Analysis_of_the_Book_Thief

Title: The Book Thief Composer: Markus Zusak Publication Details: 2005, Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited. Form: Fiction Novel Purpose/Audience: 19 – 39 readers, not gender/race/culture specific. Purpose is to entertain and enlighten. Context: Set in 1939, Nazi Germany. Explores the Holocaust and WWII from the point of view of Liesel, a little German girl who loses her mother and brother, gains a foster family and protects a Jewish man from the Nazis, loses her foster parents, her friends, her neighbours and the Jewish man to Death and Hitler, only to be reunited with them all again, her family and friends in death and the Jewish man in life when she is safe in Sydney, Australia when WWII finally ends. Links to Belonging: Mortality, Identity and Suffering. 1. Mortality (People): Humanity is united by their mortality and they have to accept that we are going to die. By unifying the world of ‘The Book Thief’ under this theme, Zusak reiterates the fact that human beings are both equal and combined in the eyes of Death, no matter what they have done in life. Death and Humans all have the same relationship, they are all linked together. • They were French, they were Jews, and they were you. (52.18) Death is talking about the death of a group of French Jews murdered in a Polish prison. This is to remind the reader of their humanity, untied by Death and also highlights how idiotic it is to kill another human being when they are going to die anyway. • You are going to die. (1.6) Death presents dying as a unifier, the one thing that ties all humans together. • At some point on time I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A colour will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away. (1.12) See. Death is saying this too all us. He doesn't discriminate. His vision of the moment after Death is rather comforting. But, do you think it's plausible' Why or why not' 2. Identity: Personal identity is explored in the text and conflict for the characters between showing who they really are and conforming to the Nazi regime. Most characters are at odds with the Nazi Party and choose to affiliate themselves, privately, to the Jews plight. In particular, Max has to act like he is a German Nazi supporter instead of the Jew he was raised as, although this exclusion from both the Nazi Party and his Jewish Heritage allows him to build a relationship with Liesel and Hans. • In front of him, he read from the copy of Mein Kampf. His saviour. Sweat was swimming out of his hands. Fingermarks clutched the book. (26.2) Max knows that if he can "pass" as a non Jew long enough, he can get to Himmel Street, his best chance for survival. The very best way to establish this identity temporarily is to carry a copy of Hitler's book. • They hugged and cried and fell on the floor. (87.4) Max and Liesel belong together. His love for her and her love for him, as well as their past experiences together, emphasis this connection. • Hang on a second, he was German. Or more to the point, he had been. (26.20) The Nuremburg Laws were passed in 1933 and 1935. They stripped Jews of their German Citizenship and right to vote. Legally speaking, all Jews in Germany were in the country illegally. This manipulation of the legal system was an integral part of the Nazi technique. Read more in "Setting." 3. Suffering (Memory): There is suffering in every page, whether this is in the form of Death, the physical suffering of the Jewish people or in the emotional turmoil of the majority of the characters. The guilt and suffering serve as a catalyst for the characters to find and establish a strong sense of belonging and acceptance with others in similar emotional states. • Still in disbelief, she started to dig. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't. (5.60) the death of Liesel's brother causes her great suffering. It also seems to create empathy and prepares her to understand Max's suffering. • Every night, Liesel would nightmare. (7.2) These nightmares are bitter-sweet kind of suffering. They terrify her. She can't control them. But, they bring her just a little closer to her dead brother. A major turning point for Liesel is when she lets go of the nightmares and learns to carry Werner in her heart and memory. How meaning is made to convey Belonging/Techniques: Limited First Person, Symbolism, Writing Style. 1. Limited First Person: Death is used as a Narrator to provide information that Liesel cannot possibly know about or understand. He is also used as a catalyst for belonging as a majority of characters create their bonds to avoid or cope with the loss of the souls that Death has taken. The fact that Death is not omniscient makes him relatable for the reader and for the characters when they die. It also reflects on humanity and how human beings have no other way to gain knowledge other than from personal experience, what they hear and what they read and humanity has no concrete way of understanding Death in any context. Instead of Death belonging to War, He belongs to the Humans and to their suffering. From Zusak: Well, I thought I'm writing a book about war, and there's that old adage that war and death are best friends, but once you start with that idea, then I thought, well, what if it's not quite like that' Then I thought what if death is more like thinking, well, war is like the boss at your shoulder, constantly wanting more, wanting more, wanting more, and then that gave me the idea that Death is weary, he's fatigued, and he's haunted by what he sees humans do to each other because he's on hand for all of our great miseries. 2. Symbolism: The symbolism of Hans Hubermann’s accordion is one of hope and comfort for Liesel, allowing her to escape the grief she is suffering and replacing it with feelings of acceptance and providing her with a beautiful distraction. For Hans, his accordion acts as a symbol of the man who saved his life, Erik Vandenburg (Max’s father) and provides the link between Hans and Max, thus making it a symbol of connection and kinship. In addition to this, Max feels as though this accordion symbolises the possibility of surviving the Holocaust and becomes the sole reason he and Liesel were brought together, enabling them to build their own relationship, whether romantic or otherwise. 3. Writing Style: Death ‘spoils’ certain aspects of the plot: Which is emphasised in bold and centred text... This allows the reader to comprehend the action of that particular part and understand how each line proves significant. Death seems to enjoy alluding to possible outcomes and foreshadowing certain events just as much as he enjoys spoiling the plot, both of which reiterates the fact that this whole book is just a memory, a memory Liesel has written and Death has found and the entire text highlights her connections to the people in her life, including Death and how they have shaped who she has become.