The Book Thief

WWII can be seen through many eyes and The Book Thief tells its story through the eyes of Death (Zusak 3). Death tells a story of a German young girl named Liesel and her experience of growing up through WWII (Zusak 5) In the book, the reader sees the importance of reading through the stages of Liesel’s childhood. To her, the books she steals are not just words on pages. They remind her of a turning point in her youth. The importance of reading in Liesel’s life can be reflected in the reader’s…

The Death developed in The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, is a highly complex and dynamic character. Zusak’s Death does not fit the traditional interpretation of death, because he does not enjoy the pain humans experience. This characterization is evident through the statement the narrator, Death, makes after the deaths of countless French Jews in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Death confesses to the readers, “Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if…

Children in The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, play quite a pivotal role in the shaping of the novel as a whole; they allow for a period of travesty to come out seeming much less dramatic and much more so, somehow simultaneously. It is through the struggles these children face, it is through the love they feel, it is through the relationships they hold that exhibit a sense of almost normalcy amidst chaos, which would be a difficult task for any adult to achieve. The author and narrator focus so…

“There is no limit to what a man can do so long as he does not care a straw who gets the credit for it”(Charles Edward Montague).The Book Thief a novel by Markus Zusak, shows the horrors of World War Two through the perspective of a German family. Throughout the story many characters come and go, but one of the most pivotal character is Hans Hubermann. Hans is the Foster father to liesel, and a husband to Rosa. He is caring and loving, but most importantly he is unselfish. Hans is super…

The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak is a novel narrated by death during World War I. Classified as young adult fiction, the story involves and unites the two themes, death and love. Max Vandenburg, even though Jewish, shows positive affections towards his loved ones and is ready to fight till the end no matter how frightening death can be. 1st body Paragraph Max Vandenburg is a Jewish man, that is introduced to the story after he experiences, losing his family. He escapes to the…

The power of words is used everywhere in the world; from teachers in school to leaders of countries. In The Book Thief, the power of words create sanity, comfort, and relationships in a time of war. Liesel grew more intelligent through the power of words, giving her the ability to form opinions and understand the evil going on in the world. The power of words formed a deep relationship between between Hans Hubermann and Liesel. Lastly, the power of words comforted Max when living in the basement…

Human’s Existence, Colors, the Power of Words, and Their Meanings Death, the narrator of The Book Thief, is not a part of humanity, rather a “result”(Zusak 9). Death does not wish for people to die, he simply exists to help humans in their departure from life. It is Death that connects all humans together, and Death who carries the souls onto the conveyor belt to the afterlife. His non-stop work for humans is demanding and taxing on his sanity. As a result, Death aches for a break every now and…

its entirety, The Book Thief is an important film that serves to account the overwhelming inhumanity of Nazi Germany through the alternative perspective of a child. Of all the scenes, I found that of the book burning to be among the most important to both the story and Liesel. What marks this particular scene, is that it accounts Liesel's realization of the hate that fuels not only the book burning but the Nazi ideology itself. Hearing the speech and being forced to burn a book, at this moment…

Deaths voice Australian Markus Zusak wrote and published the Book Thief, introducing a certain aspect nobody had seen before, death himself as the narrator. The excitement sparked at its publication was something truly extraordinary, as people found themselves compelled by Leisel Meminger and her experience with the death surrounding her throughout the book. Using cryptic first and second person point of view, indepth symbolism and visual imagery, Zusak portrays to the audience death’s ever…

The Book Thief: The Beauty Within Human Actions In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Death states “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (491). The varying characters in the novel help show the true beauty that can be found within humans through their actions. Hans, Rudy and Max all prove that there can be a light in the darkness in hard times like the holocaust. To start off, throughout the novel Hans…