The Book Thief revision

5. Analyse how language features were used to deepen your understanding of a theme.

the secret sat in her mouth..-personification if thoughts

You see, people may tell you that Nazi Germany was built on anti-Semitism, a somewhat overzealous leader and a nation of hate-fed bigots, but it would have all come to nothing had the Germans not loved one particular activity – to burn.”

“When she came to write her story, she would wonder exactly when the books and the words started not just to mean something, but everything. Was it when she first set eyes on the room with shelves and shelves of them? ”

Magical realism, development of a new perspective.

personification of words

State the purpose of what the text is for before you go intot rh details of the text. what is the text about and how does it convey its meaning. restate the question

Intro: Name the text, the author, the theme, and the techniques used to convey the theme.

In his novel, “The Book Thief”, Markus Zusak communicates his ideas about the vulnerability of all societies to colluding in atrocities by re-framing the events of the Nazi Holocaust in the mid-20th century. Like many texts in the genre of Magical Realism, a variety of techniques are used by Zusak to help the reader to look at something familiar with new eyes. By symbolising books in the novel, Zusak successfully forces readers to challenge their perspectives on the power that words have in our society.

bodies:

point

exa,ple

explain

body 1- the word shaker
In the novel zusak uses metaphor to convey the manipulative power of words. He does this by exposing readers to the events of the time period. The Führer Decided that he would rule the world with words. “I will never fire a gun” He said “I will not have to”… His first plan of attack was to plant the words in as many areas of his homeland as possible… It was a nation of farmed thoughts’. In Max’s story “the word shaker” we are shown how words were manipulatively used to sway a nation. By restricting the nation from influential texts, Hitler was able to rule the nation with words. By “planting” his book Mien Kampf into the venerable society of nazi Germany, Hitler successfully Gained dictatorship and power over the nation.

Body 2- “she was holding desperately onto the words who saved her life’
By exploring Liesel’s relationship with books in the novel, Zusak forces readers to rethink how books and language influence people in their own society. We while Zusak displays the negative aspect of words, he also conveys how language has the power to heal. “She was holding desperately onto the words who saved her life”. He does this in order to show how words also had the power to heal the characters of the novel, further communicating the potential positive impact of words in our society.

the history of how hitler manipulated a nation with the use of words. During WWII Nazism belifs and practices were promoted to the german society through manipulative methods of propaganda and restriction of influential texts. In Max’s book “the word shaker”, Zusak communicates Hitlers manipulative actions to gain dictatorship and power. ‘ He identified their power allowing him to use words to his advantage. The seed which allowed him to become powerful was his book “Mein Kampf”

In the novel Zusak uses personification to convey the manipulative power of words in our society. By displaying how these books impact the characters of the novels venerable society readers are shown the harm that language can cause in our current day society.

Body 3
thoughts of the novels’ characters have also been oersonified to

beneath her shirt a book was eating her up

conclusion:

how has it made you reflect on the world that you know. make a statement about the bigger authors intention. used these techniques of magical realism to communicate the second world war, discuss the text and how effective it has bee at what is was made to communicate.

Analysing a moment in time

Tarras

It is winter, early morning in the little township, chilled and blackfrosted, the plants and bushes stiffly frozen, the football field icy, the trees carrying crystals of sharp ice up to the wet sodden air-hugging mist.

Listen.  It is morning quietly roving the main road, the moist melodic streaming mist rising over the garage and the schoolhouse.  It is grass shivering on the hill.  Sunrise, dawn, the chorus of birds in the pinetrees.

It is Sunday morning. The thin clear slants of sun echo back onto the thick mist.  In the silver windowed house, the parents sleep heavy while three blanketed children toss and turn. In the workshop of the garage, Joe is up and in his practical oil-stained overalls is working on that ute that the farmer needs today.  Back in the house, the children now sit heavy-eyed around the wooden rectangular table.

And the toast burns as the jug boils. – Event ( breaking the rules)

“Hurry up kids, we’ll be late,” Mum shouts, sharp tongued.  Washed and combed and brushed, families drive the short way to the little church on the hill.  Past the swamp where the dragonflies shimmer and hover in the morning sunlight.  Where the captured tadpoles would have grown into glazed green slippery little frogs.

