Magical Realism

In the text The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, magical realism is used to convey certain points of the text and messages to the reader. He does this by using a realistic narrative with a surrealist element. The majority of the book takes place in a small town on the outskirts of Munich, called Molching, the reader is led to believe that Molching is a real place, and this is done by using real place names surrounding the fictional area, such as referencing its distance to Munich, which is a real place in Germany, and it is also positioned on The Amper River, which is a real river that passes through the distance to Munich that Molching is said to be located. The use of a fictional location gives the author of the text more freedom in their writing, due to the fact that he is able to give places and streets names that have greater meanings, instead of replacing existing places, which detracts from the realism of the text. An example of this is the name of the street that the main character Liesel lives on. Himmel street translates to heaven, and this name references the great memories that Liesel experiences on the street but also alludes to the eventual deaths of all the residents of the street except for Liesel.

Molching, a small town on the outskirts of Munich, is the setting of The Book Thief. The town is described in great detail in the book, such as the fact that it lies on the banks of the River Amper, and a road to the Dachau Concentration Camp, these locations are both real locations in Germany and they both are near Munich, which is close to where Molching has been placed, giving the fictional town a sense of realism. The use of a fictional town that is described to be truthful in so much depth as to convince the reader it is a real place tells us that Markus Zusak might have been making up other parts of the story that may seem real, or at least that he is exaggerating. This leads the reader to believe that the author may be misleading the reader in other parts of the text that may seem realistic

The Son Of Man

Image result for the son of man

The Son Of Man is a painting created in 1964 by the Belgian artist Reńe Magritte, it is his most famous piece of artwork by far. It comprises of a man in a grey suit with a bowler hat on. There is a green apple floating in front of the man’s face, obscuring most of it. The man is standing in front of a wall that reaches his waist, and the wall is in front of the ocean or a large body of water.

Book Theif Analysis – New Quote

“Here is a small fact – You are going to die”

In the text, the author uses the personification of death to give the reader a new perspective on life and death. The text is set in Nazi Germany, which was a time where many people lost their lives, most of which were not soldiers but just innocent people, and some of which were only killed for there beliefs. The use of death as the narrator of the story gives us a new perspective on death, instead of marking the end, death is shown to be a pathway into the next life. In the text when people die death comes and rescues them from their dead bodies, taking the soul of the person with him, bringing them on a journey to the next stage. Many people are frightened by death and some people take extreme measures to evade it for as long as possible

The Book Thief – Quotes + Notes

pg. 3
First the colours.
Then the humans.
That’s how I usually see things.
Or at least, how I try
– gives a description on deaths atitude

pg. 3
Here is a small fact – You are going to die
– Speaks directly to the the reader

pg. 5
Your soul will be in my arms. A colour will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away.

pg. 5
It’s the leftover humans.
The survivors

pg. 6
Its the story of one of those perpetual survivors – An expert at being left behind

pg. 7
It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow

pg. 8
The mother, the girl and the corpse remained stubborn and silent.

pg. 8
Tears were frozen to the book thief’s face.

pg. 10
Sometimes I arrive too early,
I rush,
and some people cling longer
to life than expected

pg. 11
Years had passed, but I recognised her.
She was panting

pg. 21
Stupidly, I stayed, I watched.

pg. 31
But she had dangerous eyes

pg. 33
Liesel, naturally, was bathed in anxiety

pg. 34
To most people Hans Huberman was barely visable

Book Thief – Symbolism

Colour
“First the colours
Then the humans
That’s usually how I see things
Or at least, how I try”

I predict that the colour in the quote is going to be black, because the quote is spoken by death, and black is most commonly referred to as death. Death is also referenced and this also backs this up. I also think that red will also be used because red is asosiated with violence and crime, which is often referred to death.