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Examples Of Suffering In The Book Thief

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Suffering with the Loss of Humanity One can learn a great deal about life whilst looking through the eyes of another. Literature greatly teaches by the use of various characters. One unusual character that is personified in many works is Death. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Death narrates the adventures of the main character, Liesel Meminger, while exemplifying the underlying themes of suffering which leads the audience through the heart-wrenching story using historical evidence as well as personal analysis to impact each reader differently. In order to understand the analysis of the book, one must first refresh themselves on the historical background of the era. During the occurrence of World War II, two major leaders by the …show more content…

For instance, this becomes helpful in categorizing the examples of hardship made throughout the story, as when Death has an odd way of narrating especially when he exclaims “Mystery bores me. It chores me. I know what happens and so do you. It's the machinations that wheel us there that aggravate, perplex, interest, and astound me" (Zusak 243). This summation of Death’s style of narration and his management of people have an eloquent yet blunt way of saying something. Not only does this quote perfectly sum up Death’s style of narration, but it also has truth behind it regarding the famous assumption that a journey is more significant than a destination. In addition, there exists a certain element of description that pieces the whole book together with its powerful ways such as: “Upon her arrival, you could still see the bite marks of snow on her hands and the frosty blood on her fingers. Everything about her was undernourished. Wirelike shins. Coat hanger arms. She did not produce it easily, but when it came, she had a starving smile” (Zusak 31). When presented with this quote, one can imagine a skinny frostbitten girl with a forsaken smile. The element of description does a great job in allowing the reader to visualize what the brutality of her trip has done to her. All together, these examples of mode assist the reader in creating an understanding of the

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Liesel Meminger, otherwise known as the book thief, is a foster child who lives during World War ll. Everything started at her brother's burial where she finds a The Gravedigger's Handbook. From there she continues to steal books. In The Book Thief , written by Markus Zusak, story of a tells the story of a jew, a little german girl, and Death. Max Vandenburg has always loved to fight and he always will.

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The book, “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak, is not only written about the mass murder of millions of Jews, in addition, the book is from the perspective of no other than death itself. It displays what death feels with every soul he takes, seeing what goes through his mind with the job that is forced upon him. In the book, death ends the novel with “I am haunted by humans” (Zusak 550), the theme this quote allows the reader to infer is “there is a different side to every story”. Just like all of humanity, death did not ask to be here. There is a side to every story and death’s is that he is simply doing the task he was created to do.

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Written by Markus Zusak, The Book Thief is a coming-of-age story about a young girl named Liesel Meminger narrated through the words of Death. The thievery character of this girl emerged after the death of her younger brother. Built over a prolonged period, this desperate nature is the foundation of what became of her later in the story. The books that Liesel stole, the stories that she told, and novel that she wrote enhanced a symbolic meaning in this novel centered around wholeness. Liesel Meminger’s first victim was the gravedigger.

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Many people have been hurt by other people and death. The book, The Book Thief is about Liesel Meminger and how she deals with all this hurt and death around her. This character essay is about her because I liked how resilient she was to other people’s words and all the death and destruction. I really enjoyed reading about her and her experiences especially how she dealt with her want to be able to read. Liesel was a great character and she learns many lessons throughout the book, and it was fun to learn them with her.

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: This passage is significant to the novel because it reminds the reader that no matter how much pain and suffering Liesel feels, she lives in a safer “world” than characters like Max. But death migrates from Liesel’s pain and travels to Max’s. Max has lost his entire family and faces persecution, but his true pain lies within him. He left his family to die; he is risking another family’s life, and is constantly belittled for being Jewish. This is why this quote is important, it shows the reader not only the physical, but mental pain that the citizens of Germany

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Death is introduced immediately as the narrator of the book, and he reveals some key information about his personality. One of his most prominent characteristics is how he feels bored and irritated by his job, a feeling we can relate to; "The trouble is, who could ever replace me? Who could step in while I take a break in your stock-standard resort-style holiday destination...?" In this quote, Death is shown to be more human than his usual image suggests.

