...Chapter One - How Liesel’s Maturity is Affected by the Setting “War will change people!” -Aaron Starmer. In Markus Zusak’s, The Book Thief, the protagonist, Liesel Meminger is living in the time of World War II. She doesn’t act like a child, she is mature and sophisticated. In The Book Thief, the setting influences the maturity of the main character, Liesel Meminger. The Book Thief is set in the time of The Holocaust in Germany. Liesel’s Dad is not a Nazi. In that time, if a male figure of a family wasn’t part of the Nazis then that family didn’t have extra privileges and would most likely have issues with money. This is what happens to Liesel’s family. Because of this, Liesel must do everything she can to help her family. Liesel helps her...
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...The novel The Book Thief is based on the life of Liesel Meminger, a nine year old girl, who lives in Nazi Germany during World War II. In the story, Death narrates the experiences of Liesel’s life. These experiences brought both magnificence and devastation that effected many lives that were in this era. After Liesel’s brother's death, she arrives in an upset state at the home of her new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. While Liesel was there she saw many terrible things that the Nazi ruling has brought to Germany. As she sees these horrific things going on in Germany she struggles to find a way to defend her guilt in the disturbing surroundings. While the political situation in Germany gets worse Liesel’s foster parents decide to hide a man named max who is a Jew. While Max remains in the house it makes it dangerous for Liesel and her parents to stay in the home. Liesel’s foster dad, Hans, who has a close bond with Liesel, teaches her to read in...
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...5. A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys: Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and Walter Crane. A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys. New York: Oxford UP, 1996. Print. Nathaniel Hawthorne retells a number of well-known Greek myths specifically for children and captures the fantasy and horror in an intriguing manner. One of the most compelling tales Hawthorne illustrates is Pandora’s Box. The story of Pandora’s intense curiosity leading to the unleashing all of the evils in the world is especially applicable to children. Pandora can’t help herself even when everything and everyone is attempting to convince her otherwise. In the end, the lesson is that curiosity can be dangerous. Children have and will always be curious and explore things they should not. But curiosity comes at a cost. There is a deeper message in the famous tale. There was something else in the box along with the disease and problems; it was Hope. The one thing needed to combat all of the horrors that were released is Hope. The story teaches that no matter how bad things get, there is always something to fight for, and that is a much more important...
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...Ponyboy is a greaser in the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton. Ponyboy plays the narrator and the protagonist in the book. If you were to meet this character for the first time most likely some ideas about him would come to your head, but some of those ideas could be a stereotype. A stereotype is a belief about a group of people based on a common characteristic but is not necessarily true. Some stereotypes of Ponyboy could be he is a criminal, thief, does not care about school, and does bad things to people; however, these are not true. A stereotype for ponyboy of being a gang member is that he is a criminal and does bad things to other people. Some people would have many stereotypes about Ponyboy like if he is in a gang he is a criminal but that not true. Ponyboy is a gang member but he is not a criminal ponyboy helps lots of people out. There are many ways he has helped people, for instance, he saved 8 little kids lives from a burning building without hesitation. Furthermore, people may think he is a thief or a drug dealer for his gang. Ponyboy is not a thief or is involved with drugs in the book it never said anything about ponyboy being into drugs or a thief. When most people think of greasers or gang...
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...Percy Jackson, the lightning thief series protagonist. Percy is a hero so he gets the standard extreme power that lets him be the hero. This is the power of water. Percy is heroic, loyal, and he attracts girls pretty well. Percy is a dynamic character Jason, Antagonist of the Friday the 13th series. Jason is a horror monster who has demonic ability’s. Jason is silent, deadly and he kills all characters in his movie. The things that define him are his ability to kill, his unforgiving and evil atmosphere and the fact that Jason will and cannot be stopped. Jason is flat because he is only an unstoppable monster. Richard Rahl, Protagonist of the sword of truth series. Richard is a man with great powers and potential who lives life as it goes....
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...persistent cough and bloody spit. At the end of The Road, the man dies next to a stream in a clearing in the woods. The boy is born into the post-apocalyptic world. He knows nothing about the world before the catastrophe. He travels the road with his father and believes that he and his father are the "good guys" who carry the fire. In various encounters with other travelers on the road, the boy continually displays his faith in humanity and his humbling trust in others. Despite their near brushes with brutal violence and death, the boy consistently pleads with his father to help others in need. After his father's death, the boy is rescued by a family of people who assert that they are also the good guys. The wife of the man who is the protagonist has already died, and her situation is only described in flashbacks. She chose to avoid rape and murder, which she believed were inevitable, by committing suicide. She used a piece of sharpened obsidian, since the family's pistol only had two bullets. She did not say goodbye to her son, and she killed herself despite the entreaties of her husband not to do so. the burnt man The father and the son encounter a man on the road whose footsteps have left tracks in the road tar. The man has been struck by lightning and is heavily burnt. The boy wishes to stop and help...
