Comparing The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, And When Dogs Cry

Between Slaughterhouse-Five, a novel written by Kurt Vonnegut, and Full Metal Jacket, a film directed by Stanley Kubrick, we can see many significant similarities in ideas and themes. Both of them have major ideas regarding brainwashing of war as well as acceptance which, in a sense, go hand in hand. However, since Full Metal Jacket follows Joker, the main character, he displays more ideas of compassion and humanity while Slaughterhouse-Five follows Billy Pilgrim, the main character, he shows more of themes that reveal that time is cyclical and how everything ends up back at the beginning.

In the literary world, it is a well-known fact that the Carnegie Prize Award for Literature is the most prestigious award around, and the one that is most sought after by authors. It is presented annually to a novelist who has produced an outstanding book for children or young adults, one that captivates its audience, has an engaging and unique plot and is written beautifully. (1)

He is the youngest of four siblings of foreigner German and Austrian parents. Neither one of the parents could read or write English when they initially touched base in Australia, yet they needed their kids to ace the dialect and emphatically urged them to read and write in English from an early age. Zusak started composing fiction at age 16 and sought after a degree in educating at the University of Sydney. Before turning into the expert author he is today, Zusak worked quickly as a house painter, a janitor and a secondary school English educator. In 1999, Zusak's first novel, The Underdog, was distributed after numerous underlying problems. It is the first book in a set of three, narrated by Cameron, the most youthful kid in the Wolfe family. Cameron is the underdog of the title, and the story takes after his battle to characterize himself inside his family and society. Cameron and his sibling and best friend Ruben were inspired by Zusak and his own brother as well. The sequel, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, recounts the siblings' cooperation in an illicit boxing ring as a method for supporting their family. The last book in the set of three, When Dogs Cry looks at the confusions of loss, death and becoming hopelessly in love. Zusak's second and third books got various awards including the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults for Fighting Ruben Wolfe and the Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Young

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a moving, award-winning story that follows the life of a German girl, named Liesel, during World War 2.

I would like to ask you all, “What is the best way to portray a message?”. How can we word an idea so that it’s importance is understood and it stays ingrained in people’s minds? Today I would like to analyze how two different literary works go about delivering their similar messages. Those two works being Brave New World and Animal Farm. Having read Brave New World in class, I’m assuming we are all familiar with it. Some of you may not however, be familiar with Animal Farm, I would like to open up with a summary of the novel. The story takes place almost entirely on the Manor Farm. After being inspired by the dying message of a pig named Old Major, the animals of the farm start to distrust the rules they know. They lead a rebellion and overthrow the farm’s original owner, Mr. Jones. With their new leaders Napoleon and Snowball, the animals rename the farm “Animal Farm” and create their own set of rules called “Animalism”. Things do not end up well for the animals though, for soon corruption sets in. Snowball is branded a traitor and removed from the manor, the pigs form a controlling authoritative government, the original principles of animalism are constantly changed to meet the government’s needs, and the non-pig animals are forced to deal with terrible living conditions and nonstop hard labor. By the end of the novel, the pigs have grown so corrupt, that they become basically unrecognizable from the humans which they claimed to have hated so much. Both Animal Farm and

Reading is really great, but for me, I do not like writing as much as reading. Many people enjoy writing over reading, except I am complete opposite. When I sit down and read a good book, I can read for hours. Writing on the other hand, just does not come naturally. Books like, American Sniper, The Monuments Men, and Unbroken really got me interested in reading books about war and history. I like to write, if it is a topic I can write about. If I get an easy topic, that I can brainstorm great idea’s.

The outsiders by S.E Hinton and “Nothing Gold can Stay” by Robert Frost.the Outsiders is about two groups that don't get along.Nothing Gold can Stay is about nature and how it doesn't stay forever.

Slaughterhouse Five is an anti war book that narrates the life of a young boy, Billy Pilgrim, who is sent off to serve in World War II. The author tells Billy’s journey in a way that makes the reader think about the reality of the story. While Billy is serving, Vonnegut illustrates the classes that dominate the military throughout the time period. He displays this by showing that the children in the war have no real power, with the German officers who run the prisoner of war camp, and the way Howard W. Campbell, Jr. sees America.

Words are one of the most powerful ways humans can connect with each other. Nazi Germany is a place where the use of words was the most powerful gift anyone could have. Since the novel is set in Germany during World War II the words back then had negatively influenced the society at that time, and positively influenced a young German girl named Liesel. In The Book, Thief Zusak tells the story of a German girl named Liesel who goes with Rosa and Hans Hubermann in Molching Germany, who become her foster parents. Liesel enjoys books and tends to steal various of them. The Hubermanns encounter a Jew named Max and do their best to help him survive the evil Nazi’s. The message

Markus Zusak's compelling story The Book Thief shows young Liesel and how she works through the heart wrenching reality of her brother passing away and her mother leaving her with a foster family she had never met before. As Liesel matures she learns more and more about what is going on in the world outside of Himmel street and the truth about her mother. She also discovers how she truly feels about the word communist and what it means to her family. Whether it was the message or the characters or even the settings, that contribute to a superb novel that everyone should read.

It might be best to know Zusak’s life to understand how his cultural setting was incorporated into his writing. Zusak was born to an Austrian Father and a German mother, both whom has had a past experience with World War II. Being the youngest of four children, gaining publicity was not easy. Zusak attended Engadine High school to get an education, which he eventually returned there to teach, whilst still writing. Zusak Is the author of a total of six books, his first The Underdog was published in 1999, which spawned two sequels, Fighting Ruben Wolfe in 2001 and When Dogs Cry 2002. His most famous books, I Am the Messenger, and The Book Thief, give part for his success. His sixth book was Bridge of Clay. time Zusak has stated that he has taken many parts in his life and applied it his books, for example his father was a house painter and so was the Hans in The Book

In the novel The Book Thief Markus Zusak uses many different characters, experiences, and control factors to greatly illustrate the life of a young girl and her book living experience through the Holocaust.

Born in 1975 in Australia, Markus Frank Zusak is the youngest of his three brothers. His family passed through asperity moments and strived to maintain a decent live. Markus grew up wanting to become a house painter just like his idol and father Helmut Zusak. However was after reading The Old Man and the Sea and What's Eating Gilbert Grape that he decided to be a writer. The books were an immense font of inspiration and ideas for a Markus' first book. Thus, with sixteen years old, he started to write his first book that after many rejections was published in 1999.

Aristotle described plot as being unified through a beginning, middle, and end. Writers use this model in modern literature to display the linear progression of a story. However, the WWII satire Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut follows a non linear time progression to represent the anguish of the human mind as a result of trauma. Likewise, Vonnegut’s choice proves to be effective, as well as negate the need for Aristotle’s standard model of a narrative. The effectiveness of this unique timeline is made possible due to how Billy Pilgrim’s mind was altered by the war. Therefore, examination of specific aspects of Billy’s life reveals how the novel does not need to follow the standard linear time progression.

It seems sometimes like the market for young adult literature is written down to the readers, almost in a condescending manner. That is why a book like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is so refreshing in this sea of cookie cutter romances and fantasies. While classified as a young adult novel, it deals with very serious themes. The book’s cover comes printed with this label: “It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.” It is a dark allusion to what is to come. But Zusak makes this story more accessible to the audience he is writing to and does this by creating identifiable characters, by bringing humor into