Characterisation in the book thief

Hans:

Hans Hubermann is presented from the start as a kind, father like character. When Liesel won’t come out of the car when her mother first give her away, who was there to soothe her out: Hans. When Liesel starts having nightmares Hans is there to be her friend. “Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man’s gentleness.” Hans and Liesel become good friends because of how warm and kind Hans is. Liesel is a significant event in Hans’ life, it might be a way for him to try again in raising children as he might think he failed with his son. His son ridicules him for not joining the Nazi party, “It’s pathetic — how a man can stand by and do nothing as a whole nation cleans out the garbage and makes itself great.” Hans doesn’t join the nazi party because he doesn’t see anything wrong with the Jews. He thinks others are the pathetic ones for entirely disregarding citizens who have been living in their country for years. Markus put Hans in the book to help Liesel’s character mature, she becomes the thing he loves most and he, hers.

Liesel:

Liesel is 9 years old at the beginning of the book and has just lost her mother and brother. Therefore she is portrayed as a scared girl who is small in a large world. Liesel doesn’t know why her mother abandoned her but she decides that she wants to find her again someday. Her brother’s death effects Liesel quite deeply and she has nightmares all through the book. This is the first thing that connects her to Hans Hubermann, her adopted father. Hans starts coming in to comfort her when she has the nightmares. These times turn into midnight reading class when Hans realises Liesel can’t read. Liesel’s inability to read becomes a source of ridicule from her school-mates. The word communist turns up a few times in Liesel’s life: she hears people saying that her mother was a communist, when they are burning books on Hitlers birthday the guy speaking talks about communists being the enemy. Liesel’s book thievery began after her brother died one of the grave diggers dropped his manual. Liesel took the book as a reminder to herself of her brother when she lost him. She stole her second book rescuing it from the fires of the book burning. A big influence on her life was Rudy steiner.

Rudy:

Rudy was included in the book thief by Markus as a sort of alter ego to Liesel to help her grow. Rudy is the same age as Liesel but he is a very confident outspoken boy, the opposite if Liesel at the start of the book. He becomes Liesel’s only friend through persistence as she is very closed towards him. He brings her out of her shell so to speak. Rudy is known around the neighbourhood because of ‘The Jessie Owens incident.’ “Everyone in his family was crowded together in their living room… He pulled some charcoal from the stove… ‘Now,’ he smiled. He was ready.” Rudy idolised Jessie Owens, an afro-American athlete who competed in the 1936 olympics and won 4 gold medals. Rudy doused himself in charcoal to be black and reenacted the scene of Jessie winning the 100 meters to himself. Rudy and Liesel were complimentary; they brought out the best in each other. Rudy increased Liesel’s urge to steal and vice versa. Rudy only stole to quench his never failing hunger. Rudy judgement on a lot of things were based on whether or not he would be less hungry by the end of the task.

Rosa:

Rosa Hubermann is a stern, abusive lady when we first meet her. She likes to boss around Hans and Liesel and to address them as “Saumensch.” She has an arch nemesis who lives across the street, Frau Holtzapfel. Frau Holtzapfel spits on Rosa’s door every time she comes past and Rosa goes to the front door and yells extremities at her. We only see Rosa’s soft side when Max turns up on the scene. We think Rosa knows nothing about the idea of Max turning up when he does, but she takes it in her stride and only complains as a joke about having to feed another mouth. When Max gets sick Rosa looks after to him really well saying, “I didn’t take this man into my house to watch him die. Understand?” Rosa is determined not to let max die, she is also scared at the thought of what they will have to do with him if he does die. We know rosa has a heart, and a big one at that, when she comes to school to tell Liesel that Max has woken up. Also when Hans is drafted to the army Liesel spots her clutching his accordian, she misses him so deeply despite not saying so.

