Death

“From the toolbox the boy took out, of all things, a teddy bear. He reached in through the torn windshield and placed it on the pilot's chest.”“The book thief has struck for the first time – the beginning of an illustrious career.”“Then they discovered she couldn't read or write.”“Unofficially, it was called the midnight class, even though it commenced at around two in the morning. ““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 and pepper, streaked across the redness.”“That was one war started. Liesel would soon be in another.”“In fact, on April 20 – the Führer's birthday – when she snatched a book from beneath a steaming pile of ashes, Liesel was a girl

(pg. 100) This quote shows that some Jewish men were so hungry that men were fighting over a little piece of bread in a dirty wagon. Having their identity taken away from them was also another big thing that Jewish people had to go through with the Germans. “I had watched it all happen without moving. I kept silent.

In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death, the narrator is trying to understand humans. To accomplish this, he follows the life of a little girl named Liesel Meminger. Throughout the book, he learns from her and others that humans can be both beautiful and ugly. He sees both the goodness of Liesel and others, and he sees the evils brought about by Hitler and the Nazi party. Throughout the book, Death’s understanding of humans and their ways is heightened by his study of Liesel and of other people.

The most powerful form of language throughout The Book Thief animates itself through the pages of books. The Gravedigger's Handbook, one of the many books stolen by Liesel Meminger, is nothing more than a simple guide for gravedigging. However, it is the tool she needs in order to learn how to read. Alongside Hans, her “new” father, she stumbles through the book, learning one word after another. People using a book in ways never imagined by the author is a widespread occurrence throughout The Book Thief.

The author uses imagery in the poem to enable the reader to see what the speaker sees. For example, in lines 4-11 the speaker describes to us the

Death’s detailing and descriptions of his soul gathering in the war and his human-like emotions further to the conclusion that is Death being or resembling humans. By Death saying “Far away, fires were burning…I had just picked up 200 murdered souls” (Zusak, 478), he discusses and implies his soul gathering and subtle emotions about what it is like to be Death. In Death saying “murdered souls”, Death shows the emotion of compassion towards the Jews being slaughtered in WWII. Death uses his experience as a gateway to express his inner feelings toward the situation with Liesel Meminger. By Death saying “I was on my way to Molching for more [souls]” (Zusak, 478), it effectively shows the connection in which is the third time Liesel and Death are united. This further depicting that Death uses his personal experiences of and with Liesel Meminger and War to express his true colors. In a final attempt to completely share his ideas,

When a person observes/encounters death their willpower shows determination that helps them survive. The first glimpse we see of this is on page 21. On the train to Munich liesel's brother dies. His name is Werner. He later gets buried at a graveyard just by the train tracks. There was a little ceremony and Liesel and her mother carry on. One thing Liesel takes is the gravedigger's handbook. This is portraying to us on how she will eventually turn into a thief, hence “The Book Thief”. This quote is portrayed by death; “One eye open, one still in a dream. It would be better for a complete dream. I think, but i really have no control over that”. (5, 9) In this quote Liesel believes that the situation that had just occurred was a dream, but she knows that it is not. She learns to read the gravediggers book and it opens up the opportunity of books into her life. Another example of death is when Hans trades cigarettes for Mein Kampf. Hans’ history with Mein Kampf has been a wild one. On Hans’ way back from WWI he

Liesel Meminger, who was a very sympathetic young girl which her words were used from her warm heart towards people. Frau Holtzapfel had lost both of her sons, so for her to be happy, Liesel would read to her a lot, which also made Frau Holtzapfel feel comforted. Also when Max was taken in by the Hubermann’s, he was a Jew, which meant he wasn’t allowed to see the outside world. Liesel would go outside and tell Max the

The reader is able to see the emotional chaos the characters are subject to after trauma. It changes their behaviors and can make them take risks they wouldn’t normally take. Zucker opens readers to understand the sorrow of Jews and sympathizers that fled from their homes and families while under persecution during World War II, as well as World War I veterans. In the words of Death, the narrator “It’s the leftover humans. The survivors [...] I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs” (Zusak 5). It is true that this type of guilt is often paralysing to certain individuals; however, it can also create empathy and strength when survivors overcome these defining hardships in life. This is shown through Liesel’s friendships with Max and Hans, and the emotional maturity they each possess. These relationships help bring acceptance and joy back into survivors’ lives, and allow them to release the guilt of leaving one

One of the most important motifs of Zuask’s book was Death’s observations of colors. “A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors” (Zuask 4). Death uses colors as a distraction, to let it forget for even the slightest second that it is taking the soul of a once actually living thing. “It takes the edge off the

The purpose of this thesis is to compare and contrast iconography of the Good Shephard, in relation to the status of the Good Shepherd as one of the most popular icons representing Jesus, its origins in pagan art, and the use of similar subject matter. The two images reviewed here cover the period of the early stages of Christianity within the Roman Empire, and are depictions of the Good Shephard using different format and technique.

“The Lowest Animal” is Mark Twain’s way of criticizing Darwinism, saying humans did not adapt and become better versions of other animals, the animals are the better versions of us. Twain’s words have rotated my perspective 360 degrees, because he is absolutely right, I just never thought about things as deep as he does until I read “The Lowest Animal”. Human beings are cavalier, ungrateful, and narcissistic beings only thinking for themselves. If they are fortunate to have money, they waste it on things they won’t need or will never use, instead of using it to help others in need.

The setting of the book is in World War II where many people were forced to abandoned their homes because of the holocaust. Like Max, many Jews had to hide or be forced to concentration camps and leave their families. Liesel has to grow up in period of fear, hate, and guilt. An example of this is when Hans gives bread to a dying Jewish man and is beaten and called a Jew lover. This example illustrates why Jewish people had so much to fear.

There is a part where we watch as humans are so ugly that it is hard for us to imagine that what they had done is possible. Liesel is playing soccer in the park and all of a sudden all the kids stop because of a noise they hear coming down the street. They think it could be a herd of cattle, but that not what it is. It is a group of Jewish people being led, or forced, to the death camps by German soldiers. On there way we watch a man die “He was dead. The man was dead. Just give him five minutes and he would surely fall into the German gutter and die. They would all let him, and they would all watch”(Zusak 393). This is talking about how when a Jewish person would die, the Germans wouldn’t do anything. They wouldn’t care that a man died right in front of them. While the Jews are walking Hans, Liesel adopted father, gives them bread. While Hans is giving this man bread a German soldier notices what is going on. He walks over to the man and, “The Jew was whipped six times. On his back, his heart, and

In the beginning phases of our video project, we struggled to find a theme specific enough to embody all of the ideas we had as a group. We were very set on a certain direction, but that direction included a lot of different subsections that would make our task even more complicated. Accessibility on college campuses and beyond is a very important topic and one that aligned with our passion. But the likelihood for us to travel to another campus to conduct interviews & collect data was very low. This centered our focus on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In our own community there are many improvements necessary. The University of Illinois is home to some of the finest athletes with disabilities, but