Book theif project

The podcast discusses the theme of finding beauty in sorrow, focusing on the book "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. The narrator, Death, describes how he sees colors when collecting souls. The main character, Liesel, experiences darkness and sadness after losing her brother and being separated from her mother. However, her foster father, Hans Huberman, brings kindness and beauty into her life. Despite initially struggling to connect with her foster mother, Liesel recognizes the worth and kindness in Hans. The podcast explores the significance of colors and their symbolism throughout the story. Have you ever heard of a diamond in the rough? Now you're probably asking yourself, what is this girl talking about, but just give me some time to explain. Well, a diamond in the rough, which any Disney fan would know, is also featured in the movie Aladdin, can mean a few things. It can mean someone whose worth lies far within, someone or something with potential or talent but lacking training or polish, or great sadness and sorrow comes great beauty. In this case, it means great sadness and sorrow comes with great beauty, which is also the whole theme of our podcast today. This is Isabella Bowden and Reena McClure. Hi Isabella, thank you for joining me. It's a pleasure. It's good to be here. So recently I read a book called The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and it's a book based on Nazi Germany. Our main narrator of the book is death. Personally, I think it's very interesting that we see it from this perspective. Death really shows us a big theme inside our book. He shows us that there can always be beauty from sorrow. How he does this is by mentioning all the colors he sees when he picks up souls from people's deaths or when people die. Before this book, I felt like I knew that people die and have colors around them, but I never really thought of it as important as the sorrow that comes from the death. So let's begin by looking at some of the colors that are mentioned. First of all, before looking at some of the colors, I wanted to ask you on your thought of death, before this book, what was your idea? Honestly, to be completely honest with you, I honestly didn't think about death that much. It was kind of just like a sad topic that I guess nobody really cared to mention or talked about because, you know, just with death comes great sadness and stuff and everybody just ignores the fact. But I agree, I've never thought of death with colors, that you see colors with death. Alright, so next question. Death mentions three deaths at the beginning of the book, in the prologue. All of these deaths had one of the three colors, red, white, and black. What do these colors symbolize throughout the whole book? Well, I would say red is maybe anger and hatred. Black, I would say, is kind of like death, like the darkness within all of the whole book and everything that portrays into it. And white, I think, is related back to beauty, like the light that's within the darkness because throughout the whole book, Marcus's death shows us that even in some of the darkest moments, there are still bright people and happy people who can make it worth your while. Do you see any moment where death uses colors to relate or connect with the human world? And if so, what colors do you see? I would say yellow would be maybe a good color because yellow can be portrayed as both sadness and happiness. And I feel like we could use it in both references in death and in birth. Okay, so what colors do you associate Rudy, Rosa, Papa, and Max? Because they are the closest people to our main character, Lysel. And how do you think these colors affect Lysel? Well, I would say, with her Papa and Rudy, I would say they both remind me of the color blue because they're very easygoing, calm, and they're like, I would say, the most important people to Lysel as of like constantly throughout the whole book and they really are there. But then they also have their moments where they do stuff and they're sad and they make her sad or she's sad for them. And to Lysel, I think it means that they're kind of like her foundation because when she first got there, she didn't know anybody. She was starting to get used to it. Her Papa really helped her just adapt to the new life. And Rudy was like the friend she needed to open her up, basically. Alright, what about Papa and, well not Papa, Mama and Max? Her Mama, I would say, grey. I would say grey because her Mama's kind of neutral. I wouldn't say that the closest relationship, but also they weren't like really distant. I would say like they were like kind of in between. Like it wasn't her number one person, but it also wasn't like her least favorite person. Like they did connect because it was obviously her mom. But like, I feel like they didn't have like as a deep connection as she did with everybody else. And Max, I would say he, to her, he would be... There's so many colors I could say for Max. Because throughout the whole book, he was like, when she was with him, he caused a lot of emotions. Like good and like sad emotions with her. But if I had to pick overall, I would say yellow, like I said earlier. It's like kind of like the sadness and the happiness in her life. Because of his situation, his predicament, she was sad for him and she wanted to be his friend. And at first she was like a little shy. But then he opened her up and they just became like the best of friends. And it was all good and going and then he had to leave. And I feel like that was just kind of really, really took a toll on her. Because not only did she lose him, but she lost her Papa too. And so she was just losing all these people. And I feel like he, yellow represents the relationship the best. Alright. So, toward the end of the book, we see that Lysel is associated with the color blue. The color blue sometimes will represent someone who has been through a lot, but they succeeded and they got over that. How do you think Lysel's experience in the book represents the color blue? And can you find like any examples? Well, I would say, well, I don't know if anybody's finished. But in Chapter 10, it mentions her Papa. He's lying on the ground and she's like talking to him. And she's like, you know, she's sad and she's heartbroken and stuff. She's talking about all like, she's saying like, you helped me and like you were there for me. She would never do some of the experience they had together. And how they just like, how he helped her become like the person she is today. And how without him, she'd never be the same. But she was like, kind of like saying goodbye, but also accepting like the truth within losing her. And so, yeah, I would say Chapter 10 is a good example of overcoming her sadness. Okay. Hi, Verena. Hi. It's good to be. We're happy to have you here. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. Well, as I said before, we're talking on the subject of Book Thief. A book by Mark, I forgot his last name, but that's not important. Well, the theme in the overall book is with great sadness and sorrow becomes great beauty. Well, I want to get your opinion on a few of the questions. Well, first, Beth is the narrator of the speech. And basically, he's telling us the whole story and basically just gives the whole feel. But his main focus is color. Like he revolves around color. So, Beth mentioned in the first chapter, he states, Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulders. I will carry you gently away. Beth's whole persona resembles around colors. But what's your opinion on it? Why do you think his whole persona is colors? I think with Beth, his job is very hard because he's collecting the souls. So, his way of connecting or his way of feeling like more kind of human or just more of a character is that he sees his job within colors so that his job doesn't feel really bad. He sees it as being a happy part of his job. And he uses those colors to kind of cope with people's death. Okay, great. Yeah, I completely agree with you. Now, to focus on one of our main characters, Lysel. She's the main character of the story Beth's talking about. And she's one of the main characters, but she struggles a lot when she first gets to Hemel Street, which is where she stays with her foster parents. Her life, and it talks about how her life was surrounded by dark colors and how she was just having like a tragic time because she had just lost her brother. He had passed away. And then her mom left her with these strangers, and she just didn't know what she was doing. Well, the book, the story states, she was beaten in the dark, and she had to remain there on her dark, cold kitchen floor. Even Papa's music was the color of darkness. Even Papa's music. The strange thing was that she was vaguely comforted by that thought rather than disturbed by it. So, why is Lysel so familiar with darkness? I feel like Lysel, in the beginning of the book, when she loses her brother, I feel like that's a big moment of darkness for her because she loses family, especially when she gets separated from her mom. Like, that was family that she knew for a while. And, you know, like nothing's going to make you happy. Because if you were to lose your family, you wouldn't feel great. Like, everything wouldn't look as beautiful as it was when you had that family. So, she's so familiar because she lost people that are special to her. Okay. Yeah, I completely agree. She suffered a lot before that. Okay. So, focus on her Papa, Hans Huberman. He is one of the kindest characters in the book, which shows time and time again. He shows happiness and kindness in the real meaning of being a human, even in the darkest times. Well, the story states, Well, our theme that we said was that you can find great beauty in sorrow. And because Hans himself, like, he's showing that he is a great person that helps in the time of sorrow when Jewish are just kind of like, they're being, they're not treated with the best of respect and they're, like, getting hurt and there's bad things happening to them. But he just asks them, do you need any help? And that's just kind of the beauty because in that great time where they're having sorrow, they find someone to help them. Yeah, I absolutely agree. Okay. Again, on top of Hans Huberman, it seems he's the beauty in all the sadness. When Lizell first gets there, she doesn't accustom to Rosa, but Hans, she does. She says, Lizell, upon seeing those eyes, understood that Hans Huberman was worth a lot. Lizell knew he was a kind soul. How and why do you think she knew that? I think she thinks that he is a very kind soul because of the way that he comes to, like, comfort her, especially when she's having, like, her nightmares. She finds it, like, when Rosa is just, like, you know, kind of yelling at her when we first meet her and isn't, like, the kindest. So we don't, us and Lizell don't get the best first impression of her. But Hans, on the other hand, we get a very good impression of him and Lizell does too because he comes and comforts her. When this is a girl, he just, like, found, like, he just, like, just adopted her and he's already being so kind. He's comforting her. He's reading to her. He's doing a lot of things that just kind of help Lizell get away from, like, or try to forget the bad memories that she had. I completely agree. We do get a bad impression of Rosa from the beginning, but she did change her mind and show she was a good person deep within. Okay, lastly, death. The main, the narrator and the main story, the main person of this story. No. Death tells Lizell's story after mentioning the colors red, white, and black, also the colors of the Nazi flag, by the way. But he says her story is to prove that human existence is worth it. He says, they fall on top of each other. They scramble signature black onto the building, global white onto thick floppy red. Yes, often I am reminded of her in one of my vast array of pockets. I've kept stories to retell. It is one of the small legions I carry. Each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt and meant to leap of an attempt to prove to me that you and your human existence are worth it. Here it is, one of a handful, the book thief. Why does death say the last line? So you're talking about the line where he says. Where he mentions human existence. I think throughout the book, death has really, especially with Lizell, he was more focused on human existence, and he was more intrigued by Lizell, so he got a deeper view of human existence, and he got to see more colors throughout the characters. So I think he says this because he found the existence of Lizell and the people around her very important, and he values human existence much more. Okay, great. Well, Verena, it was lovely having you here, and I think we should just wrap it up. Thank you.