The Book Thief is set in the time of World War 2 where the Holocaust is present and disaster is everywhere. Throughout the story, Liesel, the main character, learns that words are extremely powerful and hold the ability for people to use them for good or for evil. Among the disaster and altercations, Liesel uses her literature to comfort her and make herself more powerful due to her knowledge, which demonstrates the theme of the story, the comfort and power of literature and words softens the pain of loss. Liesel, the book thief herself, steals books in times of pain. All six books Liesel steals are metaphors for the feelings of loss and pain during the time of which the book was stolen. She uses the books to grow knowledge of the situations occurring around her, one stolen book in particular is “The Gravedigger’s Handbook” This book is the first of all books Liesel steals, and it is the book that caused her to grow to love words, coincidently, she finds this book in the snow on the day of her brother’s death, which is when she was filled with grief and abandonment. This book is a symbol for Liesel’s grief and as she tries to learn how to read the book, her twisted comfort in the story shows how the words had a powerful effect on her grieving process shown by the quotation, “…Not to mention the morbidity of the subject. As for the girl, there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn't even attempt to understand” (Zusak, 66) The idea of the power in
In the Book thief, there are a great many books that liesel comes to own and almost all of them are a symbol for something. From persecution, to friendship, to coming to terms with someone you were mad at. Every story in the pages of The Book thief is a work of art and worth reading.
Max describes Liesel’s use of books as a refuge in the story he leaves for her, “The Word Shaker.” In Max’s book, words are transformed into seeds, which Hitler uses to create a forest that fills people with Nazi ideology. However, Liesel grows her own tree and takes shelter in it, no one can chop it down but Max is able to climb it and take shelter with her. The story dramatises the way Liesel has used words and books to create a refuge in the midst of Nazi Germany and how she shared her refuge with Max. Also, Liesel begins using book to comfort people in the shelter by reading to them. The last lines of Liesel’s own book are “I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” This shows Liesel’s drastic development from the girl who was unable to read in front of her class, to the person who uses books to comfort her neighbours. However, books can’t protect Liesel from everything. When Liesel sees Max on his way to the concentration camp, she rips the pages out of a book in Frau Hermann’s library in rage. It is this moment that Liesel makes a connection in her mind between words and the current state of the world. Although, at the end of the novel, a book indirectly saves Liesel’s life as she was in the basement working on her own novel when the bombs fell on Himmel Street. This is the book that Death finds, and that gives Liesel her
The Book Thief is about a young German girl named Liesel Meminger as she goes through life while living in Germany in 1939. Liesel and her foster parents live a normal life on 33 Himmel Street. There is only one difference between their family and the others, they are hiding Max Vandenburg (a Jewish man) in their basement during the time of the Holocaust. This story, narrated by Death follows the life of Liesel from her first step into 33 Himmel Street, until the day she died in Sydney, Australia.
In the novel The book Thief, Markus Zusak explores that death and war are often more difficult for those who survive. At the center of the text is the idea that those who are left behind after tragedy suffer greatly. This is revealed through the hardship of life and experience a gentle transition. This was shown as an experience of Liesel who struggles as well as the other characters that have difficult processing their grief and guilt. Zusak’s novel acts to alert his readers the dangers of war and by the hardship of life and experience a gentle transition.
In Markus Zusak novel “The Book Thief,” a little girl named Liesel serves as the protagonist. The plot of the story takes place in Germany during the late thirties, early fourtees while the anti-jewish sentimant is most prominent and Hitlers is at his peak in terms of power and followers. The book revolves around the life of Leisel and how these attrocious conditions shaped her life. This book does a great job of demonstrating many aspects described in “How to Read Literature Like a
The book thief takes us through a journey of Liesel and her struggle through the times of the Holocaust. Moving to a new city and being adopted by a new family Lisel goes through many challenges by has her new friends and family to support her. We start with Hans Hubermann her new father, a generous down to earth man who is an ex soldier.
