Theme Of Conflict 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.

Conflict is not something that can be avoided, especially in fiction. In fact, conflict is the main purpose of how a story came to be – without conflict, there will be no story. As quoted from Peder Hill (n.d.), “Its the primary ingredient that weaves together all the other elements of a novel”. However, conflict can arise in a story in various forms and they alter the course of the story. For instance, a conflict of decision. What decision is made by the characters moves the story. This is called external conflict, which Rector (2002) defines as “a struggle between a character and an outside force”. On the other hand, conflict within a character may also arise, which is called internal conflict. Internal conflict means “a struggle that

One of the first conflicts in the film causes a bigger conflict in later years and later in the plot between the same characters. A conflict is defined as "Conflict is a fact of human life. It occurs naturally in all kinds of settings. Nations still struggle, families fracture in destructive conflicts, marriages face challenges and often fail, and the workplace is plagued with stress." in the textbook "Interpersonal Conflict" by Wilmot. Meriam-Webster defines conflict in three ways. Firstly a war, fight or battle. Secondly "competitive or opposing action of incompatibles :antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons)" or "mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands". Lastly "the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the

Hope is elusive and one needs courage to ensure it does not fly away. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak develops the theme of courage and hope throughout the novel, showing people need both to survive. He portrays the theme effectively through the characterization of Liesel as well as the symbolism of Hans Hubermann’s accordion.

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.

What is the first thing you think about when you hear the word death? In most cases, people fear death but as the narrator in Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, Death is a compassionate and honorable character.

The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak. Based on its title, some readers might think the story is just about a thief who steals books, but really it’s more emotional than stealing books, the story is about a young girl named Liesel Meminger who steals books when people in Germany were captivated by Adolf Hitler from book burning and other places. The interesting point is that the books are not something really important, in fact, they’re just normal reading books, and the reason she steals the books is because of her desire for reading. Even Though Liesel is the protagonist of this novel, but in this essay, the main focus point is not her, but another guy who is also loved by the readers.

“I [Death] am haunted by humans” (Zusak 550). This example of imagery, a literary device, in The Book Thief juxtaposed how Death was haunted by the cruelty of human action, just as how humans were haunted by Death. Literary devices were implemented by authors to create gripping stories that they wanted to share with their readers. Novelist Aldous Huxley once said that “the essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about everything”. While casual readers may not realize the intricacies of literary devices in writing, they could definitely remember how the stories went. Through literary devices, stories can metamorphose into something greater and memorable. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, “To An Athlete Dying Young” by A.E.

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.

When it comes to conflicts in literature there are two main types; internal and external. There are multiple different types of conflicts that can appear in literature, usually all stories or novels have at least one conflict. What is a story without a conflict? An internal conflict is a conflict that

“Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day." To what extent is this the experience of significant characters in the novel? ‘The Book Thief’ set during World War II and written by Markus Zusak is Death's story of the book thief Liesel. Death bought together an issue many characters in the novel had to face, “imagine smiling after a slap in the face.

Do you like war? Do you despise war? Have you ever attempted to help someone during a war, probably not though? In The Book Thief, there is a girl named Liesel who were adopted by Hans and Rosa Hubermann and they helped harbor a Jew during WWII. In The Things They Carried, is about a soldier named Jimmy Cross who adores an English major named Martha and then one of the soldiers’ gets shot and assassinated which makes Jimmy forget about Martha and become a better leader. In The Book Thief and The Things They Carried have some similarities and differences and some of them I’ll explain with literary devices. The theme for The Book Thief is death/war/brutality and the theme for The Things They Carried is to focus on what’s more important than yourself.

1. Conflicts: person vs. person/solution from the novel • After Christopher knew that his father killed Wellington, he was scared of him. Christopher ran away from his father. • Christopher’s parents got into an argument because of Christopher’s behaviors. Christopher’s parents separated.

In history, art has been known as a production of works for emotional power. Art is formed by artists who have a story to share. It is used to express a deep emotion they cannot quite put into words, for example, sorrow or grief. Throughout the novel, Markus Zusak shows people distracting themselves from desperate times of sorrow through art. The use of art in The Book Thief represents creative outlets used as a coping mechanism for each character. The forms of art in the midst of pain are an accordion, a sketchbook, and books. To someone who were to pick up one of these items wouldn’t see much importance but to the main characters, they are what keeps them inspired and hopeful during the catastrophic events caused by Hitler.

“Conflict: a struggle between opposing forces. A conflict is external when it puts a character against something or someone outside of his or herself---another character or characters or something in nature or society. A conflict is internal when the opposing forces are two drives, impulses, or parts of a single character” (Mays A3).