The Book Thief

In the novel The book thief by Markus Zusak thief their is a recurrent idea of prejudice. Mostly towards the Jewish the book is set in world war 2 it adds an exciting feeling of danger during the novel. The idea of prejudice, in this book can also be linked to the fat boy story where the blame is spread to prejudice stereo types such as the Jewish or the fat boy being blamed for the short comings of others uring the texts.

I feel that the idea of prejudice is linked well to this especially in this story where the Jewish are being hunted for their so called crimes against the country. And although not in this form, stereo typical assumptions are still present today as peoples character are Judged automatically at first glance for example in the text the stereo typical quote “Being a Jew in these times means being a criminal. There is no move a Jew in Nazi Germany can make that isn’t considered a crime. ows that stereo typical prejudice views are forever present throughout the text.

The character Max is a prime example of the prejudice stereo types forced on the Jews. Max’s Journey and struggle to reach 33 Himmel street does well to represent the struggle and hardship of all Jewish at this time. The quote “when death captures me . He will fell my fist to his face” makes max stand out to me and the narrator death as strong character that has the courage to fght back against discrimination.

The Symbolic book Mein Kempf or “My Struggle” links well into the story accompanying Max on his Journey. I feel the book is symbolic in how it feel against the Jewish and what it means to be a true German. This leads me to believe that the fact that Max a Jew carries the book with him is very ironic and it links well into this theme of prejudice and discrimination towards others by making the assumption that because he owns the book he must be a supporter. The Jesse Owens incident although not linked to the Jews has a certain focus on blacks .

Although not predominant throughout the story this is emphasised greatly by one of the characters, Mr Steiner the father of Rudy Steiner the subject of the Jesse Owens incident. Whilst trying to lend political aid to the young ignorant boy he states that “you shouldn’t want to be black or Jewish. ” this quote has real significance to me because it is stated in the text that Mr Steiner did not hate Jews or blacks, but because of the societal influence that says he should he teaches his children to do he same.

This shows that at this time and maybe even today that the view of other especially those in power are often accepted as what is right. Over all the recurrent idea of prejudice and stereo typical assumptions towards others is displayed in the book through the characters and symbolised books like Mein kempf. It also shows the societal influences of such ideas that are also shown to day in different forms even having great impacts on lives of those whom are being discriminated against.