Liesel grew as a person, began to wonder about the world, and realized the power of words. Liesel saw the meaning in the smallest things. In the beginning of the novel, Liesel became attracted to words when she stole her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook from her brother’s grave site. Even without having a clue what the words meant, the book became representative of the last time she saw her family and “as for the girl, there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn't even attempt to understand” (Zusak, 66).
A theme found in The Book Thief is words have power. The Book Thief’s main character Liesel Meminger is a symbol of words have power. Liesel symbolized a love for reading. Reading changed her outlook on life, it helped her grow as a character. Liesel’s first book, The Gravedigger’s Handbook, was a symbol
The book is about a young girl named Liesel Meminger living with adoptive parents in World War II Germany. The book thief, Liesel, shows resistance to the cruel Nazis in many ways, one of which is stealing books from the Nazi book burnings. In a description of such an act, “Smoke lifted from the cover as she juggled it and hurried away (Zusak 121).” Another way that Liesel defies Hitler’s cruelty is by quietly voicing her beliefs against him when she says, “I hate Hitler (Zusak 115).” Liesel and her adoptive parents, for much of the book, also take in and care for a jewish man, Max, when he is on the run from Nazi soldiers. Liesel Meminger and the various characters of the book thief show a quiet but vibrant resistance to the hate and intolerance of the Nazi
Shifting from Liesel, Death takes us to a small dark room where we come upon a sad hunched figure. A man, a Jewish man sits alone in this room filtering and re-filtering the same stale air. Starving and scared this figure only rises from himself to greet his friend Walter. " Max wake up." (139) Walter came with gifts, a fake identity card, a copy of Mein Kampf containing a key and a small ration of food barely large enough to be considered a meal. breaking his food into the portions Max devoured what he allowed himself before pleading to a man hundreds of miles away. " Please." (141)
The title of the novel represents thieves such as Liesel, Adolf Hitler, and Death and why they stole books. Liesel stole The Gravedigger’s Handbook, The Shoulder Shrug, The Dream Carrier, and many other books. Liesel stole her first book from the gravedigger that buried her brother, Werner Meminger. The handbook starts out as something to remember her brother but then becomes something to learn from when her foster parent, Hans Hubermann, teaches Liesel how to read. She begins both reading and stealing to educate herself and to become a more independent person. With her newfound knowledge,
The word struggle is given a whole new meaning in Markus Zusak’s, ‘The Book Thief”. Throughout life, several humans go through struggle one way or another, but have overcome them.
In the story The Book Thief, books are an essential part of Liesel Meminger’s life. They affected her from the moment she arrived on Himmel Street to the moment she left Himmel Street. They gave her a way to rebel, they comforted her when nothing else could, and they symbolized her relationships that she developed throughout her childhood in Molching.
Heil Hitler. Behind this statement is a mirage of things. Floods of horrible picture of dying starving Jews in concentration camps, Hitler at the helm at things, committing mass genocide. So how does someone stop a powerhouse such as this? For Liesel, a small girl in Molching, stealing books is her getaway. “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is a unique book which puts Death into the narrator 's place. And when Death becomes a storyteller, telling the story of Liesel using three colors. Red. White. Black. Death talks to readers about how Liesel steals books as a way to escape reality and along the way learns about the horrible, tyrannical country that she calls home. But by putting Death as the good guy we can look more into the details. It is with this different mindset that allows certain themes to be more recognized. One prevailing theme that occurs frequently was one which readers could see what common, regular citizens were experiencing in a Nazi controlled Germany instead of from a surviving Jew’s point of view. Then as if that wasn’t distinctive enough, readers are able to look through a small child’s view and what she can do to oppose an oppressed country.
The Book thief is about the life of a little girl named Liesel who lives with her foster parents in the fictional town of Molching, German during World War II. She was sent to her foster parents because her mother was believed to be a