Literary Analysis Of The Book Thief

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.
World War II was a war of atomic bombs, sudden deaths, and most importantly a war of words. Both Allies and axis countries depended on mass communication and media to convey the different messages, words of hate, hope, and patriotic service they needed to say to manipulate the minds of their people. The Book thief uses the power of communication to heal, protect and help fight the injustice that existed in the time of the book. Throughout the narrative, the author conveys the best and worst manners that language can be used. With examples of
Even though the style of writing is simple and direct, it does a good job conveying the different themes of the story, including the different conflicts between politics and religion, separation of families, death, and etc. The power of words is shown as soon as Liesel learns how to read. Her will for prosperity and curiosity becomes more powerful with every word she learns. She realizes that words, through cruel and wicked manners, can be impact people to force acts of brutality. During the burial of her baby brother, she finds her first book, the grave digger’s manual. Even though liesel couldn’t read at the moment, she knows the memories its words