Lecture Notes: Introduction to "The Book Thief"

Announcements

• Post-spring break reminder:
  • Essay due before the break - many students missing it.
  • Submit on Google Classroom ASAP.

Today's Reading

Book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

• Focus: Prologue

Prologue Highlights

Dedication

• "For Elizabeth and Helmut Zusak with love and admiration"

Introduction by the Narrator (Death)

• The Colors and the Book Thief: Death's perspective on life and colors
• Death and Chocolate: How Death perceives humans and moments
• Key Quotes: "You are going to die."
  • Death tries to be cheerful and fair.
  • Introduction to Death's character—amiable, agreeable, affable, but not nice.
• Death's work routine:
  • Observes colors of days, uses them as distractions to stay sane.
  • Dislikes witnessing the pain of survivors.

Death's Stories

First encounter with The Book Thief (White)

• Setting: Winter near a railway line
• A train stops; involves a mother, her daughter, and a corpse.
• Death makes a mistake and stays to observe the young girl (The Book Thief).
• The girl’s tears are frozen on her face.

Second encounter with The Book Thief (Black)

• Setting: Plane crash, pre-dawn darkness
• Death collects the soul of a young pilot
• The Book Thief, now older, arrives at the crash scene.
• A boy places a teddy bear on the pilot.

Third encounter with The Book Thief (Red)

• Setting: After a bombing in a German town
• Destruction and death all around; ashen snowflakes falling.
• The Book Thief survives but is deeply affected.
• She clutches a book (her story) amidst the rubble.

Themes in the Prologue

• Colors Represent Emotions & Events
  • White, black, red occurrences mark significant moments.
• Survivor’s Pain: Focus on those left behind; Death’s coping mechanism.
• Eclipses: Symbolize the end of human life, observed frequently by Death.
• The Story within a Story: Death as the storyteller, emphasizing the importance of The Book Thief’s tale.

Closing Remarks

• Finish reading for today
• Quick activity on new slide to review understanding