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27 February 2020
TextualAnalysis
Atthe end of the narrative, The Book Thief, Markus Zusak writes, “Ihave to say that although it broke my heart, I was, and still am,glad I was there”.In the paper, we seek to undertake a textual analysis of this finalstatement from the novel. The sentence aims at explaining theauthor’s feeling about certain aspects of life such as love anddeath. The character appears to argue that mortality is present inour daily lives. In fact, the deaths of some of the characters in thestory reaffirm the presence of mortality. Upon reading the book, oneunderstands that Death is threatening and less distant. Through hisnovel, TheBook Thief,Zusak deals with matters such as worthless social ethics in theabsurd world, accidental deaths, and violence among other irrationalhuman situations. His irrationality viewpoint is that human life hasno true meaning. He asserts that the only things that people are sureabout are death hence, all other actions in life are meaningless.Good formatting and appropriate patterns between texts have greatsignificance in understanding the intended message by the author.
Backto the text at the end of the novel, the vocabulary used is suitableas it highlights the most important points in the story. Ofimportance is that the writing reflects the author’s feelingconcerning death and love, among other issues in life. The tone ofthe writing is conversational. In this form of writing, the authorexpresses the feelings in writing the same way he would speak out thewords. It is also in this style that one breaks some of the rules ofthe grammar. Conversational writing helps in the establishment ofrapport with the audience. As such, the readers can easily understandthe meaning of a text or even relate to the author. It is alsonoteworthy that the style allows one to write using natural voice,with the text appearing less strained. In the text, Zusak intends toshow his feeling about death that surrounds us in our daily lives.The author communicates the feeling readable and speech format. Welearn that the author manages to communicate the message effectively.
Fromthe text, we also observe that the author makes the repetition of theword, ‘I’. While the real intention is to communicate hisfeelings to the audience, repetition happens to ignore theappropriate rules in the grammar. It is advisable that the authorminimizes repetitive words in formal communication or writing. Therepeated word shows the author’s self-centeredness. However, theauthor manages to communicate his feelings to the audience. The textdoes not have to follow the set rules of grammar since it adopts aconversational style. It is advisable that the author makesimprovements on the text to eliminate the repetitive words. The abovetext can be rephrased to read as follows “althoughit broke my heart, I was glad to be there”.The new sentence appears better in communicating the author’smessage. It has also followed the major rules of grammar. Moreover,the new text is straightforward both in writing and speaking.
Thetopic sentences are original and concise hence relaying theappropriate message to the audience. The topic sentence makes onewant to read more about the story highlighted in the novel. Topicsentences play a critical role in elucidating the message to theaudience. It has to be clear and concise to help the audienceunderstand the intention of a story even without reading all theparts. It also allows the readers to generate an authenticconversational voice. In the story, Zusak notes that death is anexpected element in human life. The explanations given are notfactual and only resolve the challenging idea, which argues that theuniverse is irrational. It is a fact that the earth exists as thecradle of humanity, but they cannot continue to inhabit in itforever, as they will also have to leave someday.
Theauthor has integrated quotes in the text appropriately. He hasincorporated two quotes at the beginning and end of the sentence. Oneobserves that the quotes form part of the full sentence ascommunicated by the author. It is also noteworthy that the quotes areselected and placed appropriately to show the start and end of thephrase. They form an integral part of the resulting paragraph. Inmost cases, quotes identify the direct communication made by thespeaker. Some motifs keep recurring in the structure or the literarydevices of the novel. The topics help to create and develop the mainthemes. Two central themes of the story, death, and love, reveal thevarious uncertainties and worries in the society through engagingtheir audiences in a review of the same problems that happened in thepast. The approach also tends to develop emotions among the audiencebecause of memories that link them to the events. Symbols such asobjects, characters, and figures are used to represent certain ideas.
Additionally,one observes that the analysis is coherent, with the techniqueseffect explained throughout the story. Both the speaker and audienceneed to communicate using skills that are easily understood. It isnotable that the effective communication in a story goes beyond thespeech and hearing but also encompasses word choice and style. Suchtools play a critical role in enhancing better interpretation of themessage by the audience.
Inthe story, we also observe that language, reading, and writing areimportant symbols of expression and freedom used in the novel.Symbolic elements are crucial to show the identity of characters thathave great power and influence in the development of the story.Learning how to read helps in defining the characters in the novel.Liesel`s coming of age, for instance, is influenced largely by herability to read and write later in the story (Zusak 30). It is alsonotable that the capacity to read and write acts as the social markerfor the character. One important element is to communicateappropriately in a language and style that is easy to understand bythe parties. Idiomatic expressions may not be articulate the intendedmessage correctly. It is thus essential for individuals to refrainfrom using ambiguous phrases and styles that bring confusion in thedevelopment of a story or even understanding the message.
Inconclusion, the text has great significance in the story, includingcommunicating the initial feelings of the narrator. Zusak usesdistinct styles and features of grammar to explain and highlight themost important points in the story. It is clear that theconversational style utilized by the narrator helps in mixing boththe formal and informal features of the language. The symbols andexpressions used by the narrator have contributed to express the mainthemes namely mortality and love.
WorkCited
Zusak,Markus. TheBook Thief.London: Definitions, 2008. Print.