Max:

Max is a German Jew hiding from the Nazi party. When we first meet Max he is being hidden in his friends basement feeling guilty for leaving behind his mother and family to save himself. He and his friend are waiting to hear from Hans Hubermann who is their last hope to save Max from being ‘Taken Away.’ Max becomes Liesel’s second friend and a mentor. He is a very patient man to be able to live for months in a hole without seeing the outside world. The first time he did see the world during his stay with the Hubermann’s was during an air raid when everyone was down in their bunkers.”When everything was quiet, I went up to the corridor and the curtain in the living was open just a crack … I could see outside.” Max leaves the Hubermann’s as Hans fears that the police would come round. Max turns up later during the book when Liesel spots him in the crowd of parading Jews. He also turns up at the end of the book when the war is over he is let free from the concentration camp and comes back to Molching to find Liesel.

Additional Colour References

A Portrait of Pfiffikus

He was a delicate frame.
He was white hair.
He was a black raincoat,
brown pants, decomposing
shoes, and a mouth – and
what a mouth it was.

I find it very interesting how death describe Pfiffikus. Death doesn’t describe his clothes as being a colour, he describes him as being a colour and wearing clothes. This shows how death sees the colours first then the humans saying that Pfiffikus was a colour.

The Prologue: Colour Imagery

What do EACH of these colours represent in these pages? What do they show is taking place? What atmosphere or feeling is created around the characters
and events through this colour imagery? What do the colours make you
think of?

White: This represents death’s first victim in the book thief and the environment during. The colour white was for the snow he saw everywhere as he took the soul, “I felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow. Trees wore blankets of ice.” Death saw white everywhere and in everything as he took the soul of Liesel’s brother. White and the snow became a symbol for Liesel’s brother’s death to Liesel herself as well. “Quote”

Black: Represents the colour of the sky during a night bombing raid on himmel street, when death came slightly early to take a mans soul. This is direct contrast to the white environment but nothing has changed there is still someone dying, except that the person dying doesn’t relate to Liesel. “Next is signature black, to show the poles of my versatility, if you like. It was the darkest moment before dawn.” This shows that death can come at any time any place, when its your time you can’t escape it. It’s interesting how he says it’s his ‘signature black,’ to say how most people relate him to dark and night. The picture of the grim reaper in a black robe and stuff.

Red: This represents the blood spilled by the bombs dropped on Himmel Street. Not necessarily the literal blood spilled, but the deaths spilled all down the street. Everyone but Liesel. “The streets were ruptured veins,” Death describes the street as vein itself burst and destroyed by the bombs, bleeding rubble.

The colours don’t really provide an atmosphere as much as they do the setting for me.

 

Question 2:

The blinding white during WWII maybe a reference to the weapons used. The guns provided thousands of flashes as they shoot. Imagine watching a kilometer long trench of soldiers all firing their weapons the would be blinding. The black may be a reference to the constant promise of death hanging over all the soldiers at all times. They are always at threat of being killed. The white could also reference the insanely cold conditions which the soldiers faced and many died to. Red represents death of course, the gallons of blood spilled because of nazi germany’s lust for dominion. It represents the over 60 millions deaths during WWII.

Question 3:

Black reference where max is hiding waiting to see if he can stay with the Hubermanns. “A few hundred miles north-west in Stuttgart, far from book thieves, mayor’s wives and Himmel Street, a man was sitting in the dark…It’s harder to find a Jew in the dark.” This is another reference to black in the text where max was hiding from the nazi party to not be ‘taken away.’ The black represents anxiety of waiting to see what will come thought the door, life or death; friends or Nazi’s. It reminds me of Schrodinger’s theorem how both outcomes are very real possibilities.

White reference of Frau Hermann “Chalky hand and wrist…she reached out, cold-fingered….long, light eyelashes.” Frau Hermann’s son froze to death in the war so she conditions herself to those temperatures in her library. She leaves her window open to let in the cold as a form of catharsis. She tries to release her feelings or get rid of her grief by putting herself through what her son faced. She was white all through: her skin and herself on the inside. She was blank to the world like paper.

“And now, we say goodbye, to this rubbish, this poison.” Red reference when the German’s were burning books on Hitler’s birthday. The German’s burnt the books to rid their library’s of anything that said they weren’t superior. They also burnt anything relating to German-Jews. The irony is by the end of the war they were burning real Humans.

