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Comparing The Book Thief And A Separate Peace

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Theme is expressed in both The Book Thief, by Mark Zusak and A Separate Peace, John Knowles, in separate ways. The Book Thief can have more than one theme, those themes are take nothing for granted and don’t let surroundings change a person. The Book Thief and A Separate Peace expresses their theme through characters, setting, plot, mood, and conflict. Both authors express these elements in their own way to help show theme in these books.

The Book Thief has characters such as Liesel Meminger, the protagonist, Hans, the foster father, Rudy, Liesel's best friend, and Max, the Jew. Liesel was an introvert as she kept to herself once she moved to a foster home after her brother passed away from an illness while traveling to their new foster parents, …show more content…

He was always kind and he and Liesel formed a friendship and they would read together. He made her a book about his story and left the book for her after he left. All of these characters impacted Liesel in their own way and showed theme of take nothing for granted by the characters giving something to Liesel and she took them for granted until they were gone and she realized her mistake. Death narrated this story and the reader got to see his point of view of The Book Thief and understand how he sees the world and humans. This takes place in Nazi Germany, 1939 during WW II. This was the time when Hitler started to take over and orders Jewish stores, homes and anything Jewish be destroyed or vandalized by the Nazi. Liesel’s new foster home was located on Himmel Street where she met her best friend, Rudy. In the basement of the house, they kept Max down I the basement because they could risk him being seen in the house by other people from the outside of the house. The basement was small and disorganized but Max made living down there bearable. There were writings on the walls and paint cans all around. With the paint, Max made his book and drew pictures …show more content…

She meets Max, who Hans took in. After they formed a friendship, he had to leave because he felt as though he shouldn’t be there. He felt that way because he felt like a danger to the family after time passed and the war got worse and he thought that it was time for him to leave. He left his life story for Liesel in sketches for her to see. The house gets bombed and Hans, Rosa and Rudy, but not Liesel. Throughout the novel, Rudy always asked Liesel for a kiss and she turned him down every time. When she saw him dying in the aftermath of the bombing he was about to tell her that he loves her, but he passes away in the middle of saying that he did. After he passes away in Liesel’s arms, she started to cry and told him to kiss her, unable to accept the fact that he was dead. This shows the theme because asking her to kiss him and her saying no she realized that she took him for granted and didn’t realize how much she actually liked him. Liesel did carry on and she shared her story and many years later she found Max and they reunited. The conflict in The Book Thief is man vs. society or to be more specific, the

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Another element that supports A Separate Peace is the setting. In The Book Thief, Liesel lives in a town where she can freely run off with Rudy and avoid conflicts at home, school, or negative thoughts, so this helps conflicts to settle down quickly and let a new rabbit hole in the story commerce. The era in which the stories unravel in is the same, which contributes to similarities in conflict, but the strict, crowded atmosphere of Devon Boarding school allows for a dark mood and more man versus man conflict to emerge, building on to the theme. Continuing on with conflict, both of the stories involve

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Elie Wiesel, a male Holocaust survivor, once said: “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference” and “Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.” During the Holocaust, over eleven million innocent people were killed because of the hate and intolerance the Nazis had for them. Many people fight against the injustice of the Nazi party and without them hundreds more people could have died. Intolerance and hate were some main causes of the Holocaust, and the fight against it is shown in The Book Thief, The Whispering Town, Paper Clips, and Eva’s Story.

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When Max first enters her home, after she has been watching him sleep for three days, she describes him as “His gathering beard, and the twigs of (his) hair that moved ever so slightly as he breathed” (Zusak 167). His body is bruised, skinny and altogether weak, and up until this point, Liesel hasn’t really seen a first-hand Jew experience. Although she already had her strong opinions on the Nazi party, Seeing the effects of someone to whom she was no doubt going to get close, further enhances her hate towards the Nazi party. Second, of all, Liesel and Max are two in the same.

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Liesel has realized she must respect the man who was the reason for her and her entire families suffering. She has realized she officially has lost her home, that she is completely isolated from the community. “It was quite a sight seeing an eleven year old girl try not to cry on church steps, saluting fuhrer”(Zusak 115). After losing all of these emotionally wrecking things Liesel learns and understands she needs to keep going forward. She refuses to give up she although times are rough manages to think, it could be worse.

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Liesel, known as the book thief to the audience has a distinct passion for books and how much they mean to her. Stealing book after the book becomes a hobby for the young girl whose love of books is fostered by her foster father, Hans Hubermann. As Hans teaches Liesel how to read and write they develop an

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Death writes about Liesel and the war

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A main reason Liesel develops into the character she is by the end of the novel is due to the individuals she meets and her relationships with them. When Hans Hubermann becomes

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In  The Book Thief  Max writes Liesel two books. The two stories Max wrote were “The Standover Man” and “The Word Shaker.” Both stories show a little of Max’s life and how he has been treated, but they also show how Liesel has impacted his life. The message Max was leaving for her is that she has the power to make a difference using just words.     The first book Max wrote is “The Standover Man”.

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The Book Thief tells of a young girl’s life during World War II in Nazi Germany. The Book Thief represents the Historical Fiction genre seamlessly. The characteristics of Historical Fiction are sprung from the elements of fiction. A fiction book has the elements dialogue, character, theme, plot, setting etc.

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“Look proud, he advised himself. You cannot look afraid,”(Zusak Ch 25). Max fought for the safety of his life for two years by hiding out. No matter how hopeless your situation might look, keep fighting because you never know what will happen unless you try. Having Max living in Liesel's basement teaches her first-hand how serious things are, and the dangers of what Hitler can do.

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Markus Zusak has assembled ‘The Book Thief’ using a variety of narrative conventions. These include a unique narrative viewpoint, plot structure and use of imagery, all of which provide meaning to the reader. (33 words) A narrative’s point of view refers to who is telling the story. In this case Zusak’s narrator identifies himself as Death.

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In the novel, Liesel’s behavior shows justice and love through her friendship with Max. Although her relationship with Max in the beginning of the book was rather awkward, soon her perspective towards Max soothes and their relationship bonds to a friendship. There are some times when Liesel’s actions were unbelievable, especially during the Jew parade. “ ‘ You have to let go of me Liesel.’

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What is a friend? A common response to this question seems to be someone who accepts another for who they are. Another less used response to the same question is someone who leave another better than they once were. These two half definitions of friendship come to gather to explain that friend is someone who takes another how they already are and leaves that better than their previous state. True friendship often adds loyalty to ones character resulting in acts of courage.

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The theme of this book is learning to love and care for the people around. How I came to this conclusion is by how Liesel acts towards Max, her foster parents, Rudy, and her neighbors. Liesel cares for people even if they weren't like her and she doesn't understand why there is hatred in this world. She wanted the world to be a happy place for everyone including Jews to be friends with one another. On page 426 in ‘The Book Thief’, when Rudy’s father went to war Liesel could relate to Rudy because “her mother.

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One of the most important recurring themes throughout The Book Thief was Liesel’s relationships with all of the people in her life. She grows close with several different people, and trusts, loves, and cares for them all differently but equally. Three of those relationships will be explored more deeply; Liesel’s relationship with her foster father, Hans Hubermann, the Jewish man her family takes in, Max Vanderburg, and her best friend, Rudy Steiner. Liesel’s relationship with Hans is one of the most important, if not the most important, relationships in the novel. Hans is the first person Liesel trusts, and the person who stays with her and loves her until the end.

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