary sources (told by his mother who lived in a small German village) that take away from the noxious events surrounding the Holocaust. If there was substantial information regarding more realistic scenes than just fiction of German nature, this book would be blooming with positive aspects to review. However, because of the fabricated characters of Liesel and Rudy roaming around the pages

“Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.” Every day in Nazi Germany, considering all conditions in the Hubermann household, was like a slap in the face. All citizens, no matter their belief, were forced to put on a fake smile and act like everything was okay because their Führer was going to save them. This is because of fear. A simple state of mind that few refused to defy caused a whole generation of the Jewish population to perish. There were those, though, that performed acts of courage and stated that they would not settle for this act of genocide, no matter the consequences. In Mark Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, the setting of Nazi Germany is torn apart by Adolf Hitler’s wrath. As the

The novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is centered around three main characters, Liesel, a troubled teenage girl, Hans, her foster father, and Rosa, her foster mother. The story illustrates the difficulties of their lives during wartime Nazi Germany. While the plot focus Liesel, it is her caring and thoughtful foster father, Hans, who embodies the most important lessons of the book. Hans shows the reader that kindness, love, and a hard-working spirit are personality traits that endure, even when tested by a war’s hardship and loss. Hans Hubermann is a very hard working man. The first example of this is how Hans comforts Liesel every night when she has her nightmare. Whenever Liesel has her

In Markus Zusak novel “The Book Thief,” a little girl named Liesel serves as the protagonist. The plot of the story takes place in Germany during the late thirties, early fourtees while the anti-jewish sentimant is most prominent and Hitlers is at his peak in terms of power and followers. The book revolves around the life of Leisel and how these attrocious conditions shaped her life. This book does a great job of demonstrating many aspects described in “How to Read Literature Like a

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.

Conflict and calm have been characteristics of the human spirit throughout the ages and have been visible since time began. Examining history, the reader can find examples of both, evident in times of great destruction such as war. In the novel, The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak explores and compares the closeness between great atrocity and beauty in the human spirit apparent in the German town of Molching during WWII. The author shows how each of the characters, in their own ways, overcome barbarity and horror with acts of extraordinary kindness and compassion. This is shown in the novel through Max and Liesel’s friendship, and when Hans gives one of the Jewish camp prisoners a piece of bread. Another example would be when Rosa and Hans protect Max from the Nazis despite the penalty of death looming before them. Zusak shows that a person's will and their hope is difficult to destroy no matter the circumstances.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a historical fiction book that takes place in Nazi Germany. The novel is an exceptional read because the author manages to convince the reader of how powerful words can be through words on a page. According to Kenmore West Scholar, David McGonagle “ Our mistakes make us human ;you should embrace your failures and use them as a learning experience.” This message can also been taken from the book because. Zusak also enforces the idea that the resolution, or the end isn’t always the most important part--sometimes it’s the process, the mistakes, the failures,successes that teach life lessons.

Guilt is a force in everyone that can have the ability to bring one to insanity. On the other hand, people overpower guilt and emerge stronger from it. These are the two journeys that guilt can take a person on. The effects aren’t always shown externally, although they may be troubling the person. In fact, the effects usually go deeper. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak shows the reader Death’s perspective of the human race during the time of the German Holocaust. Michael Holtzapfel, a man who served in the German army, succumbs to guilt when he is pushed to suicide. Another life that was dramatically affected by guilt was that of a Jewish man named Max Vandenburg. Ilsa Hermann, the mayor’s wife, punished herself every day because she blames herself for the fate of her son. The devastating effects of guilt are portrayed time and time again in this novel. The Book Thief tells the stories of Max, Michael, and Ilsa and suggests that the power of guilt can take people down two different roads, downfall or triumph.

Imagine growing up in a society filled with hate, depression, starvation, and lots of Death everywhere. While your are moving to a new town to live with a foster family, your brother dies, and you are left with nothing but your basic understanding of the world and very few many friends. One of the only things that you can relate to is words and books, so you loose yourself in the world of books during to shield yourself from the cold, outside world full of war and violence. That is how it was for Liesel Meminger, a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany during World War II whose life is focused on in in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. Reading not only enriched Liesel’s life with the amazing stories and images formed through the vivid words of books, but it helped to distract and sustain her from the nearly inevitable, wretched Death of her time.

“I am haunted by humans.”- Markus Zusak, The Book Thief. Humanity has encountered multiple occurrences of tragedies, joy, oblivious to things occurring in our world. In Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, he discusses a tale of humanity in one of the darkest moments in our history; The Holocaust. The novel is centered around a young girl, Liesel Meminger, who witnesses all the horrific events that are occurring during the Holocaust. Liesel is a victim to her own illiteracy - to her inability to read and understand what is happening in the world. The themes that Liseal encounters work together in the novel to tell a tale of humanity. The power of words affecting people, the kindness and cruelty of humanity, and the mortality of

Markus Zusak is the author of The Book Thief which in its essence, identifies the roles of the Germans, and the Jews in World War II. Both the main protagonist, and the narrator, Death, focus on the potential of words in Hitler’s Germany. The power of words has tremendous capacity to heal and hurt people; however, in spite of the good that words may accomplish, they cannot solve all problems. Words can be used to destroy a nation, or sustain a people. With this potential even young people can use words powerfully.

There are always two sides to a story, one that you don’t know and one that you don’t want to know. One shall always enhance the good and the evil, because they both hold their own beauties and uglies. One can see these profound universal life conclusions in a paradox. A paradox is a self contradictory statement that approves two opposite conclusions at the same time; a paradox can be discovered in everyday life situations if carefully observed. One basic example can be when one is told something disgraceful by their mother and the emotion of hate can wither through their persona, yet miraculously one will always love their mother no matter what occurs between them. In the novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, he appoints Death as the narrator and portrays glory and horror compacted within humanity from his perspective. Death outlines the life of a young girl named Liesel during the time period of World War II. Due to poor conditions, Liesel has to move in with a foster family; surprisingly she feels a quick connection between her foster dad whom she often refers to as “Papa.” Papa teaches Liesel how to read and write and later on as her life proceeds Liesel is exposed to the reality of life. Liesel blames “words” for the current situation of Germany and the poor treatment of Jews. She has always loved to read and write however at the same time she has built hate upon those identical “words.” She believes that Hitler, the current ruler of Germany in 1930s, has earned his

The innocence of a friendship can be an unbreakable bond that can overcome anything that is brought forth. Unfortunately, the game of war does not always play fair. War can come across in many sinister ways with incredible forces that can destroy a once beautiful being, into something of hate. Susan Koprince said, “Everyone has frightened faces, waiting their demise, clinging to their loved ones in a setting of tragedy, evil and unspeakable horror.” This process is explored in Mark Zusak’s The Book Thief, which focuses on a 12-year-old girl named Liesel and her family living in Germany during World War Two, when they take in a Jewish man to hide him from the Nazi Soldiers.

The value of words and their meanings are tremendous. In human lives, words are able to cure and to kill. As everything in this world, words are one of those attributes that we use daily almost as a reflex. Unfortunately, many people usually forget how powerful words are and use them without a second thought. Words can also change people and not only them. The story was presented in the book called “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is an excellent example of how words can be meaningful and life changing for a 14-year-old girl and for the Death himself. This meaningful story takes place from 1940 through 1945 throughout World War II; its disasters and horrors. Everything happened in the town called Molching, in Germany