Markus Zusak's figurative language plays an important role in the book making it unique. There are many things about Zusak's writing style that make this book so appealing. He wrote the book's point of view from Death which is using personification already. Death narrates using personification, imagery, and many similes. "The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness" (12). Death describes the color of the sky so well using a simile and imagery which helps me picture exactly what the sky looked like. Another example of a simile is when Rudy shows Liesel the Road of Yellow Stars. "Shaped like a long, broken arm, the road contained several houses with lacerated windows and bruised walls...Those houses were almost like lepers" (51). Here, Death describes the Jewish people's houses as "infected sores" in the German town and I think that wording in this excerpt really describe what the road looked like. Death is a very important character that uses figurative language often, creating the style of this book which is unique, descriptive, and unlike other books I've read.
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It's especially important that you picked out the wording of "infected sores", because the Jewish homes can relate to that metaphor on mulitple levels. Not only were the houses very broken down and in bad condition, unpleasant to look at like a sore on your body, but the Jewish people living inside of them were also unwanted by the majority of Germany. And really, who wants an extra sore on themselves? Sores are kind of gross.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to agree with you on the idea that Death being the narrator is also extremely unique.
I agree with both Emily and Cindy. Death describes the Jews' houses as "infected sores" just to show the reader how much disrespect Jews received. That quote really paints a picture in my head of how much hatred Hitler had towards Jews because i don't think i will ever compare someone's home as an "infected sore".
ReplyDeleteI like your point that death uses personification, imagery and similes. No other character or thing uses any sort of descriptive language except death. He gives life and color to the story.
ReplyDeleteI like your point that as Death narrates, there is personification, imagery and similies. Death definetly does all of that quite often!
ReplyDeleteI like how you stated Death uses the various figurative languages found in the book as a part of his narration. I am also wondering if the author tried to use as many literary elements as possible through Death's narration to inform us of his personality.
ReplyDeleteI think it's also interesting how death's job is so different from how he describes everything. He describes everything with such life and color, but he ends peoples lives everyday. I think the contrast is just interesting.
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