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In the novel, The Book Thief, there are societal messages such as everybody dies so life needs to be cherished. In the book, we see that Death takes part in helping the reader understand this message. There are many deaths to overcome so we start to understand that life should not be taken for granted. We can see life being cherished throughout the book with Liesel bringing snow to Max, Rudy helping the prisoner and lastly Max’s trip to the concentration camp During this novel, we see a story of a sad and deathly life as people get their lives taken away from the Germans.

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How Characters in The Book Thief Showed Courage In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, nine-year-old Liesel Meminger is a rebellious child living in Nazi Germany. Her experiences are narrated by Death, who describes both the devastation and the pulchritude of life in this time period. To struggle against great odds is the essence of real courage. Throughout the story, the characters Liesel, Hans, and the Hubermanns show incredible courage when dealing with large events in their lives. The Hubermanns taking in Max Vandenburg was one of the first major events in the story, and an amazing display of courage.

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Death plays a bigger role in life than life itself. When people die, people cry, and while people cry, a clear moment of lucidity occurs. Death is what makes every moment worth living and is told through stories of books and movies with symbols both subtle and blunt. Night, for example, is an autobiographical novel recalling Eliezer’s experience through concentration camps while The Book Thief is a historical fiction film where Liesel is a bystander who participates in activities symbolizing war. History is intertwined death.

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Growing as a Character Every event in our lives happens for a reason, whether it is to learn from our mistakes or to gain experience from them. In Markus Zusak's novel “The Book Thief,” Liesel Meminger uses her experiences with living in the 1940s to learn life lessons and experience first hand the many terrible things Hitler is doing to people around her. She learns how to deal with the many obstacles that are thrown at her. Liesel grows as a character by following her step-father’s footsteps in being a kind and generous person, going through childhood with her best friend Rudy, and being aware of what is going on around her by learning from Max.

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It shows how he suffers every time he needs to collect a body, but he helps them by collecting their souls. He does not wish for people to die but he is the one who needs to deal with the result when they do. It hurts him to see what humans do to other humans, but by going through this suffering, he heals and continues to survive which shows the humanity that is in Death. Zusak also uses third person omniscient to convey the thematic message on suffering in healing. Readers can have a sense of how everyone feels and see how they develop as characters.

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880 Words | 4 Pages

Zusak used personification in the novel when he gave the narrator, Death, who is non-living, but has human qualities. The way the author applied this technique to ‘The Book Thief’ was so that the reader felt connected and could relate to the narrator. As Death was created as an omniscient, Zusak’s goal was for the narrator to create meaning and to give the reader an expression that he understood what it was like to be human but actually wasn’t human himself. “Even death has a heart” is an example of the use of personification, explaining that even though death is non-living he feels the same things as humans, especially when it comes to tragic moments. Zusak didn’t just use personification with the narrator but he also used it in relation to the imagery and setting of the story, as well as describing human features “As she crossed the river, a rumour of sunshine stood behind the clouds.”

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Death is usually portrayed as a heartless and cruel character, but in the story the author shows a different side of death, with compassion and human-like feelings, which is very ironic. 2. What are Death ’s feelings for each victim?

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Humans lie and steal without hesitation to survive. That is how man is. However, human nature does not allow for cruelty to exist without the other end of the spectrum - kindness. In his novel, The Book Thief, Markus Zusak reveals the extreme malice possible in humans, along with the tenderness that stems from it. In times of hate and paranoia in Nazi Germany, ones who live morally are rare.

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Through personification the speaker depicts death as a gentlemen, and not someone who brutally takes our lives quickly, but in a courteous manner. The use of symbolism to describe three locations as three stages of life. These three stages are used to show our childhood,adulthood, and us as elderly soon about to meet death, The speaker also uses imagery to show that all death is a simple cold, then we go to a resting place which is the grave, and from there on we move on toward eternity. Death is a part of life that we all need to embrace, and learn that it is not meant to be

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