Everyone has at least one person that they trust, and for most people, they love that person dearly. However, nobody expects that person that they love and trust so much to betray them, and leave them stuck with internal suffering. In both “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak and “Goodbye” by Who Is Fancy, these themes of love, trust and suffering are addressed. In “The Book Thief”, the main character, Liesel Meminger, adores and believes Adolf Hitler. However, when she discovers he is filled with malicious intent, she is left suffering. Similarly, in “Goodbye”, the singer loved and trusted somebody, and is left mentally suffering when they learn about the lies they were told. In both “The Book Thief” and “Goodbye”, we learn that people should be careful who they give their love and trust to, and that people should make sure that they do not get hurt by the people that they loved and trusted.
A common theme in both texts is that people should be careful of who they give all of their love and trust to, as sometimes they may end up being hurt by the people who they cared about the most and trusted the most. In “The Book Thief”, Liesel Meminger clearly loved the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. Not only that, but she also trusted him with all her heart, and didn’t question anything he said or did. However, when she finds out that her dearly beloved Hitler is filled with maliciousness and greed, she is deeply hurt by how he acted and the lies that he told. Similarly, in “Goodbye”, the singer sings, “You were my first love, You were my only one, I can’t believe your lies”. In this text, the singer loved and clearly trusted the person they were singing about, and was also very hurt as a result of the evident betrayal by the singers subject.
Another common theme across both texts is that the characters go through suffering after being betrayed by who they loved and trusted. In “The Book Thief”, Liesel separates from Hitler, and her feelings towards him change. This is shown in the book with Liesel declaring, “I hate the Fuhrer [...]. I hate him”. This proves that Liesel’s opinion changed and that she was mentally suffering, as hate is often used as a very strong word. The fact that Liesel uses this word twice towards the most powerful man in the world really proves that her thinking is muddled by her internal suffering. In the song “Goodbye”, this theme is shown by the singer singing, “Once we were a fire burnin’, now you’re just a lesson I’m learnin’”. This illustrates how in the beginning, the singer and the subject of the song were everything to each other. However, after uncovering the lies that they were told, the singer suffers from the dishonesty. Furthermore, the singer learns from this experience, and it is up to the listener to decide as to whether or not this experience was positive or negative for the singer.
Although both texts are very similar in terms of themes and underlying meanings, there are differences as to how those themes and meanings are delivered. In “The Book Thief”, Markus Zusak uses lots of examples to get his message across. This can be shown with several examples, including Liesel declaring her hate for Hitler (p. 115). Another example occurred on page 20, where Death writes, “She was listening contentedly to the torrent of words spilling from his mouth. His sentences glowed in the light”. In this scene, Liesel is dreaming about going to a Hitler rally. The contrast of these two scenes display how her feelings towards him have changed, and this was Markus Zusak’s way of showing this. Contrastingly, in “Goodbye”, Who Is Fancy uses repetition to get their message across. One such example of this can be found in the lyrics: “Goodbye, Goodbye, Losin’ my mind, Goodbye”. These words are repeated three times throughout the song, fully ingraining the message into the listeners’ minds.
In the texts “The Book Thief” and the song “Goodbye”, both authors show how placing your love and trust in a person who may betray you will cause you internal suffering. After studying both the song and the book, readers might conclude that it’s up to us to decide whether or not this is a good thing and can teach you a lesson, or is a bad thing and will just cause suffering. Though we all may have loved and trusted someone the same way that both authors describe, it is our decision as to whether or not we will suffer.
Another common theme across both texts is that the characters go through suffering after being betrayed by who they loved and trusted. In “The Book Thief”, Liesel separates from Hitler, and her feelings towards him change. This is shown in the book with Liesel declaring, “I hate the Fuhrer [...]. I hate him”. This proves that Liesel’s opinion changed and that she was mentally suffering, as hate is often used as a very strong word. The fact that Liesel uses this word twice towards the most powerful man in the world really proves that her thinking is muddled by her internal suffering. In the song “Goodbye”, this theme is shown by the singer singing, “Once we were a fire burnin’, now you’re just a lesson I’m learnin’”. This illustrates how in the beginning, the singer and the subject of the song were everything to each other. However, after uncovering the lies that they were told, the singer suffers from the dishonesty. Furthermore, the singer learns from this experience, and it is up to the listener to decide as to whether or not this experience was positive or negative for the singer.
Although both texts are very similar in terms of themes and underlying meanings, there are differences as to how those themes and meanings are delivered. In “The Book Thief”, Markus Zusak uses lots of examples to get his message across. This can be shown with several examples, including Liesel declaring her hate for Hitler (p. 115). Another example occurred on page 20, where Death writes, “She was listening contentedly to the torrent of words spilling from his mouth. His sentences glowed in the light”. In this scene, Liesel is dreaming about going to a Hitler rally. The contrast of these two scenes display how her feelings towards him have changed, and this was Markus Zusak’s way of showing this. Contrastingly, in “Goodbye”, Who Is Fancy uses repetition to get their message across. One such example of this can be found in the lyrics: “Goodbye, Goodbye, Losin’ my mind, Goodbye”. These words are repeated three times throughout the song, fully ingraining the message into the listeners’ minds.
In the texts “The Book Thief” and the song “Goodbye”, both authors show how placing your love and trust in a person who may betray you will cause you internal suffering. After studying both the song and the book, readers might conclude that it’s up to us to decide whether or not this is a good thing and can teach you a lesson, or is a bad thing and will just cause suffering. Though we all may have loved and trusted someone the same way that both authors describe, it is our decision as to whether or not we will suffer.
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ReplyDeletey u do dis megna y u do dis
DeleteNice job on your essay Nicky! I really liked the way you talked about how The Book Thief and Goodbye were similar in a different way that people don't usually think about. The way you talked about the Fuhrer really made me think about the book and song in a different way. You also did a really nice job describing how they were different as well. One part that I really liked was "The fact that Liesel uses this word twice towards the most powerful man in the world really proves that her thinking is muddled by her internal suffering." because you talked about the craft which shows that you kept what we learnt from the previous bend and used it in this unit as well. Good job :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)
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