Book Thief By Markus Zusak: Literary Analysis

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is written in 1939, Nazi Germany. Parts 1-3 of The Book Thief are set over the time span that starts at the Winter of 1939 and ends on November 3, 1940. Zusak uses real life events in his story to set the plot and follow a timeline. The historical events lay out a road map on which Zusak basically follows as he writes this story. Zusak's usage on nonfiction events in a fiction story creates a mood in the story that makes in more believable. Zusak usage over non-fiction events plays a key role in the development on the characters. We learn that Hans Hubermann was a soldier in WWI on page 33 when Zusak writes, “[Hans] had already cheated me in one world war but would later be put into another…” (Page 33). On page 40, we learn that Liesel is 10 years old and what that means for all the young German youth, “.. while Liesel tried on her new uniform. Ten years old meant Hitler Youth. Hitler Youth meant a small brown uniform. Being female, Liesel was enrolled into what was called the BDM. Explanation of the abbreviation. It stood for Bund Deutscher Mädel- Band of German Girls” (Page 40). Also, we learn that Max Vandenburg is a Jew on page 169 when he states that it would be unsafe for a German family to hide him, “ How could [Max Vandenburg] show up and ask people to risk their lives

What he does give account on, though, is enough to figure out to what exact event he is referring to. Zusak gives reference to the retaliation that came from the bombing raids that the Germans had started on the British, “ In 1939, this wasn’t a problem. Later, in ‘42 and ‘43, it was. When air raids started, they always needed to rush down the street to a better shelter.” (Page 32). Though Zusak never clearly says who the bombing raids came from, if you look at the dates you can figure out it came from the Allies and most likely the