Direct And Indirect Characterization In Since The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak set in Munich, Germany during the Nazi reign from 1936-1943. The novel incorporates a main character that is, in the beginning, an innocent child who doesn't understand the world and takes her on a journey where she grows up and matures through the hardships and challenges of her life. The story is narrated by the character Death, who is a fresh take on the Grim Reaper, only wearing the black cloak when it's cold and never carries a syte. Death describes the life Liesel Meminger, an orphaned girl who witnesses her brother's death and burial and finds herself being adopted by the benevolent old couple, the Hubermanns. The rest of the story follows Liesel's journey through her incredibly challenging life with the Hubermanns and characters such as Rudy, The mayor's wife, and Max helping her along. Symbolism in The Book Thief deepens the story by conveying many different ideas and emotions that supports the reader's understanding of the story. This is especially apparent with the use of the gravediggers to help the reader remember characters, the use of color to help the reader feel the proper emotions and remember the correct events, and the use of Liesel's changing feelings about Rudy to convey how Liesel grows and matures through the book.

The book “The Book Thief” is a story narrated by death. It is about a girl named Liesel who is nine years old and German. She was given up to Rosa and Hans Hubermann who live in Molching, Germany. The story is taken place in 1939 right after World War II. While Liesel was on the train to Molching she lost her younger brother, this event was very traumatizing for Liesel and scarred her emotionally. In Molching she meets Rudy who falls in love with her. Rosa and Hans house a Jew named Max, but then he

The Book Thief, written by Australian novelist Markus Zusak, follows a young girl living in Nazi Germany, and employs innovative techniques to convey the central idea of the extremes of human behavior. This central idea was explored through stylistic techniques and conventions such as Death as the narrator, juxtaposition, irony, lack of chronological order, narrative voices, and themes, namely the power of words.

The Book Thief, is a Death narrated novel by Markus Zusak. The story takes place in Nazi Germany, 1939, where Liesel Meminger arrives on Himmel Street to start a new life with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. She lives to a very old age and when Death finally comes to take her away, he wants to tell Liesel about beauty and brutality. But what could he tell her about beauty and brutality that she didn’t know, the Book Thief had lived through it all. The time she saw Max marching to Dachau, the time Rudy went into the Amper River to save The Whistler, and the final moments she spent with Mama. Liesel Meminger’s life had always represent beauty in the wake of brutality.

The Book Thief is set in the time of World War 2 where the Holocaust is present and disaster is everywhere. Throughout the story, Liesel, the main character, learns that words are extremely powerful and hold the ability for people to use them for good or for evil. Among the disaster and altercations, Liesel uses her literature to comfort her and make herself more powerful due to her knowledge, which demonstrates the theme of the story, the comfort and power of literature and words softens the pain of loss.

The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger’s life during World War 2 told through the eyes of Death himself. All three writers portray Death as a character who has interactions with those that have or are about to die. However, unlike Zusak’s Death, Collins’ is a malicious puppeteer and Dickinson’s Death is presented as someone who is at peace with what he must do.

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

In the beginning of The Book Thief Death says that he is the person going to be narrating the story. Death also says that we as the readers are going to die. Death takes the soul of Liesel’s little brother, “A six-year-old boy died in the third carriage.” (Page 20) I predict that as Death tells the story of Liesel Meminger he is going to take other peoples lives that are close with Liesel along with her life. I also predict that Death give meaning to as story that people might not have read in the first place. Death might give this story a light of its own with his descriptions.

The Book Thief’s main character is Liesel Meminger throughout the book she develops more and more by opening up and doing new things. At first she was very shy and would not do hardly anything for example, “It took nearly fifteen minutes to coax her from the car. It was the tall man who did it. Quietly.”(28) That is when she first got out of the car “There was the gate next, which she clung to.”(28) This shows all the more how shy she was at the beginning of the book when she first arrived on Himmel Street. Then as the book goes on she starts to adopt her foster-mother, Rosa or Mama’s style of speaking and starts cussing some when talking to her best friend, Rudy and even the mayors wife when she terminated her mothers washing and ironing

The tone of the narrator, Death, is intimate throughout the book. When he first sees Liesel, he becomes interesting in her as he takes away her brother’s soul. Events lead him into interacting with many people in Liesel’s life and the war allows him to see her often, this attraction is encompassed on the last few words of the book, “I am haunted by humans” ( Zusak 550). Death, who seems to haunt millions of people around the world, is haunted by humans. It is ironic but it shows the beauty that is humans. This desire to see Liesel, to be haunted by her, leads to a caring tone, but this does not mean that Death is basis in his telling of the story. Death tries to forget Liesel but periodically, he goes to check. His being haunted does not only apply to Liesel, he is able to recall the deaths of many other humans that had captured his eye or in someway is connected to Liesel. There is a fondness when Death thinks of humans and a slight dislike but he craves to see certain ones and to interact with them. Humans are so interesting, complex, and eye catching that Death wishes to watch over some of

Wiesel employs characterization throughout the book to show the creation of fictional characters. The use of this literary element lets the audience connect to the story and characters. He

In The Book Thief, the author, Markus Zusak writes a beautiful story following a young German girl named Liesel who experiences the atrocities that occur during World War II. Early in the book, she is given by her mother to foster parents who raise her as their own. During her childhood, she begins stealing books and learns about the power of words. Throughout the story, she bonds with many people including her neighbors, her foster parents and a Jew hidden in their basement. Most of the characters end up dying due to the horrible living conditions and time period the book takes place in.

The Book Thief is about a young, sheltered German girl learning to read. Through her relationship with other characters, particularly Max, she grows and becomes more understanding of what happens in the world and the hardships that people have to face, especially in the time period of Nazi Germany. The Book Thief explores the ideas of death and war, but above all, the good qualities of humans and their worth. Leisel and Max are two very different people. A German and a Jew, young and old, accepted and marginalised. Through her relationship with Max, Leisel demonstrates great support, trust and kindness, all examples of human worth in times of great difficulty.

Author Markus Zusak, in his historical fiction novel, The Book Thief, exposes hatred and prejudice in a society. However, Zusak’s characters Rudy and Hans help main character Liesel overcome the evil surrounding her. The Book Thief demonstrates the power of strong relationships and love that sustain people in life’s tragedies. Hans, Liesel’s stepfather, provides a gentle, loving attitude towards Leisel. Similarly, Rudy, Liesel’s best friend, provides companionship and love.

The young characters in The Book Thief contribute to the negative society to make the world a better place. Rudy Steiner and Liesel Meminger’s acts of kindness contribute to the cruel society. Rudy’s act is described by the narrator, Death. “Carefully he climbed the dying man. He placed the smiling teddy bear cautiously onto the pilot’s shoulder,” (Zusak 490).