The difference between rebellion and doing what is right.

The Book Thief contains scenes of what seems to be rebellion. Rebellion is subjective to people's own beliefs. This rebellion in The Book Thief between Jews and Nazis can be looked at from two points of views. A Jew may view it as doing the right thing, and fighting for natural rights, but to a Nazi or even a brainwashed German, this conflict may be seen as unwarranted rebellion or disgusting revolt. Each person's set of morals and beliefs conflict in ways that makes it hard to pick a side when you are caught in the midst of it. This contrast also can be used as evidence to back up the novel's overall theme that everyone is capable of good and evil. Connecting the two is simple but also complex at the same time. A person's beliefs may make them seem like an evil person, but to someone with the same beliefs may view their actions as necessary or "what I would have done." This novel explicates human's complex minds and values.

Diction/structure

Max's style in writing books represents a unique diction style for The Book Thief. Max chooses to tell his story through stories that are mainly illustrations. He shows his infancy views that is a pattern in this book with his illustrations, but show his maturity through the meaning and feeling that it displays. He sarcastically writes isn't this a nice day" on a page in his second book to show the German evil that has affected him and so many other Jews in such a dramatic way. I believe that this diction  that Max uses effectively gives the audience the feeling that Max feels: the feelings of utter disgust at the way of Hitler. This proves as evidence of the argument that humans have an unrealistic to overcome cruelty, because despite Max's struggle to survive in his world where there is so much hatred for him, he doesn't become monster himself.

Toward the end of The Book Thief, survival begins not to matter anymore. Rebellion against the Hitler reign starts to break through. First is the Hubbermans hiding a Jew in the basement. Then Max begins to dreams of directly fighting Hitler and all those who he controls. Liesel starts to steal other things beside food. Rudy even rebels against his peers in Hitler Youth, picking fights with them for no other reason than he doesn't feel like keeping up the image of the dutiful German. Rudy and Liesel no longer steal food with the group because Rudy has a fight with the leader. Everyone is becoming careless with their perfected images. This relates to the argument that in this era, conformity and rebellion can be interchangeable as the good or bad side of humanity in this novel.

POMO EVIDENCE IN ARGUMENT

Max continues to create books from Hitlers "My Struggle". The book he writes and illisatrates on page 279-280 he admits has no logical structure. He just allows his emotions to take over him as if the fact that his whole lie has relied on him acting in a way that allows him to survive is too much for him to do anymore, now he has overly exhausted his hiding, and is ready to fight. This presents an ironic twist to the postmodern pattern, because postmoderns are very much based on rational evidence and not much. He also bases the story on raw emotions and memories. He bluntly creates the image of the mass destruction present in Germany. This DOES demonstrates postmodernism.

Malleabilty of free will.

Propaganda has proven itself as a free will contorter. Humans, naturally, are gullible creatures. We don't want to think for ourselves because when faced with the challenge we also face the chance of thinking the wrong thing. For that reason, when someone tells us what to think or what to do, we thankfully do it. Especially now, when humans are so busy doing whatever it is that we humans do. We almost need someone to tell us what to think and do, because we are all so uninformed that we can't make our own decisions and opinions. I say all of this to preface the fact that free will is malleable. The main argument of the Book Thief is that all humans are capable of good and evil, but before one can examine that in more detail, one must first understand that that capability of humans is determined by how much they let others think for them. It is no question that Nazi Germany used propaganda to influence the minds of those who inhabited Germany. Hitler even had his own Hitler Youth. Just as pertinent, the Gestapo used propaganda and even fear tactics to influence the mind of Germans and people who lived outside of Germany. Minds at the time were manipulated by the coldly calculated hands of Hitler. Mark Zusak understood this. He chose death to be the narrator because for he isn't a human and would be less likely to undergo brainwashing. It may seem like death's emotions and attitudes mirror the likes of a human, but this irony is a characteristic of the time period's literature. One might say that death's human nature in the novel serves as an antithesis saying that all things are subject to manipulation, whether it is internal or external.

LITERATURE CIRCLE:

Adding to the argument that words have power:
When max shares his "dreams" of fighting Hitler in an arena with Liesel, she asks who won. He states that he did. This emphasizes the power of word because he understand that he needed to instill hope in the girl so should continue fighting. He understands that this statement, regardless of its lack of truth, could influence her future. A postmodernism characteristic is as follows:
Characteristics of Postmodernism:2) facts and falsehoods are interchangeable
Because one of the characteristics of postmodernism is that there is no absolute truth, a natural outgrowth of this thinking is that facts and falsehoods are interchangeable. What is accepted as truth today could easily be proven wrong tomorrow, and vice versa.
The Germans believed that tiler's way and word was the right thing to do. Even though his lie is an example  of human evil, Max tells his lie, it is morally wrong, but in the end it shows human kindness. This could also support the argument that there is evil and kindness in humans at the same time.

Argument of The Boook Thief

Death has human characteristics throughout the entire story and portrays them though the words he uses. His words have so much power and emphasis even when they are both good and bad.

*Evidence of this is on page 137 where Death connects himself with a human, Liesel, to make himself more humane. He connects himself to her through her emotions and obstacles in her life.

Observations: Post Modernism

One of the characteristics of post-modernism is that the narrator can not be trusted. In The Book Thief, we can not trust the narrator, who is Death, becasue he can not trust himself. Therefore, how are we as the audience able to trust a narrator who can not trust himself. Death's job is to take the souls of the dead, but several times throughout the novel, Death has seemed to pick "favorites"; characters in the novel that it seems have more chances to live than other characters in the novel. When Himmel Street is bombed Death refers to taking Frau Holtzapfel in her kitchen, Frau Diller was fast asleep, the Fiedlers were all in bed, the Steiner's were sleeping, Rudy was lying halfway off the bed with his arm around one of his sisters, Hans was sitting up in bed, and Rosa was asleep. Then Death that states that Liesel was not in the house, not for him to take (530-532). Liesel is the only person who lives on Himmel Street that survives. Why was she not in the house with Hans and Rosa? Because Death favored her and in a way led her to make the choices that would result in her being in the bomb shelter when the bombs were dropped. Also several times throughout the story, Death refers to how Hans Hubermann has cheated him in death twice. Not many people cheat death twice and Death favored Hans because he obtained a certain quality that Death could relate with which was kindness in a cruel and horrible world. Throughout the novel, Death roots for different characters, and in some ways is responsible for the choices they make that in some cases save their lives, which is why the audience can not trust the narrator.