The Theme Of Death In The Book Thief By Zusak

One of the few certainties in life is suffering. In Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief, the main character Liesel is sent to a foster home because her mother is not able to support her in Nazi Germany. Liesel struggle without her brother, Hans’ battle against the societyal pressure from Nazi’s, and Max’s story are great exampes that suffering is most painful when one is alone.

The novel "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak is a story about an orphan who lives in Germany during the Holocaust. The book explore multitude of ideas that are enhanced by the authors writing style. Mark Zusak 's was able to effectively use symbolism to enhance the readers understanding of the book. Death is one of the main symbols in the book. Not only is Death the narrator of the book, but the concept is everywhere.

The statement in Markus Zusak’s piece, The Book Thief, states World War II was the result of the Germans’ love of burning things should not be taken literally at face value because the act of burning was seen as purification through the Germans’ eyes. “The Germans loved to burn things. Shops, synagogues, personal items, and of course, books. They enjoyed a good book burning, all right…” (Zusak 84).

Death switches between first person and third person, so the stories are told in a pretty somber way. Most of the time, the words spoken are of how certain things destroyed and killed, or how they saved and really helped someone out. Overall, the power of words is very strong in The Book Thief, and each word spoken or read by Liesel, Hans, Max, or any of the characters can really be a matter of life or death. Zusak 's motivation to use words in this manner really shows how every single thing done and spoken in life can have a big impact. Words can change someone 's life, kill someone, save someone, or lead a revolution for better or for

In the story The Book Thief, the reader learns how sometimes behind darkness, hatred, and violence, there is love, passion, and connections. The author reveals this theme throughout the story by showing the evil side of people and also showing the careful side of people. For example, we see Liesel and Rudy actions of violence, theft, and hatred throughout the book. For example, we find Liesel and Rudy raiding an apple farm, Liesel getting into fights, thievery of Rudy stealing things from other people, and of course, Liesel thievery of books. But deep down inside, they are amazing people.

In the classic era, death had a rather god-like power and was above us all. Zusak, however, really humanizes death by giving her the most human of feelings and experiences, such as compassion, pity, empathy. More so, Death plays a critical role in Liesel’s story and a strong bond is created between the two. The last sentence of the novel shows exactly what kind of personification of death Zusak has created: “Even Death has a heart.”

You truly don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Everyday things are taken for granted. In “The Book Thief” It shows incredible examples of how loss transforms you for the better. “The Book Thief” Written by Markus Zusak is a novel based on Nazi-Germany during post World War 2. It Features the scary truth along with harsh humor, The story is told through the eyes of brave, Jewish girl named Liesel.

Opening Paragraph: By showing death has a human-like nature, Mark Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, exemplifies that death does, in fact, have a soul death feels for the people that he has to take to the afterlife. With World War II occurring in Europe, death tells the story of a life of a particular young girl who piques his interests in the midst of a chaotic time in history. Zusak shows author's style by using personification, symbolism, and foreshadowing of death in The Book Thief.

Muhammad Khan Ms. Trasolini ENG2D0-I Thursday, April 9th, 2015 Characters Overcoming Adversities in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief Almost everyone in life faces adversity, they also find ways to overcome it which makes them a better person. In the novel The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger’s life is in the middle of the Holocaust. After unfortunate events, Liesel is shown moving to a foster home in Molching, Germany. Her life changes completely as it was never before. Liesel Meminger, Max Vandenburg, and Rudy Steiner all go through different types of adversities and they find ways to overcome them.

Mark Zusak, in The Book Thief, uses similes, situational irony, and symbolism to demonstrate the human trait of standing up for what they believe in. Through his similes, Zusak exemplifies the tendency of humans to stand up for what they believe in. Amazing and thrilling describes the exact opposite of life in Munich, Germany. The streets consisted of slumped over people trying to get past the struggles of war, and hundreds of Jewish people making their way to the atrocious concentration camp, Dachau.

The Book Thief is narrated by Death. Throughout the book he makes casual remarks about his job, but occasionally he puts the casual talk on hold, and that is when one can infer that he cares about something. Rudy Steiner was a talented boy, from running around a track, to soccer, to memorizing facts about ancient beings, he was the best of the best, and what is hard to like about that? Nearly all the time, death is associated with all objects depressing.

All of the characters rebel against societal expectations and contribute to the central theme of The Book Thief in one way or another, especially Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner, and Hans Hubermann. Frequently, the narrator, Death, refers to Liesel as the ‘Book Thief’ because she often steals books and uses them in positive ways. While people attend Hitler’s birthday book burning event, Liesel Meminger steals her second piece of literature, “She reached her hand in… She latched onto the closest of books. It was hot” (Zusak 120).

What does it mean to take a risk? What are we willing to risk? Many people will take risks in their lives, but what were all willing to put on the line will vary widely. This is the case for many characters in Markus Zusak’s 2005 novel The Book Thief.

A natural human instinct is to do anything in order to survive. Though a person may not necessarily want to survive, the physical body of a person does. The body naturally will try to do anything in order to protect itself and survive even when the person does not notice. Survival comes at a cost that not all people are willing to pay. To survive there are struggles and obstacles that not all are willing to face, but to get through these obstacles an individual is one step closer to survival.

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.