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

“The Book Thief” is a cleverly written novel masterminded by Markus Zusak. It is set in Nazi Germany during the second world war in a town called Molching. The Novel follows a young girl, Liesel Meminger, who is given to a foster home as her mother cannot look after her. She is given to the home of Hans and Rosa Hubermann who quickly become known as Papa and Mama. Papa is a big man with soothing, silver eyes who, through his accordion and cigarette rolling, brings Liesel to home on Himmel street. Mama is a cupboard-shaped women who loved dishing watschen and mean words. She meets her best friend Rudy: a permanently hungry boy with ‘lemon’ coloured hair, who stirred Liesel’s desire to steal.

The first aspect of ‘The Book Thief, to bring to attention is probably the most important to Liesel: Hans Hubermann. When Liesel first comes to Himmel street she has just seen her brother die and her mother has abandoned her. Taking this into consideration, it’s understandable that she doesn’t want to get out of the car. Hans is the man who eventually gets her out. When Liesel starts having nightmares, Hans is the one there every night to soothe her. “Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man’s gentleness” When it’s ‘come to light’ that she doesn’t know how to read Hans turns Liesel’s routine nightmare into a time of learning. Papa taught Liesel to read and eventually to write and may have even sparked Liesel’s love for books. Liesel came to relish the ‘midnight class’ and her capability skyrocketed. I am so lucky to have . The best part of Papa, however, was his accordion playing. “I often look at his fingers and face when he plays. The accordion breathes.” Liesel loved when Papa played the accordion because she could just stop and listen and enjoy. “No one can play like you.” Papa wasn’t any ordinary musician, Liesel could feel the music; Papa didn’t have do be a good musician it was the vibes/feel of happiness that came through his playing. I can relate to Liesel’s love for music in this way. I am a musician and love to get into the playing of the music, but i like to sit down and listen to other peoples creations. I like to sit and feel the music, what type of music it is sad/happy. There are some musicians that could probably communicate entirely through music if they wanted.

An aspect of the book thief which I quite liked was how the Hubermann’s were not part of the Nazi party until deep into the war. I liked this because it showed how not all German’s were for the Nazi party and for the horrible things done to the Jews. Many of them would have even had friends which were Jews. Hans Hubermann did and that is why Max Vandenburg turned up on their doorstep one night. Max becomes a great mentor and friend for Liesel. Max is stuck in inside hiding for months as, if he was seen by anyone, the Hubermann’s would be ‘taken away.’ Since Max doesn’t get to see what the day looks like he asks Liesel to describe it for him everyday when she comes home. “The sky is blue today, Max, and 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…” Max paints this image of the wall of the basement with two figures, Max and Liesel, walking along it. Liesel finds it her responsibility to look after max and keep him entertained. So, when Max gets he sleeps in her room and Liesel reads to him everyday. She even finds 13 presents for max whilst he’s asleep, to cheer him when he wakes. Having Max in her living with her teaches Liesel how the Fuhrers radical plan to destroy a race is idiotic. She wonders why people hate the Jews as  the one she knows is so nice. I like how Mark Zusak shows that not all German’s blindly followed the Fuhrer and that some were against his plans. We are lucky living in new Zealand as we get free speech so if we don’t agree with something we can speak out about it. The problem with Nazi Germany was that if you weren’t part of the party no one wanted to associate with you so you would lose work and money. If you weren’t part of the party you would also be bullied into joining it. So it would take a lot of courage to hide a jew and I admire that.

The Book Thief – In Depth Tinking

“As is often the case with humans, when I read about them in the book thief’s words, I pitied them, though not as much as I felt for the ones I scooped up from various camps in the time.” This quote tells us a lot about how death feels about humans and about taking their lives. When reading Leisels words about their time in the bomb raid shelters death says he pitied them. The were sitting in the dark, waiting for death and he pitied them for not just being able to live. Not as much as he pitied the Jews being lead to their deaths in the concentration camps. This shows that death cares how people die and that he doesn’t think some of the ways people die are fair or right. But, death doesn’t have the power to change this as he is only the “messenger” so all he can do is pity.