Look. On the hill behind the house the pinetrees lift their heavy branches of sharp dense needles into the dwindling disappearing time-now-over mist.  Down below in the township, the little general store opens its ready-for-anything doors to sell soap to biscuits, flour, tea towels, light bulbs and milk that will arrive later in the day carried for hours on the bus.

And soon you will be sitting on hard straight-backed wooden pews with no cushions.  The tiny white wooden church echoing with the sound of morning hymns, streaming out into the frosty but now sunstreaked morning.

This piece of writing is an evocative description of one moment in time. Your task today is to create a piece of writing that describes an instant in a place you know, borrowing the following features from Dylan Thomas’ writing:

  • It must be in the Second Person Viewpoint
  • It must appeal to a range of the senses (Pay particular attention to the sections that start with the imperatives: “Listen”, or “Look”)
  • It must use some from the following list of figurative language:
    • Alliteration
    • Metaphor
    • Simile
    • Personification
    • Repetition
    • Listing
    • Statement
    • Simple sentence
    • Time
    • Command – verb beginning


Structure- Tarras
P1, Season, time, place
P2, Command, imperative voice
P3, Time, weather, Buildings
P4, event (sentence)
P5, dialogue
P6, Command
P7, 2nd person, You

Practice:
The classroom:
A dense silence clogs the room, through the blind peaks a thin beam of light. The distant cheer of children echoes down along the frosted walls.

Arriving at school:
A raw chill cloaks the chattering car, waiting for the clock to re-wind. The blanket begins to melt.

what is magical realism

how it is explored in the book and through your techniques….. what magical realism as a genre helps convey in the book . it shows …

one technique – symbol ?

different preconceptions showed throughout the book through the use of the technique

explore one magical realism techniques and show the array ways it conveys one idea

explain how this challenging of preconceptions convey the power of words in the book

main idea is the power of words

with knowledge comes power- human existence

surreal/unreal

NCEA 2.4 Writing Folio- the book thief by Markus Zusak

QUESTION: How did Markus Zusak employ features of the genre Magical Realism to convey his ideas about human existance in his novel The Book Thief . this piece is a literary essay

How did Markus get his ideas across through the concept of magical realism

  • Lies- deliberate mis direction
  • Narrator-death: or whom
  • Molching
  • Symbol- book
  • Foreshadowing/Flashbacks
  • Dramatic irony- history

^ why do this ?

  • challenge our preconceptions: ( Role of german citizens in WWII. Removed our comfortable assumption that we would never do what Germany did. Personification of death allows us to identify with it, normalising it – reinforces extreme nature or human behaviour. -> POWER OF WORDS
  • Intro- why magical realism
  • P1a- define magical realism- explore surrealism
  • P1b- bodv pharagraph
  • P2 body pharagraph
  • P3 body pharagraph
  • conclusion

CHOSE ONE “WHY DO THIS” AND COVER THE CHALLENGE PRECONCEPTIONS USING EXAMPLES FROM THE SURREAL ELEMENT – use quotes to drive your argument

eg

communicate ideas about words in the book thief, why theyre important, what they can do, what we can do with them. things that happen in the book which tell us something about the words etc. .

In the novel “The Book Thief” Markus Zusak forces readers to re-think our world through the use of symbols within the text. Liesel and her story is based around her … stealing books from various areas in Molching, Nazi Germany during the second world war. With each theft comes a book which Liesel reads and cherishes as a recollecting symbol of the events which she has been confronted with over the past few years. Whilst the colours presented on the covers of the books have great value to Liesel, it is through these books’ words and what they represent (expand on what the words represent and what effect they had on society in this time period*) that Markus Zusak successfully forces readers to really think about the great effect that words have in our world. “She was holding desperately onto the words who saved her.” When Molching was bombed Liesel was in the basement of her home on Himmel street writing in her book. The basement served as a shelter for Liesel which saved her life by protecting her from the bombs impact. Recognising and exploring the importance and power of words in her society saved Liesels life. (expand*) Through Liesels love for literature and language Markus Zusak has demonstrated to readers that we too must identify the importance and the power of words in our current day society in order to prevent events like WWII from arising in the future.

words have power, propaganda forces the whole country to beleive the nazi ideas..

move verbs to the beginning of the sentances

hitler uses words in an evil manner, leseil takes these words to

by looking into the past and showing us how words were manipulated we are forced into thinking about the power of words.

she didnt dare look up, but she could feel their frightened eyes hanging onto her as she hauled the words in and breathed them out- leseil reading in the basement during the ‘raid’ This shows that using words can make people understand/ relax words are sybolising speaking up to what is wrong in society.

