The Book Thief post 8

Okay, I totally give in to my brain that wanted a good grade...
And, I am just going to use something that Zusak used very often in The Book Thief--the power of making NOTES!!!
I have always wanted to do a end of the book, over-all reflection post...
So here it comes...

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I am similar to Liesel, the tendency of never putting books down.
Literatur, is a every important thing in life.

***A Huge Mistakes***

I should have never, ever, finished the book in my room without the door locked.

The person who recommended The Book Thief to me said that she couldn't help but cried at the end. I didn't pay much attention to that, I don't usually cry when I read a book. But when I was reading it in my room without locking the door, as I was flipping through the pages, the words melted in front of my eyes. The world became a blur and I shut the book as soon as physically possible.
When I recommended this book to my parents, I used a inadequate but well-fitted, at least in my opinion, description:
"If German Lesson is Schindler's List, then The Book Thief is Life is Beautiful."
Have you ever heard a story from Death?
Calm, fact-based, but humorous, even has a little bit of warmth.

I must admit that Zusak gave me a very different impression of Death.
In the time when everyone was living in fear, Death was not very happy about all the souls that he was collecting.
"They say that war is death's best friend...To me, war is like the new boss who expects the impossible. He stands over your shoulder repeating one thing, incessantly:'Get it done, get it done.' So you work harder. You get the job done. The boss, however, does not thank you. He asks for more" (309).
Death has to fulfill his job, without rest, in that terrifying time "carried the souls in my fingers, like suitcases. Or I'd throw them over my shoulder".
He would also complain, "Forget the scythe, Goddamn it, I needed a broom or mop. And I need a vacation...They beg me to take them with me, not realizing I'm too busy as it is...I complain internally as I go about my work, and some years, the souls and bodies don't add up; they multiply." (307-308).
He used his calm, humorous, humane, warm and reasonable voice, tell the story of the book thief; the story of the little girl that he met three times; a story of a girl and her family, partner, and friends, a story between a small town and a country.
A story of the whole world and a person who tried to control the world; a story of life and death.

***A Little Reminder***

Death is always the winner. (His will does not matter.)

We have all read quite a bit about that time period, some are historical, some are not. Some are deep and hard to bear, some are depressing, some are sarcastic. Every single of one of them was trying to the let the world know that it was a very indescribable time.

Everytime I finish them, I wonder why, based on what reasoning, can one people believe that they are superior than others. Being so far away, in both space and time, from the actual disaster, it almost felt like a fictional experience, a dream.

No, or shall I say that people in the whole world all wished that it was just a dream, it was just a fictional experience.

Using Death as the narrator, I think is why Zusak's story differ from others. Who can be more fitted to tell the story other than Death? Who else, in those years, went through all the cities and towns, entered every room and saw every soul and its stories?

The Book Thief is a very difficult book to be set-and-tell; it is impossible to define. Everyone received different things from The Book Thief. It is a book that one cannot see every single aspect of the book from a simple summary or introduction. The only was to just read it, finish it, in a way that no word can be missed, and no time can be wasted.

***A Small Discovery***

The calming voice, is like the way Death speaks.

When the world became clear, I know, this book made the world different. For me.

Even if it was a small, insignificant difference.

The Book Thief post 7

This is like a marathon that will never end...!!!!
I really do apologize to people who actually read my posts and have to deal with the never-ending whining first...Sorry.
Anyhow, I was reading through the posts and realized that I really wanted to add something to the wonderful memory...


I want to talk about the colors in The Book Thief.