The Pirates of Somalia – Tom Doyle

“The Pirates of Somalia” is a short story from Tom Doyle’s book “Killing Christians.” It is based on truth and shares the story of Azzam, a Muslim turned Christian convert. Azzam is the son of a Somali pirate-warlord and they live in the heart of Muslim Somalia. This is a place where the law is written by the pirates and Christianity is punishable by death. Azzam begins having visions of a man named Jesus and seeks guidance from the town’s spiritual leader. He is ridiculed and told that the visions he sees are from the devil. During one of his visions he asks his mother if she sees the cross placed on his bed, but she has no idea what he’s talking about. Azzam’s brother watches the exchange and runs off to tell their father. “Leave, son, and don’t come back,” Azzam’s mother sends him away for if his father found him he would be beaten of even killed.

This short story really jerked my emotions, especially when Azzam receives an unexpected package from his father. “Nothing he had imagined prepared Azzam for the contents,” nothing had prepared me either. The package contained the cut up remains of Azzam’s mother. This made me realize what a bubble we live in, in the western world, as my brain cannot even comprehend how cruel a person would have to be to do this too their son. I guess this is because of the background i have been brought up in. I live in a country/ culture where it is completely unacceptable, and unlawful for murder. Azzam, however, has grown up in a cruel place with cruel people and to prosper one must do cruel things. “Have you finally killed someone?” This is a question asked to Azzam by his mother when she smells blood in his room. This shows how socially acceptable murder is in their culture. Azzam’s father would have grown up in the same conditions and this was an all-natural response from him to send a message to his ‘spiritually deviant’ son. This culture seems so beyond belief to me because the possibilities of my mother being murdered are so slim, i needn’t even think about it.

But, the most heart wrenching thing comes a few pages down. This is when Azzam confronts Yasin and Mahdi, his mother’s killers, when he spots them walking through his village one day. They are expecting Azzam to attack them as with the retaliation culture of Somalia, but are completely taken aback when he tells them “I’ve come to forgive you.” He forgives his mother’s murderers! That’s insane! Yasin and Mahdi have grown up in the same culture as Azzam, therefore they know that if they did not follow orders they would probably be killed as well. “We didn’t want to do it, but your father ordered us.” Azzam realises that as much as they didn’t want to do it they didn’t have a choice, so he chooses to forgive them. Yasin and Mahdi are so taken aback by this act of love that they become Christians themselves.  They have never known love as vast as this in their live’s, that they know this must be a God worth believing in. I have been brought up as a Christian and it is so encouraging to see God using discrepancies to bring more people to Christ. I recently went to an Easter camp in Christchurch and the theme of the camp was that God brings good out of bad. They had speakers which shared their stories of how they were abused as children and how negatively that effected their lives. Once they were saved, however, God flipped their lives around and they now guide and help people under the same circumstances. It is so cool hearing these stories as you know that whatever trials you are facing in your life God is going to bring something good from it, ‘Beauty from the Ashes.’ This is especially exciting for heavily cruel parts of the world such as Somalia, where Christianity is banned, as they so badly need God’s love and goodness.

Azzam’s story reminds me of my auntie who lives in India. She works with a freedom business called ‘Freeset.’ Freeset frees women from the Indian sex trade, and gives them real jobs within the business. Jobs include sowing tote bags, scarves and t-shirts. The cruelness in India is women are being lured away from their villages and sold into slavery in the sex trade. What the Freeset workers do is go out to the streets of the red light districts to show love and make friends with the enslaved women. They tell the women about the joy of working for Freeset and most of them take the opportunity to leave their old lives behind. This reminds me of Azzam’s story as Freeset, just like Azzam, are showing love to people who have never been given any. Freeset is founded by Christians and God works through the employees to bring people people to better lives. This is as God worked through Azzam to show Muslims a better way to live through a loving God.

Wilfred Owen – Writing

Wilfred Owen uses language features in his poems ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth,’ ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Exposure’ to portray his feelings towards war. He delivers through these poems: that war should not be glorified, that the soldiers were poorly looked after and that the soldiers were overworked.

