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The Book Thief Paradox Analysis

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Humanity is considered to be beautiful but is the monster shoved in the closet. Mankind has had moments of disaster and at the same time brought groups together. Even the ugliness that is created from which events always seems to bring the best of people. This can only be described as a paradox, something that is seen as beautiful and yet be ugly at the same time. World War II is a prime example of this paradox. Hitler and the Holocaust are considered to be horrific but at the same time the world came together and helped one another. World War II left its mark on the world forever changing it good and bad. The novel The Book Thief shows another example of humanity is a paradox. Death, the narrator, tells a story about a young girl living in Nazi Germany during World War II with Death often questioning how humans can be so cruel yet so kind at …show more content…

It is towards the end of the book does the audience gets Death’s thoughts saying, “I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant”(Zusak,550). Death, the observer has seen the start and will see humanity's end. Yet doesn't understand how something can be beautiful and ugly and the same time. Through observing Death has seen humanity’s worst and best. That is why Death is always over and underestimating the human race. Death wonders how words hold such power, being brilliant and damming. Even though Death sees all, he does not understand all that is observed. That is Deaths obsession with humanity not being able to understand why humans act the way they

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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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1108 Words | 5 Pages

Death’s search for beauty in World War II surrounds the whole book. With the fighting among both sides of the war along with the Holocaust, Death is constantly at work while people continue to die. Death saw beauty in Leisel’s story on Himmel Street, but he also saw darkness in people along with the war and how it can tear families apart. Death saw beauty and ugliness in Hans, Rudy, and Leisel which helped him see some of the beauty that came from World War II.

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1007 Words | 5 Pages

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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627 Words | 3 Pages

'The Book Thief’ a fictional novel by Markus Zusak, and ‘Night ' an autobiography by Elie Wiesel, are two texts that are set during the Holocaust era in World War 2 and represent the reading of how Overpowering governments cause the death and oppression of individuals through discriminative regimes, such as Nazi Germany. Both authors utilise the reading through historical context, figurative language and perspective. The Book Thief is set between the years 1939 till 1943 in Germany, in a small fictional town called Molching. During the Holocaust period in World War 2.

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684 Words | 3 Pages

In The Book Thief, a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak, the narrator, Death, says; “I 'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). Humans are complex beings with the ability to hold so many emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Death finds himself astounded by how they can be so beautiful and ugly at the same time. There are many things that are beautiful about Liesel Meminger, but then again just like anyone else, she also has those few ugly qualities.

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110 Words | 1 Pages

True friendship can be difficult to develop in conventional situations, imagine the challenges for a friendship during the atrocious reign of Hitler. When Max starts living with the Hans in chapter 30 of the "Book Thief" Liesel is freighted of him and tries to keep her distance, but yet curious about the stranger living in the basement. As time progress, a friendship between them grow, mainly because of their similarities. In the beginning of the book, Liesel is asleep on a train traveling to her new foster parents house. When she reach her destination she feels abandoned by her mother, even though she was always indisposed and can't take her.

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194 Words | 1 Pages

Most of the conflict presented in "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, is on Himmel Street in Molching Germany. The conflict in the story is unique to the setting because the struggles faced are more unusual, and dangerous, as they are in Nazi Germany during WW2. "The Book Theif" is set at the beginning, and throughout World War 2 in Molching, Germany, specifically on Himmel Street. The main character, Liesel Meminger, moved in with the Hubermanns before the start of World War 2.

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285 Words | 2 Pages

Death tends to distract himself from his job and notice the color of the sky, especially with Liesel, “The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs,

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1059 Words | 5 Pages

The Book Thief took place in 1939 during World War II in a German town called Molching. Focusing on a Jewish girl named Liesel Meminger, the book followed what it would be like to grow up around hatred and death. Liesel was adopted when she was nine years old by a German couple named Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Hans worked as a painter while Rosa worked by doing laundry for people. Liesel began helping Rosa with delivering laundry to her clients.

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Which character is most affected by war, and how? “No matter how many times she was told she was loved, there was no recognition that the proof was in the abandonment.” (32) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak discusses mainly the power of words, and war in Nazi Germany and how a girl grows up in pain, love, and misery through that period of her life. To begin with, Paula, Liesel’s mother gave her and her brother Werner to foster parents, Liesel’s parents were communists so they took her father away, hence, even though she didn’t know why, her mother had to give them over to Rosa and Hans Hubermann, but just before getting there, death took Werner away. And maybe that’s when pain begins for Liesel, as much as readers know.

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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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2702 Words | 11 Pages

Humans are either going above his expectations by saving lives or going way below them by killing and starting wars. Death finds it haunting how humans can show great acts of kindness and compassion as well as horrible acts of cruelty. In the story Death sates, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.” (page 491) 6.

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1144 Words | 5 Pages

People Who Helped in Hidden Ways Topic: Germans that helped Jews during World War II Working thesis statement: Helping Jews was very dangerous in Nazi Germany during World War Two because of Hitler’s bigoted nationalism, yet numerous Germans civilians and soldiers assisted a Jew in some way during the time of war. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel’s fictitious family and friends help Jews in the same ways that real life Germans helped Jews to hide and escape during World War II. Rolling Introduction Introduction Paragraph #1 Introduction Paragraph #2 Religious intolerance and persecution of Jewish people was common in Nazi Germany; however, there were some Germans that helped Jews despite the dangers. Some brave German soldiers and

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1186 Words | 5 Pages

This is because I truly loved Death’s idiosyncratic comments and informative narration in the book. Even though the movie was very literally visual, I had an easier time imagining the book and understanding it. I really enjoyed reading Max’s books and didn’t have this pleasureful opportunity in the movie. I enjoyed the sensory details and Zusak’s writing style. Lasty, my opinion might be swayed by the fact that I read the book first, making it my image for ‘the right one’.

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975 Words | 4 Pages

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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