Books have the power to both save and destroy. It depends on how the words are used in the book. If they are used in a positive matter they can save many things. However if they are in negative matter (brain-washing) then they have the power to destroy. The Book Thief has the power to save, because it makes us remember how it feels to be picked on and how it feels to have nothing or to suffer. It could save people, for example if a bully reads this he might have a change in heart and stop bulling other kids. People are power less without words, for example in The Book Thief page 446, “The best word shakers were the ones who understand the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest. One such word shaker was a small, …show more content…
It mostly depends on the words inside of them. Like Death said in The Book Thief, “I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.” Death says this after he reads the book thief’s book. He was wondering how something so ugly and hideous (He rescued it from the garbage carrier) could have such an amazing words inside them. This proves that no matter how ugly or how beautiful a book is, all that matters is the words inside a book. The words inside the book are the things that make books have to power to …show more content…
For example in The Book Thief Lisa says, “I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” (p.528). What she means by this is, after encountering Max, while he was being forced on the way to a German concentration camp, Liesel becomes hopeless and rejecting of the written word. This happens because she sarts seeing Hitler's words as the main source of her suffering. Ilsa Hermann later gives Lisa a blank book and encourages her to write a story in it. Liesel writes the story of her life, which is containing both tragedy and beauty, at a restless pace. Due to that Liesel came to the realization that words have the power cause both violence and comfort (destroy or save), and she strives to make her words "right" by combating very strong and powerful propaganda with writing that emits from selflessness and love. Therefore books have the power to do both, to save and to
Prologue: On page 4 the narrator says, “Personally, I like a chocolate- colored sky. Dark, Dark chocolate. People say it suits me.”(Zusak 4) This led me to believe the narrator is death. He sees life in color because he appreciates color more because his life is so dark and filled with death, color is in our lives and our souls will soon be filled with darkness and him and not have a colorful life.
It is the start of World War Two and a young girl has just witnessed Death for the first time, and Death has glimpsed her. Set against the bleakness of Nazi Germany, The Book Thief details the beautiful, gut wrenching story of ten year old Liesel Meminger as she tries to survive and make sense of the confusing and often cruel world that surrounds her. Through her story, and the relationships she builds, this terrible time in history takes on new depth and a true understanding of the struggles that came with living in war-torn Germany.
Words hold great power and when used correctly can influence what people believe and how they act.
“The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” This quote is from the famous diary of Anneliese Marie Frank; a holocaust victim and a modern time hero. In Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger is surviving through World War II just like Anne Frank. Although their circumstances are vastly different, both girls learn that the person they wish to become must be created through their own experiences and trauma. Narrated by Death, The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old German girl who has been given up by her mother to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the small town of Molching in 1939. In the novel, Liesel’s greatest mountain is her internal conflict with herself and the propaganda
Words have the power to affect people in many ways from empowerment or to taking upon action. Words are able to make huge changes in the lives of many and can make good or bad changes. In history, people used words in both good and bad function from making a promise to a nation or even manipulating multitudes of people within a nation. Words definitely have the ability to take situations a far distance but despite the fact that evil can manipulate the majority of people, individuals too can realize the true actions and evil buried inside the perpetrator. People can be both ugly and beautiful at sometimes with weapons along their sides. A novel called The Book Thief illustrates the power of words in a multitude of ways, showing the potential
Death, narrator of this story, keeps us entirely focused on mortality. Death himself has nothing to do with why people die. He only exists because people die. He has the job of separating the deads souls from their bodies and carrying those souls away to the . Death lets us know from the beginning that this is a very sad and tragic story. But then again this story is set during WWII and the Holocaust, we witness the deaths of many innocent and not so innocent people, which is to be expected in a book about this time period. Death tells us that most of the characters we will begin to love will die by the end of the book. There are very few who do survive in the end of this tragic tale. Which is a very realistic happenstance back then.
Reading a book is in many ways the same as exercising the muscles in your arm, as you are feeding your brain new information and ideas of life. Life is short and I believe that you should always be positive and do the things that you want without people telling you that you are wrong. The following Novels have taught me various aspects, which I have and still am using to make my life a memorable one as well as a positive one.
In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, beauty and brutality is seen in many of the characters. Rudy, Liesel, and Rosa display examples of beauty and brutality often without realizing what exactly they are doing, because it is a part of their human nature. Zusak not only uses his characters, but also the setting of the novel in Nazi Germany to allude to his theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature. The time in which the novel is set, during World War II, displays great examples of beauty and brutality, such as the mistreatment of the Jews. As a result of this time period, the characters have to go through troubling times, which reveals their beautiful and brutal nature in certain circumstances. Zusak uses his characters and their experiences to demonstrate the theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature in the novel.
Throughout the course of history, words have been gifted the unique ability to change what people think, positively or negatively. This is highlighted in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak which discusses a young girl who lives through the times of Nazi Germany. Liesel goes through countless predicaments which range from her hiding a Jewish man to losing everyone she ever knew. In The Book Thief, Zusak explores the power of words by analyzing the ways in which words can be used to change the way people perceive different events. By exploring the duality of the power of words, one is able to see how perspective can change for better or worse.
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."
One may wonder since in The Book Thief many characters are negatively impacted by the power of words if characters are also positively impacted by the power of words.
The central aspiration of any literary work is to captivate the reader and immerse them in the vastness of their imagination. An author is able to establish a deeper connection between the reader and the text through the incorporation of various literary elements. Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, uses many aspects of literature to shape the novel and exquisitely portray the events of the story. The imaginative and unique use of elements such as irony, foreshadowing, and point of view certainly contribute to the grandeur of this book.
...at the power of words entailed in the novel, The Book Thief, words really are very powerful. Three examples were given above as a few powers that the novel captured throughout the story. Words can manipulate and divide people, but at the same time connect people. Despite the fact that words have so many contradicting powers, one can use the words to their full extent when their intent is moral. In fact, words are meaningless if it doesn’t have an impact on an individual, society, or world. Words can do both good and bad, however, if one uses them in a proper way, it can result in a positive statement for our world. The novel gives the readers the lesson that we should comprehend the power of words and use words in a moral way. Just remember this: “I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” (pg. 413)
As time evolves, so do the words that are essential for our everyday survival. The most obvious difference between humans and animals is our ability to master the art of speech. Often, people will say the “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, a simple nursery rhyme that helps ease a bullied child from abusive words and taunts. But does that really help cure the emotional pain? Words can illuminate and motivate the minds of people but can also shadow their self-esteem through psychological trauma. In The Book Thief, we see how fundamental words were to shape the reality of millions of people caught in the fire of World War II.
Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.