shaney’s Comments (group member since Oct 24, 2016)

shaney’s comments from the The Commendable Coterie group.

So although I already posted this on the previous thread, it was suggested to create a whole new thread just about these stories. If you already posted a comment in reference to Max's stories on the previous thread, just copy & paste them here.

When discussing symbolism in "The Book Thief," it is impossible to not mention the stories created by Max. "The Word Shaker" and "The Standover Man" are short stories created by Max that contain, in my opinion, some of the most meaningful messages in the book, so I'd like do ask you guys some questions about them. How do you interpret what these stories represent? Do you think it's significant that "The Standover Man" was created with ripped out pages of "Mein Kampf"; if so, why is it significant? Feel free to comment on how the stories represent a character's emotions, and also try to provide a historical parallel for the stories.

I suppose our goal for these threads is to emulate a discussion we would have in real life, so for our final thread let's try to do that as much as we can. In a conversation in real life, you wouldn't cut in and leave someone's question unanswered, so by responding to previous posts before leading into a new topic with your post, we can hopefully imitate a classroom discussion.

When discussing symbolism in "The Book Thief," it is impossible to not mention the stories created by Max. "The Word Shaker" and "The Standover Man" are short stories created by Max that contain, in my opinion, some of the most meaningful messages in the book, so I'd like do ask you guys some questions about them. How do you interpret what these stories represent? Do you think it's significant that "The Standover Man" was created with ripped out pages of "Mein Kampf"; if so, why is it significant? Feel free to comment on how the stories represent a character's emotions, and also try to provide a historical parallel for the stories.

Symbolism can be found within allegories, imagery, and metaphors. Zusak implemented symbolism in almost every chapter, so once again, we have plenty of evidence to work with. At first glance, the symbolism might fly over your head, but take a look back at every scene, object, or character for evaluation. Ask yourself, does this represent a greater concept or theme? If you're not able to answer that question, ask others in the thread what they think! Remember to back up your ideas with evidence, and keep bouncing your ideas off of each other.

Always answer the questions people before you have asked before posting a separate idea! Questions always nurture an insightful conversation.

Mark Zusak's choice to personify death and make it the narrator proved to be successful, as it made The Book Thief a memorable book for it's unique way of storytelling. Many people remember this book for Death's distinctive storytelling, so I challenge you guys to find specific evidence for why this might be so. Death's word choice and sentence structure is a limitless topic, so there will be no scarcity of evidence to use. When referring to certain sentences, always connect it to the greater scheme of things. Question every detail in the sentence you chose, then build upon it with more questions. As I said, the levels of this topic are limitless.

How does it make you feel? Why does it make you feel that way? Did Zusak mean to make you feel that way? Why would Zusak want to make you feel that way? What tone or theme does this enhance? What other purposes did Zusak have for making Death write in this way?

As a starting point, let's discuss contrast. Feel free to comment on basic plot contrast, but let's try to dig deeper into Mark Zusak's mind and motives by analyzing contrast within his syntax, diction, and the characters he created too. Make an effort to connect each of your posts to some greater significance(theme, author's purpose, etc,) and don't be afraid to question each other; the whole point of this group is to provoke an interesting dialogue. :-)