...Matthew Zeppieri Mr. Kilgallin AP English Language 8 August 2012 The Book Thief Questions In the first chapter, I discovered who the narrator was on page 21. It specifically was revealed when the narrator is talking about the dead brother of Liesel Meminger saying, “It was exactly when I knelt down and extracted his soul, holding it limply in my swollen arms” (21). revealing the narrator’s identity as Death. The narrator’s diction on the page can be described as vain due to the fact he doesn’t need an introduction when the narrator says it is “not really necessary” (4). The narrator’s diction reveals that he has a methodical, stone cold personality that puts the narrator in a more superior position then the human race. Achieving this, the diction creates an effect that the narrator is going to be a huge part in the rest of the story which creates more dramatic irony when the narrator reveals stuff to us that the characters in the story will not know. “ You will be caked in your own body.” is considered to be a metaphor. “ A scream will dribble down in the air.” is categorized as a catachresis. “ The only sound I’ll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps.” is an example of synesthesia. “What will the sky be saying?” is an erotema. Colors in this story play an important vital role in The Book Thief and the most important colors are the colors of the Nazi flag: black, white, and red. Black symbolizes sadness because the narrator...
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...The novel The Book Thief is based on the life of Liesel Meminger, a nine year old girl, who lives in Nazi Germany during World War II. In the story, Death narrates the experiences of Liesel’s life. These experiences brought both magnificence and devastation that effected many lives that were in this era. After Liesel’s brother's death, she arrives in an upset state at the home of her new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. While Liesel was there she saw many terrible things that the Nazi ruling has brought to Germany. As she sees these horrific things going on in Germany she struggles to find a way to defend her guilt in the disturbing surroundings. While the political situation in Germany gets worse Liesel’s foster parents decide to hide a man named max who is a Jew. While Max remains in the house it makes it dangerous for Liesel and her parents to stay in the home. Liesel’s foster dad, Hans, who has a close bond with Liesel, teaches her to read in...
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...The Book Thief Comparison Essay Liesel Meminger is a smart girl who nearly loses everything she ever loved. On her way to her foster parent’s house her brother dies. Her mother leaves her with people she hardly even knows, but Liesel soon finds something to keep her occupied. She steals books. The first book she stole was a t her brother’s funeral and she stole or “borrowed” books from the mayor’s library. Just as things were becoming better for Liesel, something happened that would change her life forever. She has to help hide Max, a Jew who would be dead if it wasn’t for the Hubermann’s. She learns to love and care for Max, but he leaves to keep the Hubermann’s safe. Liesel finds more abandonment when an air raid goes off on Himmel Street and Rosa, Hans, and Rudy are all dead. Liesel is the only one to survive because she was in the basement writing her book. Through all of the abandonment in her life there was only one thing that was always there for her; books. The book and the movie The Book Thief have many similarities. One similarity is that in the book and the movie Rudy gets in trouble for pretending to be Jesse Owens. He gets in trouble because he shouldn't want to be someone who is black and he never will be black. Another similarity between the book and the movie is that Liesel gets I trouble for saying that she hates Hitler. Hans doesn't care that she hates Hitler, but in Germany at this time everyone was supposed to be for Hitler. Lastly, in the book...
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...novel and the film The Book Thief. She uses words to develop relationships with her foster father, Hans Hubermann; Max Vandenburg, the illicit Jew in her basement; and her neighbours. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak there is much more relationship development compared to the film The Book Thief directed by Brian Percival. This consequently causes the theme of the power of words to be less prominent in the film. The novel The Book Thief develops the relationship between Liesel Meminger and her neighbours more than the film The Book Thief therefore minimizing the theme. First, Liesel and Rudy become best friends, “Insane or not, Rudy was always destined to be Liesel’s best friend.” (Zusak 48). Rudy introduced himself to Liesel as soon as she moved in, he developed a liking for her and they soon become best friends. Rudy used his charming, and sometimes insulting, words to win over Liesel. This develops the theme because it shows that even if one does not want to like someone, their words can change them into a likable person. Second, Liesel and Frau Hermann develop a relationship, “When she came and stood with an impossibly frail steadfastness, she was holding a tower of books against her stomach, from her navel to the beginning of her breasts. She looked so vulnerable in the monstrous doorway. Long, light eyelashes and just the slightest tinge of expression. A suggestion.” (Zusak 133). Frau Hermann, the mayor’s wife, had seen Liesel steal a book after a large burning...
