How Is Words Used In The Book Thief

In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, words are used in an extremely powerful way. The characters within this novel are impacted negatively and positively by the words that are spoken. In the book, words help to express who the characters are by showing how they interact and respond to them. I have learned that words can be encouraging and uplifting for the characters. They can be used to learn important lessons that can help a character to better understand their life. However, on the other hand, characters in the novel are also put down and hurt by the words that are spoken to them. Words can be encouraging and uplifting, The Book Thief has an immense amount of encouraging and uplifting moments, but only a few are powerful. An example of encouragement

Rudy Steiner, however, is a boy who has learned some very valuable lessons. Which have made him understand the world he lives in. As a boy Rudy would always get himself into boatloads of trouble. But when he wants to act like his inspiration, he gets himself in more trouble than ever. Rudy Steiner, one day decided he wanted to be like Jesse Owens. So he covered himself black and ran around the track just like Jesse Owens did. As a result, his father found him and boy, did Rudy learn his lesson. Mr. Steiner yells, “Son you can’t go around painting yourself black, you hear?” (Zusak, 60) Rudy learned his lesson because he realized if the Nazis found him painted black, they would have taken him to a concentration camp. He never tried painting himself black ever again because he didn’t want to lose everything he had. Another character that learned their lesson was Liesel, when Max and Liesel built the snowman they never cleaned the snow, as a result, it melted by the fire and it got Max extremely sick. “Unfortunately, that night signaled a severe downslide in Max’s health. The early signs were innocent enough, and typical. Constant coldness. Swimming hands,” (Zusak 313) Death said. Liesel learned her lesson because Max got so sick that it took numerous days for him to slowly wake up. She couldn’t resist not talking to him so every evening when she came home, she would repeatedly read books to him. Learning

Characters in this novel will experience words that will bring them down, and hurt them immensely. An example of when this happened was when Ilsa Hermann fired Liesel from her job. When finding this out she had no clue what to do with herself. In her head she would think, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, what will mama do to me when I get home?” So, as a result, she went back to Ilsa’s home and Liesel went berserk at Ilsa. Liesel shouts, “‘It’s about time’ she informed her, ‘that you do your own stinking washing anyway. It’s about time you faced the fact that your son is dead. He got killed! He got strangled and cut more than twenty years ago!...’” (Zusak, 262). Death continues, “Her eyes were blackened. Cuts had opened up and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin. All from the words. From Liesel’s words.” (Zusak, 263). This quote shows how words can hurt greatly. The saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt,” is very untrue in this story. Because a little girl’s words impacted a woman’s soul significantly. The last example of when someone was hurt by words, was when Max was called horrible names by the Nazis soldier, when walking to the concentration camp. The Soldier shrieks, “‘Get up, you dirty a**hole, you Jewish wh***-dog, get up, get up…’” (Zusak, 514) As a result of this, Max was whipped and was forced to continue moving. He tried to