Choose a question: Analyse how one or more ideas were used to comment on an aspect of human nature.
Note: “Ideas” may refer to character, theme, or setting.
Plan your answer:
the setting of nazi germany in WW2 was used to comment on the idea in human nature that ALL humans are capable of great good and evil.
P1: how hitler was a leader and was seen as the one person who was evil looking back on it.
P2: how the peope who tried to help the Jews were treated like the enemy. How whie helping someone is good but sometimes the consequences are worse.
P3: people who either supported hitler or didn’t voice their opinions were the majority or the germans. how not saying anything added to the problem.
Intro:
The book Thief, a novel by Marcus Zusak, is set in a small town in Germany during WW2. In this novel the setting can be seen to comment on the idea that in human nature all humans are capable of being or acting both good and evil. Throughout The Book Thief Zusak makes us think about the power that words held in the second world war and the power they still hold now. We put a lot of importance into words and language because that is how we communicate with each other. Words being of great importance therefore hold a lot of power and can be used to reach a large audience. Zusak uses books stolen at a significant time by Liesel to symbolize the power words hold and their effect on humans. The first of these books is “the grave diggers handbook” , the second “the shoulder shrug” and thirdly “Mein Kampf.”
Quotes:
“There was something black and rectangular lodged in the snow. Only the girl saw it. She bent down she picked it up and held it firmly in her fingers.”
“Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up.” metaphor, personification of the book
She was a girl. In Nazi Germany. How fitting that she was discovering the power of words.”
“The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing.” Question
“You could argue that Liesel Meminger had it easy. She did have it easy compared to Max Vandenburg. Certainly, her brother had practically died in her arms. Her mother abandoned her. But anything was better than being a Jew.”
“The Germans loved to burn things.”
“At the end of an afternoon that had contained much exitement, much beautiful evil, one blood-soaked ankle, and a slap from a trusted hand, Liesel Meminger attained her second success story.”
Beyond the outskirts of Munich, there was a town called Molching … That’s where they were taking her, to a street by the name of Himmel.