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Max Vandenberg's The Book Thief

660 Words3 Pages

Most of the readers view death as an interesting choice while narrating. This novel focuses on characters in difficult and dark situations hoping to prove to us that it’s (death) worth it while looking for glimmers of hope. Through Death, Zusak is able to deliver a novel that looks at humans through the eyes of a stranger. The readers are able to fill in the world by themselves while Zusak manages to convey the broken and horrible world without having to go into much detail. His writing style is clean but it still keeps somewhat detached to the nature of Death.
In this story, much of what Death relates to us falls into the second category. His chief source for the story he's telling is The Book Thief, the book Liesel writes about her life. But, for Liesel's story to make sense to us, Death needs to tell us about what's going on in other parts of Germany, Poland, and Russia during World War II, to provide us with details Liesel would have no way of knowing at the time …show more content…

The Book Thief contains two complete and illustrated stories written by Max Vandenberg which are The Standover Man and The Word Shaker written on Fuhrer’s book, Mein Kampf. We still see the traces of his books peeking through the ‘white paint’. Furthermore, humans are haunted by the ghosts of the past whereas some would say that it’s Death that’s coming for them. It is something that is normally not discussed by humans. Death answers Liesel when she asks if her memoir (The Book Thief), makes sense to him. We'll take that as a "Yes." Like Liesel, Death is haunted by what humans have to go through and what they do to each other but most of all by their acts of kindness and love. At the start of the novel Death says that the most painful part of the job is seeing "the survivors," "the leftover humans," "the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and

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Comparing The Book Thief And A Separate Peace

1386 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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Book Thief Death Quotes

759 Words | 4 Pages

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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Cultural Differences In The Book Thief

953 Words | 4 Pages

It took a lot of courage for Liesel to go up to the burning books and steal one out of the stack when no one was looking. One time she was caught but not by one of the Nazi’s, by the mayors wife. The next time that Liesel went to the mayor’s house for laundry the wife brought her inside and showed her all the books that they kept. Found in The Book Thief, “The two words stood among acres and acres of vacant, wooden-floored land. The books were miles away.

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Night By Elie Wiesel Quotes

1007 Words | 5 Pages

By describing the sky as it darkened in colour and the way nothing seems to want to look at the scene, in our heard we think of a dystopian image which also foretells the darker events as the book progresses. Finally, 'they were you' infers that the victims were only humans, who could of been anyone, showing just how inhumane the Holocaust was. This is important both to the character of Death and the story, as it describes a dark reality unknown thus far by Liesel. The final quote reminds us that Death is completely different from humans, but will always remain here to perform his job.

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The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

826 Words | 4 Pages

This devastating, while enlightening novel has a tremendous plot that is skillfully written and played out. In January of 1939, Liesel Meminger’s brother dies and she moves in with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann on Himmel Street. Hans is the first to create a close bond with Liesel when he teaches her how to roll a cigarette and plays the accordion for her when she wakes up from her nightmares about her late brother. Liesel lacks an education and does not know how to read, however Hans teaches her how to read and write, improving her skills. At her brother’s funeral, Liesel steals a book about grave digging, this is the first book she reads and steals.

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The Book Thief By Liesel Meminger

1807 Words | 8 Pages

Death, our narrator, tells the story of Liesel Meminger. We begin with her at age nine, right after losing both her mother and brother. Liesel goes to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in Molching, Germany. When Liesel arrives, she is made of fun in school for not being able to read. She feels powerless, so Hans teaches her how to read at night in their basement, reading from a book Liesel stole from her brother 's funeral:

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How Does Liesel Use Language In The Book Thief

1312 Words | 6 Pages

To begin, it was very frustrating to have the ending of the novel slapped into the beginning and middle of the story at seemingly random moments. There was no suspense built in the novel, Zusak demolished that when he writes to the reader, through Death, exactly how the book, or this specific character’s life, is going to end. Near the end of the book, just after Liesel has had a relatively normal day Death begins a chapter, titled “The End of the World (Part I)” that describes the immediate events after Himmel Street was bombed. These pieces of writing disrupt the flow of the novel in a startling tone. Death’s lack of suspense while narrating The Book Thief is incredibly unfortunate for the impactful novel.

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The Grave Digger's Handbook Character Analysis

571 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” is a motif that causes character development throughout the story causing Liesel to have the book as her only memory of her mother and brother, learning how to read and write, and it leads to stealing more books. When Liesel, her mother, and her brother, Werner were going on a train to Munich, Liesel has a dream about Adolf Hitler, The Furer, who was reciting one of his powerful speeches and when she woke up she found her brother dead. The train stops for track repairs, and Liesel's mother leaves the train carrying Werner in her arms. When Liesel’s brother was getting buried by two grave diggers, one of them, an apprentice, who drops his book and Liesel picks it up.

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Examples Of Narrative Tension In The Book Thief

405 Words | 2 Pages

Zusak hints at Liesel’s future after she picks up The Grave Digger’s Handbook by saying, “The book thief had struck for the first time-the beginning of an illustrious career.” (29). It was clear that in a book called The Book Thief, there were going to be a few books stolen. This quote however, makes the reader anticipate how.

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Theme Of Death In Fahrenheit 451

260 Words | 2 Pages

Similarly to Fahrenheit 451, death being frequent throughout The Book Thief impacts Liesel’s life. However, The Book Thief is narrated by death himself. Death is not the reason why people die in the novel but he rather exists due to the reason that people are dying. He informs readers from the beginning that the novel is a tragic story as we encounter the death of Liesel’s brother in just the first couple of pages of opening the book.

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Essay On The Book Thief

618 Words | 3 Pages

The idea of books and their role in the “The Book Thief”, and overall the Holocaust, is seen many times over in the novel. This is certainly not only shown by serving as saviors of multiple characters, but by being providers of the power of words and supporting the spread of ideas. Books themselves served as lifesavers for some of the most important and main characters in the book. An example is Liesel's survival during the bombing of Mochin, Germany. Right before the bombing, Liesel decided to go to the basement and continue finishing and editing a book she was writing with her life experiences, keeping her safe while the city above was turned to ashes.

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Relationships In The Book Thief

888 Words | 4 Pages

“It’s just a small story really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery…” (Zusak, pg. 5) The novel, The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak in 2005 explores the theme of family relationships. It is through nine-year-old Liesel Meminger, the protagonist, that the idea of a broken family during the era of Nazi Germany is explored. The Book Thief depicts the struggle of young German girl, Liesel Meminger, living in Germany during the time of Hitler’s reign.

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Liesel's Life Journey In The Book Thief

270 Words | 2 Pages

Narrated by Death, the novel follows Liesel Meminger on her life journey as she becomes “The Book Thief”. After the untimely death of her brother, Liesel finds herself in the foster care of Hans and Rosa Hubermann, a poor couple living in Molching, Germany. Liesel begins to establish close relationships within her new community, particularily with Hans, her “Papa”, a comforting, understanding, and caring figure in her life. Among her activities of playing soccer in the streets and learning to read with Papa, Liesel discovers a joy in stealing books. Though she had already taken a few in the past--one from a gravedigger, and another from a fire--her thievery escalates after an event incites her to steal from the mayor’s wife’s library.

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The Book Thief Narrative Essay

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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Guilt Theme In The Book Thief

1301 Words | 6 Pages

He killed himself for wanting to live” (Zusak 503). While Michael deals with guilt by self destructing, Liesel, the main character, handles guilt using other methods. Liesel encounters guilt through the death of her loved ones in addition to the sadness of losing everything she had. She deals with this guilt by stealing books and reading with her Papa. By stealing books, she achieved the famous nickname, the Book Thief.

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