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...Review on The Prophet’s Hair by Salman Rushdie The Prophet’s hair is a magical realistic short story from the book ‘East, West’ written by Salman Rushdie. Rushdie is an author, novelist, essayist and sometimes a critic. He blends myth and fantasy in a world of reality and that is what he is famous for. The prophet’s hair is based on the story of the theft of the prophet Muhammad’s hair. Whoever comes in contact with this relic, faces strange or miraculous events. The story takes place in the early 1980’s during winter season in a rural area called Srinagar in India. Srinagar is a Kashmir valley. This story also depicts a setting that can be assumed as the beginning of the 20th century where religion and government structures were reaching its heights. The social environment revolves around money, honor, respectable values and religion; in this case the Islam. Every character is concerned about his place in society and his greed for money. The story is written in third person omniscient point of view. The writer as he describes the setting, moves from character to character narrating the story. In this short story, Hashim is the protagonist. He is the father of Huma and Atta. Hashim comes upon the stolen hair accidentally. He does not return the relic as greed consumes. He justifies his act as a community service basing it on the Islamic views of deity. Hashim turns into a religious hypocrite from a secular person. Hashim’s son Atta knows the truth about the hair and steals...
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...Title: Milkweed Author: Jerry Spenelli Genre:The genre of the novel Milkweed is realistic fiction. It is realistic fiction because it can happen in real life. Point of View:The story Milkweed is from the first person point of view. Misha Pidulski one of the main characters is telling the story about his life. Protagonists: The main characters in the book Milkweed are Misha Pidulski, Uri, Janina, Janina’s father Mr. Milgrom, and the crew. Misha is a thief his nickname is Spottheif, he is an orphan boy who is homeless and without a family. Misha meets Uri when they are both running from the police because they stole bread from an old lady. They become friends and Uri shows Misha things in life that he needs to know in order to be a better...
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...Job vs. The Poem of a Righteous Sufferer and The Code of Hammurabi vs. Leviticus The book of Job and the Poem of a Righteous Sufferer both have a similar storyline and address the issues of suffering (more specifically, undeserved suffering). Both protagonists go through great sufferings, and turn to their God(s) in bewilderment as to why. They both felt their suffering was underserved and questioned their God(s) in search of understanding. The major difference between the stories is the deities. Wherein the Poem the protagonist believed in many Gods, in the book of Job, Job believed in one all-powerful God. In the poem of the Righteous Sufferer, the Mesopotamian culture believed in many Gods. The good which one God might wish for an individual could be challenged by another God, therefore concluding that suffering could come from any deity or any reason. From the story, it seems the problem of suffering in Mesopotamian religion is dealt with “through one God working through an intermediary to deliver justice.” Meaning, the God’s will deal with you justly eventually. In time, they would redress your wrongs and cure your afflictions. So, the sufferer is given comfort, knowing that eventually their suffering will be compensated for. In the story of Job, the suffering was not brought upon by God, but rather by Satan (the adversary). God allowed this suffering to occur to Job although he considered him “blameless” and “upright.” The answer to the question of human suffering is...
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...novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, it is evident that books, reading, and words themselves represent power for different characters in different ways. Close analysis of Liesel Meminger and Max Vandenburg reveals that power can be achieved through literacy in a context where literacy is severely limited. Literacy plays a major role in Liesel’s adolescence. Liesel obtains power through literacy as it gives her a sense of comfort and control. The act of reading and writing gives Liesel the strength to cope with and heal from her emotional trauma. Reading and finishing the book The Gravedigger’s Handbook helps Liesel find the courage to move on from the loss of her brother. Although Liesel does not yet know how to read when she arrives at the Hubermann’s on Himmel Street, she keeps the book to comfort her, as it is the last object she has relating to her brother. When papa and Liesel finish reading the book, Liesel “trot[s] out, involuntarily” (Zusak 87) by explaining to Hans that her brother’s name “‘was Werner’” (87). The act of Liesel’s words being spoken involuntarily suggests that “she is finding some freedom in the effects of her disturbing experiences” (Lee 14). Liesel does not have to force herself to speak to Hans about her brother as she has gained emotional stability. Additionally, literacy helps Liesel recover from her distress as Hans reads to her nightly. Hans reads to Liesel “to soothe her, to love her” (Zusak 36). Hans’ spoken words from the books and his mollifying...
