Literary Analysis Essay on The Book Thief Text

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analysis essay ndash the book thief in the book thief 2005 , markus zusak, illustrates many different themes but there are two themes that are consistent throughout the book, death and the power of words. The novel has shown the development of liesel as a citizen in germany who has a cloudy understanding of death and the power of words in the beginning to a much more matured, knowledgeable view of these themes. There is a relationship between liesel and the characters that can be portrayed by the connection of death and the power of words the demonstration of these two themes are redundant throughout the course of the novel and all leading back to liesel. When a spider builds his web he attaches every piece carefully and strategically together to make a strong foundation, like this web the author of this novel, markus zusak used death as his web. He brought together every piece into one strong cohesive idea that is the theme of death. From the passing of her brother to the demise of her foster parents, death was always a factor.

The different individuals that liesel met throughout the story all shared something in common with her, death. Either these people have experienced a tragic loss or they were killed themselves. Regardless of what was the cause or how it occurred the connection was the result. For example, the death of both ilsa hermann and frau holtzapfel sons or the demise of everyone on himmel street. He personifies it as a character who has thoughts and can tell the difference between right and wrong.

Death is portrayed as having characteristics of a human but it also inhuman as well. The irony of this is that death, the storyteller is also the biggest reoccurring theme of the story, therefore, it can be said that he is telling a story that revolves around him. He gives a very robust narration a very unique style of telling the story his words consist of pity, envy, and compassion, for example, ldquo still, they have one thing i envy. Death is jealous, he is stuck in this world of constant war and hate and there rsquo s no way out.

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Liesel rsquo s didn rsquo t have much of a voice in the opening on the novel but as she matured she became a lot stronger and smart with her words. Stealing the books from ilsa hermann rsquo s library wasn rsquo t just a simple robbery of a book it was much more then that. Every visit, every book she took was her way of fighting back and taking what was rightfully hers. Liesel achieves her words by stealing books from ilsa hermanns library and also at different moments such as, standing up to ilsa hermann or writing her own book. Ilsa hermann rsquo s power of words can be demonstrated by the vast collection of books she possesses in her library, her fortress of solitude where she retreats to engulf herself into the pages due to the painful memory of her late son.

The vast amount of themes that is covered in this novel is on every page, the power of words, death, compassion, and many others. But the most significant two: the power of words and death intertwine with one another. For example, hitler rsquo s ability to manipulate the minds of germans to thinking his beliefs of extermination the jewish race was the only way for germany to flourish. He didn rsquo t require any sort of gun or military weapon to be feared, with his words he was able to cause the death of millions of human beings.

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The power of words is a very dangerous thing but it also can be a positive thing depending on how we use it. Liesel rsquo s journey throughout this book showed the many connections with hans, rudy, frau hotzlphel, max, and other character through the power of words and death. In the end all she had left were her words, these very words she fought so desperately to get back, which she got back but at the cost of her friend rsquo s and family rsquo s death. Mark zusak, an australian author of german descent, first made a mark on the literary world in 2002 with his award winning children's bookв i am the messenger.в  withв the book thiefв  2006 , his foray into what was marketed as a young adult novel earned him great success in sales it remained on american best seller lists for weeks but mixed reviews from critics. The novel's dark subject matter and intimidating length 550 pages ask a lot of young readers, but teenagers and adults alike have read and loved its endearing tale of a young girl trying to survive in a very adult world of war and chaos.

Already, book club editions are becoming more popular, and its introduction into the world of education is gainingв the book thief в more exposure and readers: it seems destined to become a widely read and discussed work. The choppy, often interrupted narrative is a challenging story line for most readers reviewers themselves struggled with the novel, calling it never an easy read, never a glide, awkward, troublesome, and marred by postmodern tricks. Liesel is a character hailed by critics as gutsy, plucky and smart, memorably strong, and dauntless, and she is surrounded by equally likable and dynamic characters. The strength of the appealing story carries readers through any hiccups in the format.

Death, as the narrator, carries the very difficult task of relating the story as he goes about the grave work of being the grim reaper. Some critics describe it as stark, inconsistent, overly poetic, or too glib to treat the serious nature of war and its atrocities. Most books tackling the subject of world war ii are very serious and aimed at adults this novel, while relating the tragedy and horrors of war, also manages to infuse the undercurrent of misery with moments of joy and happiness.в because of this, youth and adults will appreciateв the book thiefв  and gain a greater understanding of an important time in history. Liesel, the orphaned protagonist of markus zusak's the book thief, steals a total of nine books throughout the novel: the first is the grave diggers handbook, stolen on january 13, 1939, the. I think one of the most important lessons, or the overall take home message of this novel is the power of words. This question seems to be an essay question that your teacher has asked you to respond to i can help to give you some ideas, and i hope that you can use them to spark your own opinions and.

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Molching is a fictional place there is no molching, germany.в  there is, however, a city called olching, which happened to also be next to the concentration camp of dachau perhaps that is what. When we talk about take home messages as they pertain to literature, what we are talking about is themes of the novel.в  this novel has several. Markus zusak began his career as a successful writer of young adult fiction, but for his fifth novel, zusak set out to relate the experiences of his parents growing up during world war ii for an adult audience.

Zusak has said that much of the inspiration for the book thief came from the stories his parents would tell him when he was a child. Zusak 39 s father, a house painter, was an austrian who spent the war in vienna, which in 1945 was besieged and captured by the soviet red army. Zusak 39 s mother was a german who grew up in munich, where she witnessed firsthand both the intense bombing of that city by allied planes and the degradation of the jews during the holocaust. Of his mother 39 s influence, zusak has said: two stories my mother told me affected me a lot.

The first was about munich being bombed, and how the sky was on fire, how everything was red. One day, there was a terrible noise coming from the main street of town, and when she ran to see it, she saw that jewish people were being marched to dachau, the concentration camp. At the back of the line, there was an old man, totally emaciated, who couldn 39 t keep up.