The Book Thief Literary Analysis

How has ‘The Book Thief’ broadened your understanding of the way history can be represented through historical fiction?

Zusak’s 2005 novel, “The Book Thief” effectively creates a historically authentic novel that engages and immerses the audience in a world like no other.His potent use of sagacious literary techniques emphasises the terror, grief and loss of WW2. Zusak provides a colourful list of characters, chosen to represent Germany in this horrific time period,he utilises the pages of this book to paint a picture in every possible colour. Similes and metaphors are communicated in colour and emotions, which creates style and language. The fictitious town of Molching is there to further emphasise the way history can be represented through historical fiction and create an authentic setting.

The large array of historically fictions characters impacted Liesel in one way or another.We see Nazis,civilians, soldiers, the rich, poor, young and old. A favourable character and our guide in the entirety of the book: Death. Has a character change to specifically fit the historical time period, “It’s the leftover humans. The survivors. They’re the ones I can’t stand to look at, although on many occasions, I still fail.”This technique directly reveals the benevolent yet complex character he is and how he is so far from his usual stereotype.Death is represented to soften the chilling historical period and show it through an eyes of another. The human perspective is found through Death as he struggles through the novel to decipher how humans are capable of creating so much ugliness from beauty, it seems that Death is most humane from any other character in the book and has something to teach us all. Characters have impacted the way readers history can be represented in historically fictitious books, and are largely supported by