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…
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,…
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.…
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.…
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.…
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.…
Even the prisoners fell to evil. Because of fear of death, they began to turn on family. The quote refers to another father-son team. Eliezer wonders if the son was glad to get rid of the burden of his sickly dad. Even though family is important, under such duress, they begin to have evil thoughts or ridding themselves of the weak so that they can survive.…
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, has lots of symbolic meaning for the setting. It uses books that Liesel stole to describe and curve out the timeline. The books gives readers two point of view, one from the Jews and the other from Hitler and the Nazis. Liesel Meminger, the protagonist in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, steals several books that help readers understand WWII German. Three of these books particularly, The Shoulder Shrug, The Standover Man, and The Last Human Stranger deftly symbolize the turbulence of that setting.…
Markus Zusak is an Australian author best known for writing The Book Thief. The Book Thief is narrated by Death and is the story of Liesel Meminger, a nine year old German girl who goes to live with her foster parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann in Molching. The Book Thief takes place in 1939, right before the beginning of World War 2. One of the many themes shown in The Book Thief is the theme of identity and belonging. The book portrays the struggles the characters go through to find their sense of belonging. After Liesel loses her parents to “communism” and her brother to sickness, she finds herself in a foster home very lost and alone. Being a Jewish person during World War 2 meant that you were an outcast. Max Vandenburg, a Jewish man, had…
Markus Zusak is a writer best known for the worldwide known book The Book Thief (also translated into 40+ languages) but also wrote other books (Fighting Ruben Wolfe; Getting the Girl; I am the Messenger; The Book Thief; Underdogs). Zusak was born on June 23,1975 in the city of Sydney, Australia. His first 3 books were first published between 1999-2001 and then the other 2 were on the year of 2002 and 2005. He won many awards and honors but gained more recognition with The Book Thief with having the book the most sell and having it on the New York Times best sellers.…
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…
Some of the most important people who impact her both emotionally and socially abandon her through compulsion. Still, even though her environment is constantly attacked by the central theme of abandonment, the main moral of the story teaches the reader how to fight against one's fears and make one's sacrifices worthy of their true, initial purpose. Liesel is portrayed as a model, whom all should follow in order to overcome their fears. At the end, her presence in the story is imperative and genuinely impacts the…
There are many questions that make a person think differently, such as why some people “engage with the world and its problems, while others turn their backs on it” (Kingsolver). Kingsolver addresses the issue of a sense of purpose in an interview and also weaves it into her novel, Animal Dreams, where it becomes one of the pivotal subjects. Kingsolver further enhances that subject by paralleling it with the topic of sense of belonging. The author combines and embodies the following topics through Codi the protagonist: the sense of belonging and sense of purpose, to create the following theme; once there is a sense of belonging, one can then find a sense of purpose and lead a satisfying life. Kingsolver helps the reader explore this theme through…
During the time her neighborhood spent in the bomb shelter, Liesel found happiness in reading and shared it with her friends and family who also found happiness and serenity in her reading. In the beginning, when Liesel had discovered her first book she asked her new father to teach her how to read. Little did he know that the gift of reading that he had just given his daughter would help her and many other people. Another way the story shows the beauty of humanity and kindness is when the mayor's wife, Ilsa, let Liesel into their house so she can take books and continue her passion of reading. Ilsa would do this for Liesel because she saw that there was happiness in her when she read and that was a rare thing in those times of death. The beauty of humanity is shown in multiple ways. A third way is because of the death of Hans friend in an earlier war, he takes in that man’s son, Max, who is Jewish. The Hubermann family hides him in their basement and takes care of him for a number of months. This shows how in the awful times, some people can reach into their heart and care for people despite what might they stand for or who they…