Preview

The Book Thief Comparison Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
653 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Book Thief Comparison Essay
Have you ever wondered or thought about how contrasting a movie with visuals and a novel composed of many anecdotes are? Markus Zusak’s very well-known novel ‘The Book Thief’ and Brian Percival’s digitized film “The Book Thief” hold many differences and similarities relying upon how they best depict or portray an idea that is trying to be comprehended by another. Readers of many sorts have held different views on the portrayal of films and novels just as some have for “The Book Thief.” In order for a viewer or reader to understand and take in what they’ve seen or read, they must have a true representation of the expression or situation that was shown or written. Although Brian Percival’s film bears some minor similarities and remains faithful …show more content…
A narrator is permitted the duty of interacting with the novel’s characters. When a narrator as big as Death is a bit more miniscule, the big canvas for the historic moments that were being taken place in that time period are then not emphasized as much as they are needed to be. After all, The Book Thief was created and meant to accentuate the time period of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime and the resident’s struggles. Unfortunately, the role of Death was never really presented in the way that it was expressed in the novel. The first fifteen pages were used and taken to introduce Death in depth- “I deliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs (50).” “I saw the book thief three times (50).” These quotes provide a true representation of a great narrator that can help readers capture the true meaning behind a novel. Without a doubt, a great narrator can make for an iconic and brilliant novel such as Zusak’s

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    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…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This Passage reminds me of the similar situation that has happened to Liesel when her younger brother, Werner, died suddenly during their trip to Germany. Similarly, Arthur Berg is also going through this situation, but with his sister dying in his arms. Also, when death, the narrator says that he "could sense [that] he would hold her for hours," it reminds me of Liesel shaking his brother as she doesn’t believe that he is dead. (Zusak 167) As well, these passage allows the reader to understand that death can arrive at anytime, leaving their loved ones in sorrow, which is also one of theme that is revealed through this piece of…

    • 112 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Authors use a variety of literary devices to make a book more interesting and keep the reader in suspense. The author of the “The Book Thief”, Markus Zusak, likes to use the literary device called foreshadowing. He makes the book suspenseful, revealing how characters die early on and telling the reader the outcome to certain events. By revealing how characters die early on and telling the reader the outcome, Zusak makes the novel more suspenseful with his use of vague descriptions of the scenes which he is foreshadowing.…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Essay On The Book Thief

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Zusak’s ; The Book Thief; we could see the times in Germany when the Natzi’s ruled part of Europe and wanted more. Death/soul carrier, narrates the life of Liesel Meminger and the ‘real’ world around the time. Tells about Himmel (Heaven)…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘The Book Thief’ by Mark Zusak The Book Thief is a story of a young german girl named Liesel Meminger in Nazi Germany during world war 2. At age nine her brother drops dead in front of her and when Death himself comes to collect his newest soul, he becomes fascinated with Liesel. From then on death narrates the story of a girl who moves into a foster home where she develops relationships between her new Papa and Mama, her best friend Rudy, her secret friend Max, but most importantly we witness her relationship with books and words that take her on a journey though life. Using your prescribed text, examine what the composer of this text reveals about Changing Perspectives and how they convey these ideas (750 words). It is expected that you will identify and analyse at least 2 techniques /forms /features. Use the PETAL structure to help you remain analytical. Mark Zusak reveals the concept of Changing Perspectives in his book ‘The Book Thief’ through how he has personified Death as the narrator. He does this in such a way that causes the reader to reconsider their thoughts on ‘what’ death is, and to then ask themselves about ‘who’ death is. The idea of who death is, is challenged when Zusak writes, “Yes, I know it. In the darkness of my dark-beating heart, I know. He’d have loved it all right. You see? Even death has a heart.” (p262) Truncated sentences are used here to help quickly convey to the audience the new aspect of who death as a personified character is. Emotive language used by death in this quote allows the audience to see a compassionate side of death that is not normally explored in other texts. Death also states in this quote about how he has a heart which also makes the audience reconsider and change their perspectives of death…

    • 1949 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Recaling back to this special day in my life and connecting the emotions I felt to colors has made that day even more remarkable. The author of the book thief, Markus Zusak, made his novel stronger by relating colors to emotions and using figurative language while writing about them. Zusak's use of figurative language was very beneficial to his book because it created the mood of the story, enhanced the plot, and overall just made the book more fun to…

    • 81 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    5. During the prologue Death refers “the book thief” as a little girl. This raises many questions. Why is this small girl stealing book? Can she not afford them herself? It also refers to in the book that the small innocent girl has not only stole a book once but has stolen a total of 3 books. How is she getting away with so much thief? How is someone in their youth have the sneakiness and intelligent to successfully steal 3 books? Does she every get caught? Death does not give us any further more information on “the book thief” like a name of physical characteristics during the prologue, so the reader is made to assume characteristics of the child.…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Book Thief

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the novel The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak, words have a huge impact on individuals. Everything that’s going on in the world changes the way that the characters are and how they react to specific events. In this essay the reader will understand about how the characters are most affected by words, these three characters are Liesel, a young girl who moved to Munich as a foster child, Max a Jewish man who hides himself from the world for the majority of his life, and Hitler the master behind all the brutal events in Germany. Throughout this essay the reader will have a better understanding of the impact that words may have on individuals.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Liesel Meminger once said: “I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right,” (538). Liesel Meminger (sometimes known as “The Book Thief”) is my hero. Liesel was girl in Nazi Germany who was given to a foster family when she was only nine. Her mother was a Communist and was taken away days after she was given away. Liesel is a brave, happy, and hardworking young girl that everyone should strive to be like.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King once said “Only in the darkness you can see the stars.” Martin was unfairly treated his whole life. He couldn’t drink at the same fountains or swim in the same pools as people that were white. His whole life he was abused and unfairly treated, but he still learned kindness and peace, and eventually became famous and memorialized today. His situation is shown in some of the characters in the Book Thief. Even though there’s a lot of suffering and pain in the book, Markus Zusak shows how the characters grow from it, just like Martin did.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Book Thief

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    lessons. Death states how he wishes that he could tell the book thief about beauty and…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During World War II, the Jews had to endure suffering while the Germans lived in luxury. This was certainly incorrect. In “The Book Thief” the movie conveys the suffering of the Germans, as Night, a memoir by Elie Wiesel, describes to real life torture of the Jews. Liesel is the main character of the movie and suffers great loss, but it is not even close to being as bad as the torture Elie had to deal with.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, love can be seen throughout the book. Love by definition is “ an intense feeling of deep affection". However, love isn’t necessarily an intense feeling of deep endearment. There are conflicting types of love such as friendship love or family love. In “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak, the Nazi’s are in power at the time and the citizens of Germany have to withstand the austerity’s that come alongside with their position in power. The characters have to learn to love in the face of great abomination. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, love can be seen when Walter conceals Max, Liesel and Max hug when Liesel finally kisses Rudy’s lifeless body and lastly when Walter takes in Max.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays