THE BOOK THIEF Themes

The Book Thief – Themes 

War

War is a central theme of ‘The Book Thief’ as it is set in World War II and thus affects all the characters’ lives. Most war novels are written from the perspective of the survivors, the victims of Nazi Germany, whereas ‘The Book Thief’ is different as it shows the German people’s experiences. The chaos and destruction of war affects everyone. The war also highlights how humans can rise above their circumstances during adverse times, displaying courage, daring, compassion and kindness. The presence of war brings suffering and hardship for most of the people in Himmel Street, as money is scarce. Although the Jewish businesses have been closed down and there is no competition, the forced removal of the Jews has created a massive reduction in the number of clients and customers for the remaining German businesses. Food is tight and has to be rationed, and most of the time people, especially growing children are hungry, leading them to steal food. Suffering is a result of all this and combined with the freezing cold weather, hardship is everywhere. There is pressure on the Germans to not question the Nazi party and just follow; anyone who does challenge the status quo will be punished. In the novel, we see those people who are happy to follow the party and see the back of the Jews, and those who feel less enthusiastic.

Vocabulary of War Task:

How do the following words relate to the theme of war and holocaust? What do they mean?

Concentration camps	Gas chambers	Final solution
Swastika	Yellow Star	Auschwitz
Ghettos	Showers	Ovens
Hitler Youth	Nazi	Gestapo
Genocide	Prejudice	Starvation
Propaganda	Crematoria	Book burnings

Guilt

Survivors of war often experience intense guilt – they wonder why they were spared whereas someone else died. We see Michael Holtzapfel commit suicide because he could not live with the guilt that his brother was dead – even though that death had nothing to do with him. This is referred to as ‘survivor guilt’, and can have a disabling effect on life. Hans feels guilty because during World War I Erik Vandenburg took his place in fighting, and was killed. Max is also consumed by guilt regarding his family and the danger the Hubermann family could be in if they were caught hiding him. These feelings of guilt can also lead to regret – and wishing you could change the past.

Explaining the group mentality in LORD OF THE FLIES

Lord of the Flies – Context and Background

Psychology and the Philosophy of Good and Evil in Humanity

Ultimately, whether people are essentially good or evil beings is at the crux of the novel Lord of the Flies. Take away the rules, the familiar background, the constraints of parents and teachers, the possibility of being punished – what do we have? People who take advantage of their situation and try to make the most for themselves at whatever cost to others OR can we have a co operative and kind community where everyone feels safe and valued?  We know what Golding has suggested will result from such freedom, so his belief is a pessimistic one about human nature.

Are human beings born good, but later corrupted by society and their interactions with others- to lose their innocence and perform evil acts? There are many different philosophies (belief systems) and psychological schools that suggest varying theories. Behavioural psychologists believe that we learn to behave the way we do to cope with the world around us. Humanists believe that human nature is essentially good and can stay good given the right type of nurturing and positive environment. Others argue that when we are born, who we are and who we will grow up to be is already within us, in our DNA and genetics. Most people believe that both nature (our biology) and nurture (our upbringing and education) create who we are and our behaviour. Religions also have much to say about this issue. For example, Catholics believe that we are born with original sin (evil is within us), but this is taken away from us as Jesus died on the cross. Golding was a Catholic.

Group Dynamics

Jack can clearly be blamed for starting the ball rolling downhill in terms of the decline in morality amongst the group. This forces us to ask the question: ‘Why did the majority follow Jack and the path of reckless violence?’ The answer can be found in the study of group dynamics, or how people behave in group situations.

Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon where people think and behave in a certain way in order to reach harmony and agreement. In these situations many individuals may do and say things they would not normally do, and seem to lose interest in asking questions. As such, individual creativity and thinking is lost in order to keep a group united and together.  Irving Janis, a research psychologist from Yale University began researching this behavior in the 1970s and defines groupthink as ‘A mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action” (Janis, 1972). The emphasis is not on making the best decisions but rather on conformity (all agreeing on the same thing) and compliance (all doing the same thing).  We see this in Lord of the Flies, as nobody dares to contradict Jack and his increasingly violent and manic behavior.

A lack of effective structures or procedures for decision making and /or stressful situations highly contribute to people mindlessly becoming followers in groups. We see in Lord of the Flies that Jack rebelled against the structures set in place at the start by Ralph and the others, such as speaking with the conch, allowing everyone to have a say, listening and respect. Jack’s leadership was self centered, aggressive and dictatorial. Being on the island was highly stressful for the boys – they were away from family and home; afraid and facing the unknown – again pushing them to groupthink.

Task:  Look up the following concepts related to Groupthink on the internet and write their definitions:

·       Abilene paradox                      Bandwagon effect             Conformity (psychology)       Emotional contagion

·       Group flow                               Group narcissism              Group-serving bias                  Group shift

·       Herd behavior                          Mob rule                            Peer pressure                          Risky shift

·       Scapegoating                            Spiral of silence                 Team player                           Group Behavior 

Michael Leunig's THE LOT...In Words

The Lot – Ideas for Writing about Whose Reality?

Imaginative Creative/ fictional I.e. drama; narrative; diary	Persuasive Argumentative Persuading	Expository Explaining and elaborating Exposing
Turn one of Leunig’s pieces into letters between those with conflicting perspectives. Their letters should reveal the various complexities.	Take the for or against side argued by Leunig in one of his pieces, and research this fully. Write a persuasive essay. Your aim is to persuade the reader to agree with your main contention.	Use one of Leunig’s pieces as a starting point for research and create an expository essay that fully explains the issues and factors involved, yet does not need to take sides.
Write a diary based on one of the pieces of writing. OR create -          A monologue -          Poetry -          Short story	Taking the opposite side as Leunig, write a persuasive letter to him arguing why your point of view is the correct one.	Choose a magazine or online publication and write an article exploring the various points of view on a subject inspired by Leunig.
Create some characters based on Leunig’s chapters and bring them to life. Give them a voice. Write dialogue or a short script exploring the issues involved.	Create a speech based on one of Leunig’s chapters – as a starting point. Who is your audience? What is your contention? What are your arguments? Your speech needs to be persuasive.	Imagine you are part of the Editorial committee at a newspaper. Write an editorial that provides details about all the issues involved in one of Leunig’s chapters.
Using some of Leunig’s writings about the beauty and truth of nature, create some poetry or a monologue appraising nature.	Nature is not only beautiful and healing, it is also torturous. Use this idea as a basis for a persuasive essay.	Explore the healing and spiritual side of nature as expressed in much of Leunig’s writings in the format of an article.

SKIN a film by Anthony Fabian about Sandra Laing

Skin: Race Testing, Science and Identity

One’s identity is such a complex reality that also fluctuates as we develop and have various life experiences. For apartheid supporters, they were determined to use ‘science’ to prove one’s race and therefore identity, which remained static. The scenes from ‘Skin’ where Sandra Laing’s identity and race are being ‘scientifically’ analysed may seem bizarre, but they reflect the reality of the time. At the Ministry of the Interior, Sandra is humiliated by a battery of tests, including:

·       The pencil test; to check the tightness of her curls

·       Race swatches, where her eyes, teeth, skin and gums are compared with others.

Other tests used included ludicrous and clearly unscientific questions such as:

·       What one ate for breakfast

·       How soft your ear lobes were

·       If you slept on a low or high bed

·       Sports preferred

Exploring the relationship between race and identity...

List the inner feelings you would experience as a black individual under Apartheid

HENRY IV Part one: Shakespeare's beloved FALSTAFF

FALSTAFF
Falstaff is both a comic and dramatic character who is much loved and studied, even though he is not meant to be the focus of the play. As we know, Falstaff spends most of his time at the Boar’s Head Tavern wining and dining, and will use any means to support his lifestyle and longevity.

Why we love Falstaff

We love Falstaff for the humour he adds to the play; he is a study in self preservation and craftiness. He has lived fully, is not averse to exaggerating his achievements and never misses an opportunity to protect and promote himself. Normally we would loathe an individual with such qualities, however within the frame of the play; we can laugh at a distance – along with his friend Prince Hal. Many of the scenes featuring Falstaff are riddled with physical humour, but it is his brilliant wit and philosophy that is most memorable. Falstaff definitely adds colour and tone to the play! We are forgiving of Falstaff’s basically immoral and amoral personality because there is a certain truth and irony in much of what he says, especially when he questions the key theme of honour. Finally we get a sense of Falstaff’s self awareness and enjoyment of his life, his wit and his exaggeration.

The importance of Falstaff

Why does Shakespeare create such a friend for Prince Hal? Apart from the obvious diversion and comic genius, it is an opportunity for us to see the lower class of people in Elizabethan society, as well as the noble people in the royal courts. We can see that although the upper classes are more discreet and polite; they too are behaving badly and being dishonest. Falstaff is all front, even his lies are so over the top, they are hilarious. Perhaps Prince Hal can appreciate the openness of Falstaff – he will do what it takes to preserve himself and his life, whereas the rebels and even King Henry IV take refuge in subterfuge in a dog eat dog world, where lives are so easily disposed of. On a more practical level, theatre in Shakespeare’s time was mass entertainment, with all classes of people attending, from the rowdiest peasants to the upper classes. Crudeness and bawdiness meant there was something for everyone; otherwise the crowd would grow listless and bored. Falstaff is a bridge between the classes and allows something that would not have happened in real life – communication and relationship between the classes. Furthermore a character like Falstaff allows the audience to see connections and make conclusions about the behaviour of the ruling class that would not be openly discussed. Falstaff also elaborates a key theme in the play, that of father and son relationships – which he clearly has with Prince Hal. At a time when Hal is experiencing life and still developing, Falstaff is an accepting father figure, away from the pressures at the court. As the play ends, Falstaff has the gumption to ask Prince Hal for a position in the Court as he after all did kill Hotspur and Prince Hal laughingly agrees knowing it is not true. This is Prince Hal’s way of expressing gratitude to Falstaff for helping him to develop into the young man he is, and for being his friend.

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AND HER SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGESE

An Introduction to... Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born in Durham, England on March 6^th, 1806, into a large and wealthy family.  From the start Browning showed a love of learning, reading and writing, and was clearly very intelligent.  As William Shakespeare was her favourite writer, she spent much time writing poetry in sonnet form. Elizabeth was educated at home and had lessons with her brother’s tutor, so she was better educated than most females at this time. Her passion for learning and literature was matched by her passion for religion.

Even as a child of twelve, her father paid for her first publication ‘The Battle of Marathon’, so he was clearly supportive of her talents.  Elizabeth was close to her family and parents, and was deeply upset whenever tragedy struck. Unfortunately, she was also often ill with lung problems and other issues, meaning that she was sick much of her life. 

In 1828, Elizabeth’s mother died and she became more and more reclusive.  The financial fortune of the family changed in the 1830s and the lavish family home ‘Hope End’ had to be sold to pay out debts.  After spending some happy years with her brother by the seaside at Torquay on the Devonshire Coast, Elizabeth was devastated when her brother Edward drowned.  Returning to the family home in Wimpole Street, Elizabeth spent the next five years shut up in her bedroom, very ill and seeing few people.  Her undiagnosed pain was treated with opium/morphine by the family doctor, causing her to develop an addiction.  Despite all of these setbacks, Elizabeth never stopped writing poetry and studying and reading. 

Her collection of verse called ‘Poems’, was published in 1844, making her a very popular writer with the Victorian public.  As an admirer of her writing, Robert Browning wrote to Elizabeth, congratulating her on her writing.  After meeting her, the two fell in love and due to the resistance of Elizabeth’s father – the two secretly courted and developed their love.  During this time, Browning wrote her ‘Sonnets from the Portugese’.  The couple eloped and had a private marriage ceremony at St. Marylebone Parish Church and then moved to Italy in 1846.  In 1849 Elizabeth gave birth to a baby son. Her father never forgave Elizabeth for marrying and disowned her, causing her much pain-but she knew she was doing the right thing.

In 1861, Elizabeth Barrett Browning succumbed to her illness and died in the arms of her husband Robert Browning.

‘Sonnets from the Portugese’

These were written in secret during the time of the courtship between Elizabeth and Robert Browning.  Overall there were 44 sonnets and she did not show them to her husband until three years after they were married.  He was so impressed with them that he insisted they be published, and they were a great success.  The sonnets show us the power of love and the development and transforming effect that this love had on Elizabeth.  We see the tentative beginnings filled with doubt and almost disbelief that someone like Robert (or anyone else) could actually love her, to her gradual accepting of this reality and becoming imbued with it.  Through these poems we also see how deeply spiritual and beautiful Elizabeth is in her heart and in her attitude to life and love.

Othello's Just Plain Evil Iago?

Iago works for Othello as his Ensign. As a result of being ‘overlooked’ for a promotion as Lieutenant, Iago plots his evil revenge and ruins many lives. It is challenging to look at Iago as anything other than evil for the sake of evil. On the surface, Iago comes across as ‘honest Iago’- who is friendly and loyal. In reality he is the exact opposite of this persona.

Much discussion has occurred over Iago’s character.  Is he just evil personified, with no redeeming features?  Is he a formerly good man who has been driven to revenge by his disappointment at being overlooked for a sought after position? 

Most people prefer to see Iago as totally malignant; the total villain. Evil for the sake of evil; almost like another Shakespearian character, Richard III. Iago knows exactly what he is doing and how he will do it; furthermore he seems to enjoy being evil.  Although many critics and psychologists try to provide reasons for evil acts today – during Shakespeare’s time, people accepted the religious beliefs in good and evil. Iago then is evil.

How is Iago evil? Firstly, Iago wants power and because he did not get the power he sought in the promotion, he decides he will take the power by any means he can and at any cost. Throughout the play we see that Iago has power over Othello, Roderigo, Desdemona and Cassio. His wife Emilia is the only one who can see through Iago, and he kills her to stop her speaking out.

 Iago is clearly arrogant and egotistical as he sees himself as the centre of the universe, and he feels no sense of responsibility or guilt towards others because he is so self obsessed.  Evil has also been described as the total absence of love and we see that Iago ridicules love – seeing it only as crude sex.

Being an Elizabethan tragedy, although there were many deaths and much destruction – the evil villain must be punished as justice must prevail. The audience would have felt sure in the knowledge that Iago and the likes of him would be damned to Hell forever.

Tasks:

1.  Find 3 speeches/quotes highlighting Iago’s attitude to love.

2.  Has Iago learned anything by the end of the play?  Is he remorseful about his behaviour?

3.  In a page, describe Iago as you see him.