The setting for The Book Thief was in the Germany under Hitler's control during World War II. It was a time when the prosecution and persecution towards the Jews sprang and plagued in the areas under the control of Germany.
Zusak used his unique style of writing effectively, using everyday things such as "color", "sky", "cloud", "literature", "words" etc, to accentuate the brutishness of the war at that time and the shining moments of humanity.
The way that Zusak told the story from Death, who narrated in a second-person perspective, was very attractive. He sometimes describes the surroundings very descriptively in order to engage the reader to the upcoming changes or blows; sometimes he pointed out how things are going to end, letting readers fully aware of the result and, slowly and painfully, flipped through the pages, eventually reach the part that is difficult to accept. By doing so, Zusak, from my perspective, let readers' complicated feelings and story both freeze on the forcefully stopped time.
I especially like how he used "color" to connect the whole book. From the beginning, the plot was as pure, clean and white as the book page. However, when the main characters get to their rises and falls, the readers began to see different colors: the color of the books possessed by Liesel, the colors of the constantly changing sky, the grey shine of Hans, the black and white of the accordion, the rises and falls of the wars and the bombing that caused the air the turn nasty grey, the pasty white and dull grey of the victims' bodies, the bright red of blood, the crystal clear blue on the afternoon when Liesel died...Readers saw millions of colors in the book, and every single one of them represented a distinctive meaning.

Ahhh, colors...
Colours.

The Book Thief post 6

Technically, if I follow my one post per week pace, this will be my last post...
However, I could never forget my grand goal--10 posts!!!
Although it has shruk, in size, to 6 posts, but it's existence is undeniable...
Although I really want to deny it.
...
...
Okay, I am falling asleep, which is not a good thing...
But considering the fact that I fell asleep during the Chemistry test for ten minutes, this is unsurprising.
Anyhow, let's brainstorm for this lovely and technically-the-last-one post...

(...At least twenty minutes have elapsed...)

Okay.
I really have no energy to jump up-and-down like I did on the last post...
But...fine...Ding.
There you go... happy now?

Back to the actual post, I want to discuss how a governmental system can change its country and transform its people.

During World War II, the setting of The Book Thief, the Nazi government attempted to eliminate all Jewish people in the territory and purify the German race.
Through the prosecution and persecution towards the Jews, the German race was changed completely as well. Not only in the diversity, or as fascists called it: purification, but also in how the people viewed the world, the government, and themselves.
In My Struggle, before the actual massecre of the Jews, Hitler mentioned how the minorities had brought down the German race and turned social orders in Germany into chaos. Then, anyone with brain would suspect the result of such opinion: the elimination of the Jewish race.
Then why in the world would people support such terrible thing?!
Like we discussed in APWH, a friend of mine provided a very interesting view: Hitler was offering the Germans their pride back. After World War I, Germay was blamed for all the damages and was forced to pay a great amount of restoration funds to the Allies. By saying that the Jews were the ones causing unrest, Hitler found a way out for the Germans. And to regain their pride, Germans happily accepted such belief.

Anyhow, enough of history, let's head into present and generalization.
As civilians, many, or at least myself, believes that the leaders of the country in whether political or other areas are more capable than the ordinary people on fulfilling their duties and performing tasks. Having this kind of thinking, one would agree, if not with little complain, with most things that were decided by the leaders, the "people who are more capable".
By imposing laws and changing the situation of the country, the leaders are transforming the nation as well as people's minds.
Law changes life styles, and one's beliefs and thinking are based on the life style one has and the treatment that one is receiving.

What do you think?

The Book Thief post 5

I really don't think that I create ten posts out of this book...
One, I write too much.
Two, I am picky about what I am writing.
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...


Why do I have to go through the same phase everytime I do a blog post???
I wonder...Hmmmmm.......

And here comes the ah-ha moment--


AH-HA!!!!!
Ding!
Can't you see the light blub which is floating on top of my head went on ??
You should be able to....

Anyway, in life, many things are connected with each other.
And in The Book Thief, Zusak once again showed how things are related to each other.
Liesel's desire for literature affected her family, friendships and loves, it also allowed her to transform many through words.
Her best friend Rudy stayed together with Liesel through the good and bad times as well as the times when she stole books. Their experiences together led to their unchangable friendships.

Max, the Jew who was hiding in Liesel's family's basement, was under the prosecution and persecution from the German armies. The act of reading from Liesel lifted Max's soul up and led him into writing. And Max made books such as The Standover Man and The Word Shaker, and let Liesel experience the power of words and reading.
When the enemies bombed the Himmel Street, the act of reading the Whistler by Liesel calmed the anxiety and fear of the people hiding in the basement.
At the end when the enemy bombed Himmel Street completely and no one survived, it was literature that kept Liesel from Death's hands.
Rudy, Hans, and Max, they were the three most important men in Liesel's life.
Words, the book thief, Death, they are the three things that lock with each other and supported the structure of the whole story.

