Death is our guide and narrator to 'The Book Thief,' by Markus Zuzak. In some ways Death seems human as we see that he experiences both sadness and joy in the novel and even gets depressed. To help distract him from his sad, never-ending work, he often fixates on the colour of the sky as a distraction from the anguished survivors of the dead. Death faces suffering with dignity. He does not enjoy his never-ending job of collecting souls but he keeps persevering as he knows he must continue for the sake of the living. Like many humans, Death tries to find ways to give meaning to his…
The Book Thief underline book title By: Markus Zusak Lauren Conforti’s Bajillion Project-¨A new experience that can be added to the book.¨ As Liesel Meminger, now parentless, was taken to the gestapo capitalize “Gestapo” station, all she could think about was where she would go. Who would even take her? Most definitely, it would be different than Mama’s swearing and Pea lowercase “pea” soup and Papa’s accordion playing and book teaching. ¨Why me?¨ she always thought.…
This photograph shows a man giving his sandals to a homeless girl in Rio de Janeiro. This picture shows significance because the man showed empathy to the girl and he cared about how bad she was living. It also shows that the man gave his sandals to her because she needed it more than he did. This picture is similar to the scene in the Book Thief where Hans Hubermann offers a piece of bread to the Jew. Personal Reflection Personally, I think that relationships do not always involve two people who are in love with each other, but it also involves friendship and family.…
The death of Liesel, the book thief, starts out the book for us. They are on their way on a train with their mother to their foster parent's home. This also sparks Liesel's love for reading later in the book, and it also was one of the moments that Liesel had constant nightmares about.…
Although most assume Death looks like the Grim Reaper or a scary skeleton thing, in The Book Thief, Death is not. In fact, he even tells us what he looks like when he says, “I do not carry a sickle or a scythe. I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold. And I don’t have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance… Find yourself a mirror while I continue” (Zusak 307). Essentially Death is saying that because all humans die, we all resemble death. Humans can and will die, and thus he is one of the things that is constant between all humans. Due to this reason I drew a man looking into a mirror to show Death. I just…
In The Book Thief, guilt can be found as a recurring theme, especially in the cases of Hans Hubermann and Max. In a deeper analysis, the reason as to how and why can be answered.…
Children these days worry about many things, from having the newest style of clothing, to fitting in with friends. Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had many more serious things to worry about. Being a foster girl from Munich in Nazi Germany during World War II also treats Leisel horribly, for she runs into many problems. Not only is World War II terrifying for Liesel, but it is also terrifying to many people in her life. This book is considered a classic because Liesel’s life as a righteous Gentile is relatable, captivating, and universally accepted.…
Think of Germany as a heads and tails coin. The book Thief is about a girl named Liesel who lives with her foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubberman. Liesel has a friend named Rudy. They both go around stealing food, but Liesel not only stole food, she stole books. Death (Narrator) was soon fond of Liesel and he then gave her the nick name The Book Thief. This novel is great to understand the other side of Germany. Unlike other stories that talk about Jews, concentration camps, Nazi’s, this novel talks about how a family were not influeced by Nazi propaganda. In addition your see that Germany has two sides to it; one that obeys Hitler, and one that goes against him.…
“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros is a story about a girl and her insecurities of wearing an ugly sweater that she is accused of owning by her teacher. The overall purpose of this memoir is to share her experience with the readers so that they will be more aware and will not have to go through the traumatic experience like she did. When the teacher asks the class whose sweater it is, someone says it is hers. The teacher put the sweater on her desk and when she tried to get rid of it, the teacher made her wear it. She started crying and put her head down trying to hide herself. Near the end of class, another girl jumped up claiming the ugly sweater was hers. The worst part is that it is her birthday and she has to deal with all these negative emotions. The except says, “In my head I'm thinking how long till lunchtime, how long till I can take the red sweater and throw over the schoolyard fence, or leave it hanging on a parking meter, or bunch it up into a little ball and toss it in the alley”( Cisneros 2). This shows that she started to be more self-conscious about herself and is embarrassed to be seen in an ugly sweater.…
“It’s not easy to love people when they’re loveable. It’s harder to love them when they’re not.” This quote from an anonymous source expresses how much harder it is to love someone whose not loveable compared to someone who is. It embodies a hidden message made by Markus Zusak about love, through the use of Death, Hans, and Liesel, in his book about a family, the Hubermanns, taking in a foster child, Liesel Meminger, during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. In Zusak’s historical fiction novel The Book Thief, he promotes his theme of love is more powerful than anything else in the world.…
The power of words…it is shown in this book, it shows how people are destroyed and how people are saved from words. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak shows his audience that words have the power to heal or destroy. Liesel, the main character and the book thief, Max the jew, and Hitler the fuhrer are the ones who show how they have used words to affect others in both positive and negative ways . Throughout the story it shows Liesel's great passion for books as well as her dedication to learn how to read.…
Ilsa Hermann is a minor character in The Book Thief. She is the wife of the mayor of Munich, and is suffering over the death of her son during World War II. Without Ilsa the book would be missing an important theme – the impacts of death. Ilsa is an interesting and significant character because she is unusual, she does not follow any stereotypes and it is through her that Markus Zusak conveys grief.…
The best element of narrative tension in Mark Zusak’s The Book Thief is uncertainty. The author carries out the element of uncertainty throughout the whole story. For instance in the first part of the story, “Death and Chocolate”, the author introduces the first character into the plot. Zusak states, “ I could introduce myself properly, but it’s not necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables” (Zusak 4).…
Throughout this journal, one can question why the author wrote the book from the perspective of death and what will happen to Max Vandenburg. Initially, there is the question of why the narrator of the novel is the entity of death. One answer to this question is that writing the book through death’s perspective is both creative and different. Having death speaking personally to you on the first page is a unique draw-in. There are no other books popularly known that can claim to have such a narrator, which makes it stand out from its competition on the bookshelves. As the New York Times states in a review for the book, “brilliant… It’s the kind of book that can be life-changing” (Zusak). This quote clearly shows that the author’s decision in having death be…
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, has caused me to have multiple reactions, to the story, characters, and themes. They have made me feel mad, sad, upset, happy, but most of all surprised; throughout the recent readings every night more gets added to the story and more just surprises me. What completely shocked/surprised me was when Liesel fought back against Ludwig Schmeikl and what followed afterwards. However, there has been far more things than just that, that have surprised me. A couple include Liesel receiving two books for christmas, Hans Junior leaving, and how Rudy has reacted to Liesel throughout the entire passage,…