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…
Markus Zusak’s sanguine novel The Book Thief illustrates the austere story of a Jewish foster girl living amidst the cruelty and devastation of World War II. Liesel Meminger, an intelligent and kind-hearted youngster stricken by family tragedy, must contend with both physical and emotional conflict as she and her friends cope with the atrocities of life in Nazi Germany. In spite of the chaos encompassing their lives, Liesel and her allies manage to find peace and resilience through love and compassion.…
People should not break laws any ways, but most people did not break laws in 1792 because, if you did you could have your eyes gouged out, you could have your hands chopped off and you could even be killed. Hammurabi was a good king to the people of babylon in 1792 BCE. He created laws to keep people from doing bad things and to keep people from going crazy, he also wanted to protect family’s, orphans and the poor. The question is “Was Hammurabis code Just” most people wonder what does just mean, just means fair. I believe that Hammurabi’s code is fair and I will explain in the next paragraph.…
The effectiveness of words is more impressive than we tend to understand. Words are just different combinations of the same letters, but without their existence, life would have no direction. We often take for granted our ability to share and comprehend ideas. Throughout The Book Thief, however, Liesel slowly realizes just how powerful her own words can be. Taking into consideration the stolen novels, the German autobiography, and the two stories written by Max, it is safe to say that each of these books contributes to the theme of The Book Thief.…
Liesel could see it on her face. Blood leaked from her nose and licked at her lips. Her eyes had blackened. Cuts had opened up and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin. All from the words. All from Liesel’s words.”…
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.…
The first lady, Michelle Obama says this, “You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not be able to solve all of life’s problems, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” Many people wonder what importance life has and this quote answers it all. Everyone is so important because everybody has the potential to do incredible things. Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief shows us this. It is told from the perspective of Death and set during the time of the Holocaust. The story follows a German girl, Liesel, who moves to live with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Huberman. It tells her story while she lived in Germany during…
No one believed she was smart enough to read, and instead of being placed in her age appropriate classes, she was out with the kids at her reading level. For her it was humiliating, but it only gave her the fuel she needed to keep moving forward. Desperate for help, she confronted her uneducated step father Hans for help. Hans himself cannot read that well, but she knows any help is better than none. Hans, referred to as Papa by Liesel, began to teach Liesel basic reading skills every night. They had a tradition, “unofficially…called the midnight class, even though it commenced around two in the morning”. Now Liesel knew how to read. She had an unlimited amount of knowledge available to her through literature. But, she herself could not take down Hitler. That does not mean that she could not fight back though. When the Nazi’s bombed her street, most people stood in the bomb shelter terrified. Yet, Liesel instead took out a book and began to read. Everyone soon began to congregate around her and listen. The fear of what was going on around them subsided, and at the moment they had won. Though Hitler was still attack them, he no longer had control over them, they were not scared. It was at this moment that Liesel realized the true power of literature, and the book she held between her fingers transformed into the sword she would use to fight her way out of Nazi Germany.…
In The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak, the narrator, Death, tells the life story of a young girl named Liesel Meminger during World War II. He explains the events and challenges Liesel experiences due to Hitler’s words and influence. In this passage, the author uses diction, imagery, and details to help the reader imagine and have a deeper understanding of the events taking place and the character’s thoughts and feelings.…
In the book, The Epic of America, written in the year of 1931, author James Truslow Adams was the first to give a “clear” definition of what the American Dream really is. He stated that the American Dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (Truslow 214). Although his definition describes what the American Dream is, it does not explain what everyone’s American Dream is throughout the world. This is because each person has their own idea of a perfect life, therefore giving them their own distinct Dream and ways to achieve it. For some people, the ideal and perfect life may mean finally leaving their home country and traveling to America to be successful and prosperous. For others, it may mean getting married, having two beautiful children living in a three bedroom house with a white picket fence. Although several people may have the same outcome they would like to accomplish, it is how they get there that distinguishes them from the rest. As a young, only child, I determined what I wanted my American Dream to be and that was to grow up underneath the influence of my parents and have the perfect family with a dog, but I still have yet to make it there. Sometimes, some people just have to wake up and realize that their American “Dream” is more like an American “Nightmare.”…
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,…
This passage reminds me of the scene where Napoleon steals the milk and apples from the animals without asking in Animal Farm. Similarly, in The Book Thief, Rudy and Liesel are also stealing vegetables from many farms. However, the reason that Napoleon steals the milk and apples is because of his greed, while Rudy and Liesel are stealing to "extend their thieving repertoire" (Zusak 161). Also, from my interpretation of this passage, I feel that the law enforcements are not strong enough to stop thievery at that time in Germany because, if the law enforcements were powerful, then Rudy and Liesel wouldn't take the risk to extend their thieving…
When everyone starts to hear Liesel, read the Whistler out loud, everyone starts to calm down .The children in the basement stop crying, the basement is in silent, and Liesel continues to read. She does not stop reading, as her voice soothes them, and as well as she does not wish to see the scared faces hanging on her words. Therefore, proving my claim that literature, words are the greatest weapon of all, that have the ability to make a situation right. Furthermore, this quotation displays that although Liesel was reading for herself, for her benefit, in the beginning, she now begins to realize that words also indeed have the power to manipulate a person to help them. She soothes the neighbors in the basement by reading out a story, and for the first time, she learns that words can be used to do good as well. Even though Hitler used the words to negatively manipulate people, Liesel uses them for good purposes. Liesel continues to read, as she realizes that people hearing the Whistler, have made them forgot about their worries. The reason everyone quiets down to hear her story is because her voices caried away their foreboding worries of being killed by the bomb. Liesel’s actions of using the words positively emphasize how a good hearted person she is. This quote is important to the plot, as it makes the character of book thief realize a very important thing. Hitler used the power of words to manipulate people for his own use/benefit, while she used the power of words for other’s benefit. In addition, The Hitler used the power of words to make people agitated and wrathful, while she used it to soothe and pacify others. Once again, proven that literature is a great weapon as it had helped the citizens survive in the basement during the times of horrors. In addition, this…
I extremely love chicken, and you should also. I also believe john cena is the greatest wrestler of all time homophony (/hɵˈmɒfəni/; Greek: ὁμόφωνος, homóphōnos, from ὁμός, homós, "same" and φωνή, phōnē, "sound, tone") is a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the relationship between them creating chords. This is distinct from polyphony, in which parts move with rhythmic independence, and monophony, in which all parts (if there are multiple parts) move in parallel rhythm and pitch. A homophonic texture is also homorhythmic[1] (or uses a "very similar rhythm").[2] However, in melody-dominated homophony, one voice, often the highest, plays a distinct melody, and the accompanying voices work together to articulate an underlying harmony.[3] Initially, in Ancient Greece, homophony indicated music in which a single melody is performed by two or more voices in unison or octaves, i.e. monophony with multiple voices.…