Skip to main content

The Book Thief~ two most important passages


 

“Please believe me when I tell you that I picked up each soul that day as if it were newly born. I even kissed a few weary, poisoned cheeks. I listened to their last, gasping cries. Their vanishing words. I watched their love visions and freed them from their fear” (350). 

This passage shows how Death does not enjoy taking the lives of others. He knows that he must do so, and this makes him sad. He cared for these people dearly and states that he treated them like you would a newborn; loving and gentle. Death is like a parent in the fact that he knows everything little thing about the people he takes in and cares deeply for them. This passage gives Death an entirely different outlook. Normally we associate death as being heartless and robbing someone of their life. Zusak’s spin on Death himself made me less fearful. Zusak showed that death can be beautiful and painless. I wasn’t expecting myself to enjoy the character of Death as much as I did. The Book Thief is a definite must-read in my opinion.   

 


“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race—that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant” (550). 


This quote is told by Death himself. He explains how humanity is complicated in that humans can be both brutal and compassionate. For instance, during the Holocaust, some blindly followed Hitler’s orders while others were brave and went above and beyond to save and restore humanity. Zusak incorporated multiple acts of resistance in The Book Thief to teach us how even the smallest acts of goodness can change someone else's life for the better. This quote also defines and acknowledges those who lived and experienced World War II. The Book Thief reveals that during a time of such evil and violence hope still existed. Stories matter and are effective in that they can provide different alternatives about our past.  

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Symbolism in Persepolis

For this week’s  jazzy   journal,  I decided to  focus on   the  veil and Marjane’s  bed .     The veil-  In the very first chapter of the book, Persepolis, we are introduced to the veil that the women  are required to  wear.  To  Satrapi,  the veil symbolizes the persecution of women in Iran.   A s a young girl,  Satrapi  did not like wearing the veil because she simply did not understand why she should  be forced to cover up her voice and freedom.  Her conflicting views are shown on page six where Marjane says “I  really  don’t know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was  very religious , but as a family, we were very modern and avant-garde. ”   Marjane felt that she was put on this earth to  accomplish   remarkable things  in life but that the veil put a  wrench  in her plans. She also did not like  having her bilingual...
Post a Comment
Read more

MoNsTeR tRiViA

  The Graveyard Book Trivia   Bod Owens is the protagonist in  The Graveyard Book.  What is Bod short for?    A.) Body   B.) Nobody   C.)  Bodes   D.) Bodkins     In Neil  Gaiman’s   The Graveyard Book  Who is appointed to be Bod’s guardian?   A.) Silas   B.)  Mr.  Frost   C.)  Scarlett   D.) Bod  does not  have a  guardian     What was in Bod’s crib when Jack entered his room after killing his parents?   A.) A doll   B.) A stick   C.) A onesie   D.) A teddy bear     Who  saved  Bod after he fell from an apple tree?    A.) Silas   B.) Liza   C.) Scarlett   D.)  Ms.Lupescu     What did every member of Old Town receive on the day of the  Macabre ?   A.) A bouquet of flowers   B.) A yellow flower   C.) A white flower   D.) A flower that wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who Makes It Into Your Classroom Library?

  January 19th, 2021 Last year the famous author who wrote the “Harry Potter” books tweeted out disparaging remarks against the transgender community. Her insensitive comments alienated and angered the Transgender community. With Transgender becoming more commonplace, Educators, Librarians, and Parents are having to make the difficult decision in deciding what books stay and go in their personal libraries.    The article “Do Works by Men Implicated by #MeToo Belong in the Classroom?” written by Emma Goldberg described in detail the difficult decisions teachers and librarians have to make in deciding what books make it into their libraries for their students and community members. One key point that stood out to me in the article was  Ms. Gowen’s opinion on being able to distinguish between the Author and their writings. She stated that she wants her students “to know that art is nuanced and complex, and in any artist’...
Post a Comment
Read more