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...changing novel, The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak. This novel tells the story of a little girl’s life in Germany. It covers all of the hardships she faced with her new family, her friends, and her community. Ultimately these hardships caused depression on the characters, which provoked the destruction of them. For example, when characters lose their family or when characters lose their friends. When the characters lose their family members that provokes the destruction of them. The main character in this book is Liesel. When she was littler, her brother, Werner died at the train tracks. Liesel was also taken away from her parents because they were communists. Because of this, Liesel was sad. Death, the narrator in The Book Thief said, “In the...
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...The Book Thief novel is centered on the themes of rebellion and conformity to the different directives that the Hitler Germany gave to citizens. Hitler who was the German leader in the second world war used propaganda to sell his policies to the Germans to ensure that they conformed to what he aspired. In Hitler’s Germany, it was not about doing the right thing but conforming to the expectations of the ruler. Not all persons, however, could conform to the wishes of the leader and some rebelled out of being convinced that conforming was the wrong thing to do and when the expectations bordered on cruelty to other human beings. In the face of oppression and subjugation, the society rebels in measured ways to preserve its dignity. One of the definitions...
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...The Book Thief Summary How It All Goes Down The Book Thief is narrated by Death, who tells us the story of Liesel Meminger. It's January 1939, and Liesel, who is about ten-years-old, is traveling by train with her mother and her little brother Werner. Liesel and Werner are being taken to the small town of Molching, just outside of Munich, Germany, to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Werner dies on the train of mysterious causes having to do with poverty, hunger, cold, and lack of medical treatment. Before Liesel arrives in Molching, she attends her brother's burial in a snowy graveyard. She steals The Grave Digger's Handbook from the cemetery after it falls from a young grave digger's coat. The kicker is, Liesel can't read. Liesel is reluctant to enter the Hubermann house on Himmel Street, but is coaxed by her foster father, Hans, to whom she takes an immediate liking. She's not sure about Rosa, though. Liesel begins school, but suffers because she doesn't know how to read yet. She also meets Rudy Steiner, who is soon to be her best friend, not to mention her partner in book and food thievery. One night, Hans finds The Grave Digger's Handbook hidden in Liesel's mattress after her usual nightmare of seeing her brother dying on the train. This is what inspires him to begin teaching her to read. When Liesel learns to write, she begins composing letters to her mother, but these letters go unanswered. Finally, we find out that her mother has disappeared. ...
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...“Perspective. You start looking at things differently, like everything's not so important. You don't take things so personally. Everyone changes, becomes better people. We all should get that chance...” (Tupac Shakur) In Zusak's book, The Book Thief, takes place during the Holocaust and focuses on a group of characters who are very different but live through many of the same situations with different views of each dilemma that the characters face including a hidden jew, true love, and leaving. Zusak's purpose of writing The Book Thief was to show the reader how people in a tragic situation each react and see life differently by making death the narrator. Zusak did this so the reader can see a variety of perspectives. By being set in a tragic time, the characters’ raw emotions could be expressed through relationships that go beyond race and or culture. In a book, it's a backbreaking task to take all the characters views and blend them correctly. However, Zusak uses Death as the narrator to show everyone's view of situations that they cannot control. “I do not carry a sickle or scythe. I only wear a black robe when it's cold. And I...
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...Risk And Sacrifice In The Face Of Great Danger What theme epitomizes the braveness and boldness in the characters? In “The Book Thief”, the theme risk and sacrifice in the face of great danger, is manifest. Characters such as Max, Hans, Rudy, and Liesel have presented the use of this theme in their actions throughout the book. Risk and sacrifice in the face of great danger are made evident through the characters actions. The first character who made risks and sacrifices in the face of great danger was Liesel. Liesel made a risk in great danger when she said she hated the Fuhrer. Liesel told her papa, “I hate him” (p.115, Zusak). After Liesel told her papa this, he slapped her and told her, “Don’t ever say that” (p.116, Zusak). He slaps Liesel and tells her that because, if she said that in front of an SS Guard, then Liesel and her family might have been taken away to a concentration camp or could have been killed. This would ultimately lead to their death. Also, Liesel made the same risk when she stole the book, the shoulder shrug....