After leseil steals the book from the book burning event in himmel street markus susak presents us with the idea that in nazi germany

“The words were thrown at the steps”- when leseil threw her book at the steps she was shut down and slapped by hans (even though he knew it was the right thing to do he did it was socially expected. happened le(what were the consequences- relate to te importance of words in society and what could happen if we dont use words and comunnicate effectively. this suggest that when we speak up and use words to express our ideas we are shut down by higher authorities because it is socially acceptable and expected .

she emptied the words out into the sink

words are used to present

words were stapled to his chest

the words werent spoken, but they were definately there (when rudy says/thinks in his mind that he will win the race.

swimming in words-burning words were torn from their sentances

a single word leaned against the girl- words can play on out ming=ds or mess with us?

forest of words …

about books …..

book burnings symbolise the suppression of books which contradict hitlers propaganda

MAGICAL REALISM: defined by style and purpose

THE BOOK THIEF

  • CHARACTER: Liesel , Narrator (death)
  • SETTING: Real WWII , Real Germany , Real third Reich , unreal Molching
  • STRUCTURE: Linear , Chronological – FORESHADOWING (retelling from unreliable source)
  • POINT OF VIEW: Third person , unreliable
  • LANGUAGE: Realism

THE LIFE OF PI

  • CHARACTER: Pi , Narrator (journalist)
  • SETTING: Real ocean , Real ship , Unreal Island , uncertain animals
  • STRUCTURE:
  • POINT OF VIEW: Retelling
  • LANGUAGE: Realism (facts sensory information logic creating reality)

WHY?- what is it for and how does it work ?

  • To force a reader to think again
  • a way to present an idea in a new light
  • alters reality in order to expose an idea readers may not have otherwise apprehended
  • challenges readers preconceptions
  • realistic narrative that contains a surreal element
  • forces us to re think our world
  • lies to you
  • to challenge the suspension of disbelief

undefined, rationality, reality

encase a lie in truth

English Classifications- Setting

Time: Year, Month, Days, Time of day – research the historical events at this time in this place (be selective, be accurate, credit sources, relative to situation) 

Place: (prepositions: beyond, before, above)

Social: Politics (historical events), neighbourhood, publications, clubs, bonfire (social gathering) arts and literature, media within the text

Atmosphere: Choose 2 scenes and catalogue all information: touch, sight, smell, taste, sound. (sensory) 

Pathetic fallacy: setting reflects event eg rain, sad 

3D layout:

Magical realism: does the description make sense or fit?

Time and place (from history): 

what was it like what was going on at the time, laws rules, events, shown in the book. differences between then and present, discuss setting of Molching /atmosphere. 

The book thief is set in Nazi Germany between 1939-1942 during WWII (1939-1945). Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the nazi party ruled Germany throughout this period in history, resulting in the death of over 6 million European jews. 

nazi party helped recovery of ww1, built trust of public

social setting and atmosphere (from book):-molching isnt real, segregated from munich. Marcus Zusak has easily convinced his readers that the town of Molching is real, however this place doesn’t exist in Germany. Zusak has created this place in his readers minds by using factors of existing towns like molching to make his readers feel as though this place exists. By doing this his audience becomes aware of how easy it is to make people believe false information, and encourages them to be sceptical when being told information.

bonfire scene (book burning), propaganda

nation is persuaded easily as it is by higher authority: persecition, people protect yourself from this by not standing up for it. this is submisive (subtle) undermining is easy.

Compare an incident from history with the corresponding incident in the book, explore the accuracy of the book incident.

book burning:

history: books burned were those which opposed the ideas and practices that nazis followed/promoted this included texts written by jewish, pacifist, religious, socialist, communist etc authors. This was done to prevent these books influencing society’s views on the nazi community and to cleanse the community of jewish, communist etc religions/ideas. As opposed to previous book burnings in history which were simply symbolic protests, the book burnings which were done in Nazi Germany were essentially acts of censorship and destruction to others property.