25th June 2018

The Book Thief Essay.

Analyse how language features revealed the writer’s purpose in the written text(s).

Plan = In the text ‘The Book Thief’ Written by Markus Zusak language features revealed the writer’s purpose was colour symbolism.

The Book Thief is a novel based on the young life of Liesel Meminger and her upbringing in the city of Munich in a foster family after her brother passed away and her mother being taken by the Nazi’s in World War Two. There are three important and valuable colours represented throughout the novel and they come together as language features to bring life to the words and create imagery from words into pictures and relate this from the reader’s point of view into reality.

Red, Black and White. These three powerful colours that have significant meaning to the novel and reader ironically so because of how the Nazi symbolism was a flag which included these three colours. Red was revealed to be Nazi Germany, Power and Dominance. It was the blood of the symbol, what kept it alive and superior. Black was revealed to be the death, depression and loss of lives. It was the darkness of the world in the time of World War Two. Lastly White. The colour white was revealed to be the coldness, neutral, purity and understanding. The colour white was shown by Liesel, Rudy and their families. Colour being represented in The Book Thief is like another character. Emotion would struggle to be felt without color symbolism and it was included by the author to bring purpose of emotion and power to the reader and their understanding of the novel.

Red. Red is the colour of blood, also the colour of life and death. The colour red in The Book thief is the power of the dominance and Nazi germany as an army. Throughout the novel red is represented to us as a message of power and dominance. From the very blood of the soldiers fighting in the wars to the potent and highlighted red on the Nazi flag its portrayed to us as power no man can control but as a group can be manipulated.

White – a neutral colour but can be changed to anything. (its like dying a t-shirt from white you can go to any colour.) the quote “A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.” shows us the reader that even though snow is coldness and can kill that it can bring love to people like it did to Liesel and Rudy.

Quotes:

‘First the colours, then the humans, thats usually how i see things. Or at least how i try.’ Pg:3

  • This shows how death views the tragedy in the world and how he remembers the tragedy that happened to people.

‘A day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment a single hour can consist of thousands of different colours… in my line of work i make it a point to notice them.’

  • Shows that death makes his job bearable by focusing on the colours and not the tragedy of people dying.

‘It felt as if the whole world was dressed in snow’

Join the conversation! 1 Comment

  1. Finn, this practice essay is obviously not finished, and you will now need to complete your prep for the school examination on your own paper. Ensure that you have fully developed points on your chosen essay topic and that you have selected relevant evidence to support your ideas. Finally, what the reader learns from your ideas needs to have depth. Continue to plan your final judgments for this colour symbolism essay.

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