Background Information & Historical Context
THE BOOK THIEF
MARKUS ZUSAK
PREJUDICE , STEREOTYPES, AND
SCAPEGOATS
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
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 nonaggression 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

THE HOLOCAUST
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 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
The Book Thief
METAPHOR – SIMILE – CONCEIT
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
The Book Thief
SYMBOLISM & IRONY
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.
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”.
