THE BOOK THIEF MARKUS ZUSAK

Background Information & Historical Context

Word Definition

Stereotyping Accepting general opinions about someone or something without investigation

Prejudice Attitude of making negative judgments without knowledge of a person

Racism Hatred for members of a group because of stereotyping

Scapegoat Person or group unjustly blamed for problems in society

Genocide Total annihilation of a race or ethnic group

PREJUDICE , STEREOTYPES, AND SCAPEGOATS

THE SEEDS OF WORLD WAR II

During the 1930s Germany, soundly defeated in WWI, gathered strength under the leadership of the fanatical nationalist Adolf Hitler.

Hitler and his Nazi Party rearmed Germany – breaking the Versailles Treaty of 1919 (was designed to keep peace throughout Europe)

Envisioning themselves as a superior race, the Nazis ultimately planned to rule all of Europe

HITLER’S POLITICAL GROUNDWORK

1934 Non-aggression pact signed with Poland

Hitler signed an agreement with Stalin, Russia’s leader, dividing Poland between them

1936 – Mussolini , Italy’s leader, signs a non-aggression pact with Germany

1938- The Third Reich: includes Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia

THE STAGE IS SET…

The stage was set for another world war. When France and Great Britain failed to act quickly to stop Hitler, the Germans opened hostilities, launching a massive air offensive on Warsaw and the surrounding area.

It took only three weeks for the Nazis to gain control of Poland.

http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/bldied.htm

HITLER AND THE JEWS

Why did this ethnic group pose such a serious threat to Hitler’s ideal Germany? The answer lies in the long history of anti-

Semitism in Europe. The Jews were persecuted in Spain and in Russia

where they were coerced to convert to Christianity or face dire consequences.

The addition to the religious issue, Jews sometimes acted as money-lenders and were scapegoated for the economic problems of the time

HITLER AND THE JEWS

Hitler was not Germany’s first anti-Semite – he was greatly influenced by Karl Lueger – mayor of Vienna

In Mien Kampf , Hitler takes a similar approach to Lueger and accuses the Jews of deliberately attempting to pollute the pure German gene pool (Aryan)

Nuremberg Laws (1935) : German Jews lost their rights as citizens, and intermarriage between a Jew and non- Jews was prohibited

When did the Holocaust take place? How many people were killed? In 1942 the Nazi’s instituted the

concentration camps, where prisoners were worked to death, shot, or gassed.

The vast majority of German and Polish Jews ended up in these camps – few survived Hitler’s Final Solution

THE HOLOCAUST

Nazis concentrated the Jewish people into a “Jewish Quarter” so they would be easier to control.

Poor sections of a city Surrounded by barbed wire or walls,

the ghettos were sealed off. Overcrowding , malnutrition, and heavy

labor were problems

JEWISH GHETTOS

OVERCROWDING IN A GHETTO

Forced labor was a Nazi strategy to exploit Jews

They were forced to work for the very people oppressing them

Food rations in the Ghettos allowed residents only 300 calories of food daily. Does anyone know the recommended amount ?

At one time , the Warsaw, Poland Ghetto contained 37% of the population squeezed into 4.6% of the area of the city!

CONDITIONS IN THE GHETTOS

THE NARRATOR

Death: The narrator of the book throughout the story.

Death is sympathetic to mankind and dislikes all of the despair and destruction brought upon humans by war, which is different from a belief that Death is friends with War.

He comments on the thoughts, morals, and actions of humanity throughout the story while keeping a close eye on Liesel

METAPHOR – SIMILE – CONCEIT The Book Thief

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Simile: a comparison of two unlike things using like or as - “A is like B”

Metaphor: also a comparison ; a type of analogy - “ A is B , or A can be substituted for B”

Conceit: an extended metaphor

EXAMPLES

Simile: “You’re as happy as a clam!” Metaphor: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and

I--I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference”("The Road Not Taken”)

Conceit: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and

women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances” — William Shakespeare, As You Like It

SYMBOLISM & IRONY The Book Thief

SYMBOLISM

Symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. A symbol is an object, action, or idea that represents something other than itself, often of a more abstract nature. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWrno6lBUQ

SYMBOLISM IN THE BOOK THIEF

What does The Grave Digger’s Handbook symbolize?

What other item(s) or event(s) in The Book Thief represents more than what we would usually associate with the object or event?

IRONY Verbal Irony: a statement in which the meaning that a speaker

employs is sharply different from the meaning that is supposedly expressed. Ironic Simile: “As pleasant as a root canal!”

Situational Irony: a discrepancy between the expected result and actual results in a certain situation.

Dramatic Irony: the device of giving the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters in the narrative is unaware of (at least consciously), thus placing the spectator a step ahead of at least one of the characters. EX: In horror movies

Irony: refers to the difference between the way things seem to be and the way things are.

What is ironic about the first book Liesel stole?

IRONY CONTINUED …

Verbal Irony: Sarcasm Overstatement (hyperbole) Understatement

The narrator says that WWII was the result of the German’s love of burning things. What tells you that this statement should not be taken literally , at face value?

LITERALLY

Understand what it really means to be “literal”

Literal: not figurative or metaphorical

I ate my weight in doughnuts this morning. I made a 20 on my theology test. She cried buckets! I will smack you if you inappropriately use

“literally”.