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...The Book Thief. Written by Markus Zusak, The Book Thief is a fictional novel narrated by death that follows the intriguing, yet somber life of a young girl named Liesel Meminger, who lives in Nazi Germany. There are many types of love, the love shared between parent and child, the love shared between friends, and the love felt for a significant other. A major theme throughout the novel is love, including familial, friendship, and romantic love which all contribute to the 'therapy' the characters, especially Liesel, need to heal from past life experiences. Familial love played a huge...
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...As children grow up, they start to become more and more independent. When there is a loss in the relationship between a child and his/her parents, the child is forced into independence. This is something that happens in both The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Night by Eliezer Wiesel. For Liesel in The Book Thief, she is initially at loss for her relationship with her father Hans Hubermann when he has to go out to war and serve his country. For Eliezer in Night, he is faced with forced independence when his father Shlomo dies as a concentration camp prisoner during the Holocaust. But, if there is no hope tied to the independence, then he/she has no motivation when they are independent, making it less significant and purposeful in comparison to when someone does have hope. By analyzing the actions and decisions of both Eliezer and Liesel when they are forced into independence, it shows that when there is hope related to it then the independence they have is more meaningful in comparison to...
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...True Nature of Courage In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, there are several important themes that are analyzed throughout the story. The themes had a tremendous impact and were well demonstrated by the most important characters. The true nature of courage is one of the most important ones because between all the characters, each one had their moments in the book where they showed acts of kindness. There will be quite a few examples on the occasions during the book where courage is shown. The character in The Book Thief that expressed the most courage was Hans. Hans Hubermann was Liesel’s father and was married to Rosa Hubermann. Hans was a German who believed on everyone staying safe and being treated equally. There were numerous occasions...
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...always the brave one, and me – I was the one who cried at every obstacle that had been thrown at me. I remember climbing up the monkey bars with her and being too afraid to come down. She was afraid too, even though she stubbornly denied it. Being the risk taker she was, she had pushed away her fears and jumped, she scraped her knee pretty bad but it was all worth it to her. But me? I stayed up on the monkey unwilling to come down until my parent came and carried me down. And that was one example of us being different. “People may react to adverse circumstances in different ways.” For example – Liesel form The Book Thief by Mark Zusak may react to adversity differently than Elie Wiesel would and so can Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Everyone is different with their own schema and that’s what makes them unique. Throughout the book Christopher’s most challenging adversity was dealing with emotions. Christopher solves problem with logic and perseverance, emotions are not needed. After discovering...
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...In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, there are many themes developed throughout the plot. A theme is a main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work; they can be stated either directly or indirectly. The same theme can be found in a multitude of literary works, however there are often a number of different themes in a novel. One of the significant themes that is present in The Book Thief is the ability to find beauty in an ugly situation. The narrator, Death, along with Liesel and those around her, are all in or around unfortunate situations. As the story progresses, they are forced to accept what they have been given and appreciate the miniscule happiness that can be found in any situation. Both Rudy Steiner and Liesel Meminger, fictional characters in The Book Thief, lived in Nazi Germany. They were poverty-stricken, constantly hungry, and were forced to live without anything but the necessities. As Liesel and Rudy were walking down the street on...
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...“The Book Thief” Movie Reflection People always say 'the book is so much better than the movie'. In The Book Thief’s case, I agree with this statement. In my opinion, I think the original novel that Markus Zusak wrote was more captivating and told the story in a more fascinating way, including narration by Death and many other important details that were not included in the movie. For this reason, the movie did not do the book justice. Unlike the book, it felt like it was rushing through events in the beginning and the ending of the movie, but in the middle it felt slow and a little dull. The movie was still good, but I don't think it was as good as it could have been. As I mentioned before, many events from the original story were not in the movie. Some events that were in the movie got altered, which, to me, changed some effects of the story. An example of this would be when Hans stood up for the Jewish store owner getting beat by a Nazi, where in the book Hans courageously gave a Jewish man a piece of bread. The way it was written in the book seemed like more of a risk because it put his whole family in jeopardy, whereas in the movie it didn't seem as heroic. Also Alex Steiner and Hans should have left for the service at the same time, like in the book, because then Liesel and Rudy could have made a connection over their missing fathers. Although the movie made many changes, in some ways it also modified the book in a good way. One scene not in book was where Rudy and Liesel...
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