Ed Kennedy's Response To The Messenger

Zusak first shows imagery when he describes the setting on their way to the camp. The words “clear,” “greasy,” “olive green,” creates an image of what the truck looked like and what time of the day it was by describing the sky color. Also when Hans had a minor incident about the seat he was sitting in, the narrator calls the situation a “Pitiful struggle between, two supposed grown men.” he believes

1. What does the Sledge Game have to do with the story? Zusak spends fourteen pages on it. Why?

In The Book Thief, Zusak presents an example of somebody who was forced to be courageous is Max Vandenberg. Max Vandenberg is a runaway Jew in The Book Thief, who escapes German wrath, but ends up leaving his mother behind in the hands of Hitler’s men. He runs away from Stuttgart to Molching, to Hans Hubermann. Zusak uses the technique, metaphors, in the quote, “If they killed him tonight, at least he would die alive”. This quote creates the feelings of curiosity and sadness. The reader may be curious because they do not know much about Max

In the Novel “I Am The Messenger” many types of love are shown, some confusing, some great and some stressful. Along with a lot of hardship, many heartfelt passages and trails, Ed Kennedy has his own personal hardship. Ed shows Platonic love, Meterna love as well as Sexual love for his long lost girlfriend Audrey O’Niell. Many of these relationships he has with his Family, friends, Audrey , and even some from his messages grow and change throughout the novel.

Close encounters teach important life lessons, inform opinions, and they help a person gain a better knowledge of their inner selves. These are all things that enrich a person, the Messenger shows these aspects of close encounters when Ed Kennedy experiences multiple close encounters all of which enrich his character. One encounter that taught Ed an important lesson was his encounter with Milla Johnson where he learned an important lesson about true love and its meaning. An encounter that informed Ed’s opinion was his encounter with father O'Reilly which changed Eds opinion of priests. The Edgar street encounter informed Ed about the lengths he is willing to go to help the innocent and what he is able to do to another person, this encounter taught Ed more about his inner self. Game of thrones by HBO is another text that demonstrates these consequences of close encounters this is particularly apparent in the red wedding scene where arya stark learns many important lessons. These aspects of close encounters and the texts that demonstrate them show that close encounters can only be enriching.

It might be best to know Zusak’s life to understand how his cultural setting was incorporated into his writing. Zusak was born to an Austrian Father and a German mother, both whom has had a past experience with World War II. Being the youngest of four children, gaining publicity was not easy. Zusak attended Engadine High school to get an education, which he eventually returned there to teach, whilst still writing. Zusak Is the author of a total of six books, his first The Underdog was published in 1999, which spawned two sequels, Fighting Ruben Wolfe in 2001 and When Dogs Cry 2002. His most famous books, I Am the Messenger, and The Book Thief, give part for his success. His sixth book was Bridge of Clay. time Zusak has stated that he has taken many parts in his life and applied it his books, for example his father was a house painter and so was the Hans in The Book

Individuals develop their understanding of themselves through interactions with others within the context of their society. Our knowledge and insights are shaped through our experiences and our ability to communicate, and the characters in Feed are tragically limited in their ability to comprehend and respond to the disempowering ideologies of their

Instead of just telling a story about other characters, Edwards tells a story about the very people listening. This amplifies his purpose in drawing more fear in the eyes of his listeners not just of characters in a story, but of themselves.

Zusak employs symbolism to allow for connections between the significance of the suits and Ed’s experiences. Furthermore, Zusak utilises first person narration to display Ed’s transformation

The novel begins with Ed telling the reader about himself his self-deprecating attitude coloring his past and expected future. Comparing himself to great achievers at 19 he looks at his own achievements, “Then there’s Ed Kennedy, also 19… No real career. No respect in the community. Nothing” (Zusak 19). The novel progresses though the cards and the tasks on them slowly allowing Ed to morph into a completely new person. At the end of the book the man who sent the messages is revealed, it is an ordinary man who saw a dead man walking, a shell of a man and gave him the opportunity to flourish. The very last page, Ed comes to a realization, “I am not the messenger at all. I am the message” (Zusak 357). The messages being live your life courageously and with purpose, change lives, even your own if necessary. The characterization of Ed though the way he views himself changes drastically thought out the book starting at almost self-hate and ending with a content and focused approach to life and what he want to do after the cards stop

Zusak posits that the abandonment of loved ones is regrettably accompanied by grief and life-long indebtedness to them. This is apparent when Max, as a result of his selfishness and desire to live, leaves his family in Germany to their imminent fate and are consequently persecuted by German soldiers to await execution. Being the sole survivor of this ordeal, Max is visibly disturbed by the slaughter of his family and is “afraid, of falling asleep again.” Here it is revealed that Max suffers from immense guilt that trails behind him even in rest, in his dreams he is constantly tortured by the memories of his past. When he is informed of his family’s disappearance, he feels even more at fault and he realises that “If only he turned for one last look at his family… perhaps then the guilt would not have been so heavy.

Today’s world presents instances of wealth beyond one’s dreams, and on the other side, poverty where each day is solely about the survival in this harsh environment. However no story is better appreciated than those that combines these two different “worlds”, also known as Rags to Riches. Underdog stories including Henry Ford, Walt Disney, and J.K Rowling, all take a huge leap forward from where they were, and now media even make these seem commonplace. Except, these stories still give the impression to the common man, woman, or child that the secrets of how to become a part of this elite group to be as hidden as, the secret of how headphones can always get tangled in the confines of a pocket. Markus Zusak employs his book I Am the Messenger, as a messenger quite literally, to help deliver these elusive secrets through his theme, the “wealth” of the lessons taught by Ed, and the creative, and the innovative plans of Ed to overcome varied conflicts. Through his simple message, Zusak helps show that underdogs are not these divine, angelic beings who have conquered obstacles insurmountable by anyone else, they are just a simple achievable goal.

communicate his state of mind. In essence he is attempting to bring himself and the reader closer, to establish a

In the book, the narrator is Death, who foreshadows Liesel about her past and the family and friends she has lost. Throughout the novel, Death is a symbol of abandonment to Liesel. One of the reasons Zusak uses Death as the narrator instead of a live character is because of death’s prominence in Liesel’s life. An example is when Death states, “Curiosity got the better of me, and I resigned myself to stay as long as my schedule allowed, and I watched”(Zusak 7). Death continues to follow Liesel around and watch over her. Death meets Liesel three times in the book to watch everyone leave

This also shows the reader that by Hans recognising the old jewish man as human, the life of the Jewish man is significantly impacted as he now feels something of worth and can die now knowing he is a human. This act of giving bread also impacts the life of Hans, as Hans is made to join the army in the most dangerous class of work as he is now seen as a ‘Jew Lover’. Through this quote the audience can see that change is inevitable and impacts the course of ones life, as through one act of kindness, two mens lives are significantly impacted. Zusak explores the concept of changing perspectives through how he incorporates the idea that change is inevitable and impacts the course of ones life, into the roles of his characters in his book ‘The Book Thief’.