The Book Thief post 4

...
Okay, I wrote too much on the last post....
Sorry, people.
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...
Now I am running out of things to write about...
...Crap.

oh.
Oooohhhhh.

As I promised, a little bit on how Death, being the narrator, affected the book.

"Still, it's possible that you might be asking, why does he even need a vacation? What does he need distraction from?
Which brings me to my next point.
It's the leftover humans.
The survivors.
They're the ones I can't stand to look at, although on many occasions I still fail. I deliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs.
Which in turn brings me to the subject I am telling you about tonight, or today, or whatever the hour and color. It's the story of one of those perpetual survivors--an expert at being left behind."

If that explains anything at all.
I sincerely hope that serves you well.

Anyways, directed from that quote, I have a question: Is it really fortunate to be the survivor, or, being the one that was left behind?

During the war, everyone was trying to survive. And many, with the difficult situation, began to do whatever they can to live.

"'And what are you planning to steal?'
He shrugged. 'Money, food, jewelry. Whatever I can get my hands on.' It sounded simple enough."

After the war, people grieved over their losses, and moved on. Some, however, lived in their agony and never survived.

In other words, the people who did not survive were privileged. Because they did not survive, they did not have to face the pain of feeling lives slipping off between their fingers. Because they did not survive, they did not have to face the reality where all their families had perished.
Because they did not survive, they did not have to face the world.
And that was the reason, I guess, why Hitler committed suicide, along with his family, when the war was coming to an end.
People who lived, could not necessarily move on. They were tagged as the survivor of Holocaust, the survivor of the bombing, or, in some cases, the director of the genocide or the source of all wrong-doing.
All these tags reminded them of their misfortune, their losses, and their painful memory.
Perhaps, like Dede in In the Time of the Butterflies, they were the ones who were designated to tell the stories.

The Book Thief post 3

...
I think the blog postings are making my braincells suicide...
They are dying!
DYING, I tell you...!!!
...
...
Let's do a bit of character analysis.
How does that sound?


While many believed that the main character in The Book Thief is Liesel, I think the narrator, Death, dominated the scenes.
Instead of making Death a daunting character, Zusak shaped Death as a sensitive, gentle and humane being who somehow sick of but also enjoying his daily job.
At the very beginning, when Death introduced himself to the readers, he already introduced the book's plot, the contradictory and helplessness of life:

"The question is, what color will everything be at that moment when I come for you? What will the sky be saying? Personally, I like a chocolate-colored sky. Dark, dark chocolate. People say it suits me. I do, however, try to enjoy every color I see--the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edges off the stress. It helps me relax."

Death, being such a unique character and his job as the character who told the story, was very influential. The things he see, the way he describe things, and many more, makes the story very different from if told by Liesel or any other human. And I will write about that in the next blog posting.
The brutishness of war, the partings, either between life and death or goodbyes, were told through Death's rich emotions and the view point of a bystander and led the reader through many ups and downs of how literature can influence people.
When Liesel was rescued from the bombing, Death picked up the black book that Liesel has been written in--The Book Thief-- during the complete chaos. At the very end, when Liesel died and met Death, he gave The Book Thief back to her. She was very surprised that her story was read before, furthermore, someone understood her story.

As I said in the last post, this is a story about the ability of books to feed the soul. About how literature transformed people.
Aside from the book but in the book's setting. The well-known book that was published in World War II, written by Adolf Hitler, My Struggle.
Many became the follower of Hitler after the book, while many became a strong opposition of his. My Struggle, instead of just a book, became the way Hitler secure his power in the society. People were required to own the book, carry the book, hold nothing against the book, believe the book, and most importantly, read the book. If one does not read the book or does not fulfill anything listed above, one would be considered unfaithful to Hitler.
Besides brain-washing purposes, literature also serves as educational tools. People learn lessons from books in general. Themes in each book teach us lessons that we will never forget.