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...Karl maex A Marxist Analysis of an Italian Block Buster - By Vrinda Aggarwal Post the cold war Communism and Marxism remained mere philosophies which couldn't stand the test of time. They were either “impractical" modes of organizing economy and polity or rather were theories which were more advanced than the ages in which they were tested. It is thus the farsightedness of Marx which makes his theory extremely relevant for people to at least study. Marx principally focused on observation and historical analysis. According to him there were two Classes in the society - The Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The former was the class which owned all the resources and organized production, the later is the laboring class who own nothing but their own physical power to run the machines. Thus both the producers and the workers are in a symbiotic relationship. Still we see that the capitalist can survive for a longer time without the worker as compared to the vice versa, putting the workers in a compromising position. Thus in the fight of wage determination, the capitalists tend to win, thereby fixing the wage rate which is sufficient for survival (which according to Marx s living like cattle). According to the Marxist ideology, “when the capitalists and the laborers suffer equally, the worker suffers in his very existence, the capitalist in the profit on his dead mammon. The worker...
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...unknown author during the period of the crusades. Aladdin, and many other famous works are gathered in a book full of these stories called, “The Thousand Nights and One Night.” Since this work is so old, and incorporated into such a vast book, no one can pinpoint exactly when and who wrote it. A couple pieces of information are for certain though. As far back as history is documented, the Islamic culture has had an extremely harsh class system. The struggle of classes in Islamic culture was most likely the reason for the writing of Aladdin, and the passing on of its lessons as well. Aladdin is more than just a children’s fairytale, as it is an informative work that depicts the struggle and persecution of the lower classes in Islamic society, especially when view through a Marxist literary lens. The tale begins by introducing a boy named Aladdin as a thief. In literary works, a thief is normally not portrayed as a hero unless the stealing is done for the common good of the proletariat, like Robin Hood (Carpenter, Prichard). In contrast, Aladdin steals due to his lack of economical assets because of his class standing, and thus, for the good of only himself. Only due to the title of the piece, and events that occur a little later in the piece, can we assume that he is in fact the hero of the story. For the introduction of the tale, though, he seems as though a lowly thief, who is an outcast in society, disliked by members of the community. Aladdin does eventually end up in a jail...
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...Courageous, imaginative and adventurous are the words that best describe the once quiet, closed off young Liesel Meminger, the protagonist in the film The Book Thief, directed by Brian Percival in 2013. During the course of Liesel's journey she has gained great knowledge through her love of reading and writing but more importantly is the way her character has been shaped and moulded into the determined, strong-minded and matured Liesel she was always destined to be, through the new relationships she discovered with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa, Rudy a young boy she learned to call a friend and Max a Jew who stole her heart and mind as she looked to him for advice and guidance. Liesel's trust had to be earned. In the beginning, she had...
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...persecuted by Hitler and the Nazi’s, Lina and other Lithuanathans, are being attacked by Stalin and the NKVD. Even if different dictators controlled their countries, Gerda and Lina both suffered the same amount. In particular, the novel Lina meets a boy named Andrius while traveling on the terrible train cars to work camps. The camps had awful living conditions. The NKVD took any valuable items the Lithuathans had. Basically, people were stripped of their humanity. INSERT QUOTE ABOUT INHUMANITY IN THE CAMPS. While in the camp, Lina’s sixteenth birthday was celebrated. Lina was not expecting her birthday to be celebrated because of the lack of valuable items, not to mention, food. However, to her surprise, she For instance, In The Book Thief, the protagonist, named Liesel, is best friends with a boy named Rudy Steiner. Unlike ...
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...exception of the glass slippers), the real story traces its roots to a time period plagued by significant socioeconomic changes in the way of life of an entire civilization. By no means was it a homogeneous collection of peoples, but rather a mosaic of diverse indigenous folk, African descendants, Europeans, and peoples of every possible mixed ethnic makeup. This is the story of modernization imposed by the Eurocentric elites, forever leaving its mark on the social and cultural construct of Latin America. Historian, Bradford Burns, in his work the Poverty of Progress concludes it was modernization that led to the destruction of the quality of life in the aftermath of independence movements across Latin America. The overarching themes of his book revolve around the wealthy and educated minority imposing modernization on the less educated majority: the indigenous folk, Africans and those of mixed ethnicity. As can be expected, historical accounts during the nineteenth-century also reflect this Eurocentric mentality. History of this region often exemplified the worldview of the elites. It’s a classic case of the conquerors retelling the stories of the conquered. The upper class used their elitist presuppositions to exonerate any political or economic decisions that they had made. The popular conviction that history represented the aims of the elites prevailed. Historical accounts...
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