Symbolism In The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

Bread, the accordion, and books may all be simple, meaningless items but not in the “Book Thief.” Throughout the novel, there is a plethora of symbolism that helps the reader savvy the purpose and theme. The three main components, that contain similarities and differences, are bread, the accordion, and books. Although the duration of symbolism in the “Book Thief” by Markus Zusak relates to each other, they also contain differences. Overall, bread, the accordion, and books share similarities and differences. To convey the first point, the two symbols, bread and the accordion, share similarities and differences. Both bread and the accordion can relate to life throughout the novel. Life is passed through the offering of bread because it is substantial
In the “Book Thief,” books symbolize power and knowledge while the accordion represents life and comfort. These two diverse meanings have a different contribution to the story. First of all, books supply people with an education which later leads to power. Since Hitler does not want anyone to overpower him, in the book, he takes away the knowledge. One example of this representation, is the burning of the books. In the text it states, “People joked… ‘That’s all this trash is good for anyways,’” (Zusak 109). The symbolism of books differ from the accordion because the accordion shows the journey of life and not education. Although these two items have their differences, they also contain their similarities. Both the symbolism relates back to Hans and Liesel Hubermann. For the accordion, Hans received it from a friend that saved his life and sadly died. The object is already representing life by reminding Hans of, the once living man, Erik Vandenburg who saved his life. Also Hans constantly plays the accordion in desperate times in life or to comfort others. For example, the accordion was a huge part during the bomb raids. In the “Book Thief,” it states, “She didn’t dare to look up… This, it said, is your accordion,” (Zusak 381). In comparison, books also relate back to Hans. Although he never finished school and is not very sophisticated, he still taught Liesel to read. Hans thinks of others and he knew Liesel was
All three connect and differ with each item in the novel. The sophisticated level of symbolism was resembled throughout the novel to help the reader savvy the theme of the story. All in all, the three components of symbolism in the book, bread, the accordion, and books contained similarities and