Owen uses language features in his poems ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ to display the message that war should not be glorified. Owen asks a rhetorical question in his poem ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth,’ “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle.” ‘Passing-bells’ reference the bells which are rung outside a church when there has been a death or funeral. Owen is wondering, where are the bells? These soldiers do not get such a privilege as to have their deaths marked by bells. Owen answers his own question with alliteration saying that, all they get is the “stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle.” Owen introduces the idea of soldiers only being seen as cattle off to the slaughter, they aren’t even acknowledged as humans. Soldiers are only seen as the tools of war. Owen is disgusted at how people who have never been to war try to tell others that it is glorious. “The old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” In English this says, “the old Lie: It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” Owen implies with this oxymoron that he does not believe it is glorious to die for your country. There is nothing glorious in thousands of men dying for a country which doesn’t see you as an individual. In 1914, when WWI began, English citizens still believed that it was the greatest honour to fight and die for your country. This made it easy for propaganda to draw in men. They weren’t prepared however, for the mass killing which they were thrown into. There was nothing Glorious about the First World War.

Owen uses language features, in his poems “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Exposure,” to protest against the conditions which soldiers faced in war. “We cursed through the sludge.” Owen uses an unusual verb ‘cursed’ to show how the soldiers despise the war conditions. Changing the use of ‘cursed’ tells the reader that they didn’t just curse the mud, they were cursing as continuously as the steps they took through the mud. Sludge was the bane of many problems which the soldiers faced; mud would get into their sleeping bags, boots and socks leading to trench foot and hypothermia. This makes it understandable for soldiers to be cursing the sludge after months of enduring its labours. “Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us.” Owen personifies the wind in saying that it was so cold, it was as if the soldiers were being stabbed with knives. This makes the wind an enemy of its own, even when the soldiers weren’t being fired upon, they were still ‘at the mercy’ of the weather. Bad weather was a big danger for the soldiers, as they didn’t have the proper technology to protect themselves. “The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow…” Owen uses emotive language so the reader can understand the misery which the soldiers feel. Dreary weather has made the soldiers so depressed, that even dawn doesn’t bring them happiness. The weather not only ‘took a toll’ on their bodies, but the dreariness also affected their mental health. This relates to the real world as the soldiers actually faced the struggles of weather conditions. The conditions were so bad manly for the reason that, they didn’t have the proper technology to protect themselves.

Owen uses language features to convey the idea of the exhaustion of war through the poems “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Exposure”. The soldiers faced some horrific things at war, things which put immense stress on the body. “Men marched asleep,” a metaphor from ‘Dulce et Decorum Est,’ tells the reader that the men were so exhausted from war, that they were walking, talking and killing as if in their sleep. The soldiers being in this state would not feel as if their actions were their own; this made them kill without instinct. They would have also been scared for their lives as their functions wouldn’t have been working properly. This made them more ‘at risk’ to the dangers of war: gas, bombs, guns and even the weather. Owen shares that they didn’t feel like they were part of their own bodies in ‘Exposure’, “Slowly our ghosts drag home.” This use of hyperbole exaggerates how the soldiers were hollow, as if their soul and body were separate entities. This shows the immense spirit in which these soldiers had. They kept going and following orders, even against complete exhaustion. They could be related to slaves, as modern day slaves are usually bound to their masters by debt; soldiers in WWI were bound to their country by honour. Despite how exhausted they were, they were pushed to keep fighting, against their will and better judgement.

Wilfred Owen’s clever use of language features, allows the reader to experience his feelings towards war. Through his poems ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth,’ ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Exposure’ he delivers three ideas about war: war should not be glorified, the conditions for the soldiers were poor and the soldiers were far too overworked.

Exposure – Wilfred Owen

Language Features

“Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us”
– This is an example of personification, the east winds are ‘knifing’ the author. In other words they are stabbing the author with cold. This language feature is used instead of just saying that the wind is ‘cold’ as it adds more interest. Its saying that the wind is so icy it’s piercing through them.

“Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, But nothing happens.”
– The author uses listing in this way to slow the piece down. It gives time to set the scene, they’re scared its freezing and nothing is happening to interest them. Also the emotive language used gives insight into what the soldiers are thinking. They have confused feelings about the silence, wondering why nothing is happening; these feelings set the scene of what the soldiers feel.

“But nothing happens.”
– This phrase is repeated at the end of multiple stanzas throughout the piece. This is partly an oxymoron as it is used at the end of a verse which clearly has gunfire at the start. “Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence.” Yet it still says that nothing had happened. But the phrase “But nothing happens” is for the most part used to add to the feeling of slowness which the poem depicts. It’s repetition is too emphasize the, cold slow deaths/pace of the soldiers/poem. This phrase is also used at the end which is a nice touch to finish of the poem, saying that all that has happened during the poem, does not matter; it says that nothing of importance has happened in the whole poem.

“glimpsing the sunk fires, glozed With crusted dark-red jewels.”
– The crusted jewels are a metaphor for the embers left after a fire.
I think the author compares them to jewels as the soldiers would love to go over to the warmth of the fires. So the fires are precious or treasured to them.

-Wilfred Owen personifies dawn

How is the idea of exposure (being dangerously exposed to the natural elements/weather) represented in the poem?

Right from the start line “Our brains ache in the merciless iced east winds that knive us” They are exposed to this wind so cold it feels like knives stabbing them and makes their brains ache. The wind is presented as a merciless enemy stabbing them with knives of ice. The word merciless conveys the wind as a real danger as it is never relenting.

“We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag stormy.” This quote adds to the misery of the war and the exposure they are facing. They are being exposed to rain enough to soak them through. Rain, and dark grey skies caused by rain, makes the scene dreary and miserable. The weather is an enemy to the soldiers mentally in this case. The misery of the weather would challenge their mental state making it difficult for them to get moving and keep fighting.

“Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence. Less deadly then the air that shudders black with snow.” This quote is presents the weather as a very deadly enemy. It presents the weather as more deadly than even the war itself, with the bullets and bombs and death.

“We cringe in holes.” This is quite a powerful short sentence. It tells the reader how the weather was so harsh and merciless has defeated the ‘we.’ Some of them have given up, cringing to death in holes. Further down the stanza it says “-Is it that we are dying.” This means that they are so miserable and brain numbed by the weather that they don’t even realize they are dying anymore. “Slowly our ghosts drag home” They no longer feel like humans, they are hollow, empty beings. It gave me an image of ghosts slowly dragging their former body’s by ropes.

“Tonight, this frost will fasten on this mud and us, Shriveling many hands.” Whence the sun goes down, the icy enemy returns. It

Anthem for Doomed Youth – Wilfred Owen

What can we determine/understand about the writer of this text?

“What passing-bells for these who die as cattle.” This quote tells the reader how much Wilfred Owen dislikes war. The passing-bells reference the bells rung at churches to signify a death or multiple deaths. These who die as cattle shows that he feels the soldiers who leave to go to war are like cattle going to the slaughter house.

What words have been chosen to influence the text?

Wilfred uses a lot of words which reference death or funerals. “Passing bells” this references the bell rung to signify someone’s death to the world. “Bugles” trumpet like instrument which is played at military funerals. I think he used these words to ward of or scare the youth, who would be doomed to the fate of death, if the joined the war.

What language features have been chosen to influence the text?

Wilfred Owen uses alliteration to describe guns in war. “Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle” This alliteration tells the reader that guns were constant during the war, never ceasing. “Hasty orisons,” orison means prayer and prayers are supposed to be quiet reflections. Making them hasty prayers gives a sense of frantic cries to God. Oxymoron’s are used to create a sense of “something ain’t right here.”

Language Techniques Task

Simile
“Bent double, like old beggars” This simile puts an image of broken human beings in our mind and gives us sympathy towards them and their circumstances. We have sympathy as we would never like to be placed in the situations which these soldiers faced.

Command
“Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!” This command tells us there is danger coming. It wants us to feel the danger and get us more involved in the text.

Hyperbole
“Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud.” This over exaggeration is used by the writer to make sure the ready knows just how grim it was.