The+long+awaited+and+ultimately+disappointing+Book+Thief+model+essay

The “how” –the style in which __The Book Thief__ by Markus Zusak was written, is certainly as important as the ”who’ and the “what.” Indeed the original oxymoronic diction with its striking pairings of figurative language and original use of personification can be seen as a symbol of the upheaval of Germany. Zusak’s use of symbolism provides a simple framework too, for understanding the “who” and the “what.” __The Book Thief __ is a bildungsroman, a coming of age novel set in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and war years. Although narrated by “Death”we are told Liesel’s story from being fostered in Molching by the Hubermans, to her friendship with Rudy and her identification with Max, a Jewish “rat” the family hides in the basement. She learns the power of words, a sense of self and a way through the chaos of the self destructing country. Zusak examines the plight of “everyman” characters caught up in the nightmare of totalitarian Germany. The premise the writer employs is set out neatly by the New York Times reviewer, John Green.”Indeed, everything is upside down in Zusak’s Nazi Germany. Sounds are tasted, visions are heard, death has a heart, the strong do not survive, and your best chance of living may be a concentration camp. The entrophy of this world is near complete.” Germany is suffering so much from the tyranny of Hitler that the environment in which people live is fractured and disintegrating. This entrophy is conveyed effectively through the language as it evokes the unexpected and catastrophic. The loved ones of both soldiers and civilians killed are labelled “the leftover humans. The survivors” Through this pairing of food and people, we see the desperate state of people who can scarcely be considered fortunate to be alive. When we fist meet Liesel after her brother has died, Death describes her as “frost-stricken. Her mouth jittered.” Again the pairings are originals, vital and across senses. We expect frost bitten but instead get the unexpected element of fear, panic, despair. Likewise we do not expect a mouth to jitter but can almost feel both terror and hyperthermia. This minute example shows us the reaction of one small child to the consequences of poverty and punishment on families who dared to oppose Hitler. The diction stands on its own. It is ironic that the narrator “Death” an immortal ferryman figure, uses personification. He is at pains to reveal his tenderness at dealing with the souls but keeps people, except those whose story he is telling, at arm’s length. When outlining the events in 1942 in “Poland to Russia to Africa and back again” he says”… the human race likes to crank things up a little.”So people are objectified and objects, including the elements are given human features and significance. When Liesel tells Max what the weather is like she gives a childlike concrete description that again conveys much of who she is and what she is doing in terms of hiding a Jew and showing a positive side of humanity. “There is a big long cloud and it’s stretched out, like a rope. At the end of it, the sun is like a yellow hole.” This entrophy is further revealed through the novel through the symbolism of colours which again show the “how’ being as important as the :”who’ and “what. ”In the prologue the narrator, Death, states “First the colours. Then the humans. That’s how I usually see things.”…“I holiday in increments. In colours” to give him “distraction” .He introduces “white. Of the blinding kind.” Much of the action takes place in winter and we can visualise the military campaigns, casualities and suffering through the symbolism.“It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in white.” There is a white out –no difference between earth and sky, people have lost their judgement, blinded by Hitler’s propaganda which is driving out all perceived enemies from within –even the children of suspected Communists as we find out Leisel and Werner to be. Later the catastrophic Battle of Stalingrad is described by the colour white which becomes synonymous for suffering and death. Robert Holtzapfel whose ‘legs were blown off at the shins” is just one example of the slaughter of people who contribute to the “steam [which] rose from the ground. The sight and smell of rotting snow.” The landscape is likened to ‘an enormous drop sheet. Blood was bleeding through, and in patches, the clouds were dirty, like footprints in melting snow.” Death also uses the colour red as a symbol of the destruction of the towns and cities in Germany. Inoocent blood is shed and so the "how" poetically conveys the issues of the effects of war. “The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup,boling and stirring. In some places it was burnt. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked amongst the redness.” It is almost apocryphal –like the end of the world. “Blood streamed till it was dried on the road, and bodies were stuck there, like driftwood after the flood….”for hours, the sky remained a devastating, home-cooked red. Snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily you were tempted to stretch out your tongue to taste them. Only they would have scorched your lips. They would have cooked your mouth.” Thus the use of oxymorons,graphic imagery, personification, and symbolism give a distinctive view into the entrophy of Nazi Germany with its devestation of innocent people. Sorry -this is a bit late and a bit rushed but hopefully is better than nothing.
 * The “how” of the novel –the style in which it is written –can be said to be as equally important as the “who” and the “what”. **
 * To what extent do you agree with this view? **

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