Kindness Prevails All Similar to the saying of ‘think before you speak,’ words play an important role in many human interactions. Depending on the magnitude, of one’s reaction to a conversation, the complications can and cannot be easy fixes. The strength of words is present in that of Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief. In it, Markus Zusak tells the story of a young girl, Liesel Meminger, who lives in Nazi Germany. To have her cope with her surroundings, Zusak has her read. While reading, she leans that kind words can make a huge difference in a loathsome occurrence. Of the books she reads, two of them represent this idea the strongest: The Standover Man, and The Word Shaker. Zusak uses The Standover Man and The Word Shaker to convey …show more content…
During the year 1940, Max Vandenburg, a Jewish man, goes into hiding in the house of Liesel Meminger by using “[the book] Mein Kampf [as the only thing] to save him” from being caught outside the house’s safety (160). In using it to protect himself, Max thereupon creates an irony. This is that the book is by “the Führer,” the same man who is responsible for forcing the people of Max’s religion to go into hiding (125). Accordingly, Max feels unclean of using the book as a ‘shield,’ causing him to remake it. To remake it, he, with the help of Liesel’s parents, “[sit in the basement to paint] the various pages [of Mein Kampf white]” (256). With white being a color that is untouched, it is pure, thus also giving the pages a feeling of being pure in their …show more content…
While writing, he gets the idea to give it to Liesel as a gift. In it, he talks about his life and of how he always has “men standing over [him]” trying to instill the fear of being inferior to those around him (224). With men always telling him of his worth as being nothing, Max starts losing hope. However, near the end of his story, Max begins to regain this hope from another person who stands over him. This person is Liesel. Unlike the other people in Max’s life, Liesel stands over him with a warm and open friendly demeanor. As described by Max, Liesel “[asks him to tell her about] what [he dreams] of… [resulting in her telling him of what she] dreams [in return]” (233-234). It is with this sharing of dreams in a kind conversation that manages to melt Max’s hopeless conservation towards that of himself. Moreover, as gratitude, Max gives Liesel The Standover Man as a way of showing of the good she has accomplished for him. While reading what Max has written, Liesel gets the idea to help others through their own problems of hatred whether for that of one’s self or not. Exampling her choice of wanting to help others comes in the form of her “[reading to] everyone [during a bomb scare]” (381). Despite the threat of a bomb scare being a huge deal, and/or of a horrible occurrence, Liesel manages to keep herself calm and reads in order to soothe those around her. Another example of her helping is of when
Characters of Himmel Street which support those who have been marginalized by society encounter love for humanity as they share a form of love with the individual they are comforting. Liesel Meminger is a character on Himmel street that continually comforts others, which is noticeable in the way she treats the character Max Vandenburg who has been abused by societal ideologies. It is evident that Liesel supports Max when she obtains gifts for him, while he is ill and concealing from the Nazis, “Whenever she
Max uses Mein Kampf as a kind of cover so people wouldn’t suspect that he was a Jew and he escapes to the Hubermann’s house as Hans promised to help the Vandenburg’s if they ever needed it as he was friends with Max’s father in the war and Max’s father saved Hans’ life. Liesel is curious but also scared of Max at first but they bond over the fact that they both have nightmares, have lost their families and are both “fist-fighters” Since Max is always hiding in the basement, Liesel begins to describe the weather to him and brought him snow where they had a snowball fight and built a snowman with Hans and Rosa. Soon after, Max falls ill and she brings him 13 presents, hoping that he will wake up and reads to him every morning and night. Max also begins to share stories with Liesel and for her birthday makes her a book called “The Standover Man” which is about his life and journey. Max also begins to have daydreams where he fights Hitler and Hitler always uses his words to excite the crowd and uses them as a weapon. Liesel and Rudy also begin to steal food with a group of
In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak tells the tragic story of Liesel Meminger and her experiences in 1939 Nazi Germany. Zuzak incorporates compelling literary devices such as toe curling foreshadowing, personification, and vivid imagery in the form of simile and metaphors to grasp the readers’ interest. Zusak’s use of various literary devices helps to deepen the text and morals of the story, and makes the dramatic historical novel nearly impossible to put down.
In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the narrator is Death, who shows itself as sympathetic and sensitive towards the suffering of the world and the cruel human nature, through its eyes, we can get to know the heartbreaking story of Liesel Meminger an ordinary, but very lucky nine-year old German girl; living in the midst of World War II in Germany. In this book the author provides a different insight and observation about humanity during this time period from a German view and not an Allied perspective, as we are used to.
This realization, although suspected by the narrator for a long time, shows the true irony of Liesel’s thefts: that she never needs to steal them. When she steals her last book, The Last Human Stranger, she even takes a plate of cookies and leaves a note. Although none of these books are featured as heavily as her first few thefts, their titles reference parts of Liesel’s struggles such as her relationship with Max, her role in uplifting her community in the bunker, her continuing education, and her status being the only survivor of the final bombing. In conclusion, the books which Liesel steals are very influential in her development through the course of the novel, with the titles themselves references other parts of her life.
The Book Thief and Nazi Germany The heavily proclaimed novel “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is a great story that can help you understand what living in Nazi Germany was like. Throughout the story, the main character, Liesel goes through many hardships to cope with a new life in a new town and to come to the recognition of what the Nazi party is. Liesel was given up for adoption after her mother gave her away to a new family, who seemed harsh at first, but ended up being the people who taught her all the things she needed to know. Life with the new family didn’t start off good, but the came to love them and her new friend, Rudy.
Unbeknownst to Liesel, Max secretly writes two graphic stories for her, enshrining the power of words, rewarding her developing power of words and giving her strength to write her own words. The Standover Man; the first of the two complete illustrated stories, encapsulates Max’s feelings towards Liesel and their developing friendship. Within the context of the story, Max is depicted as a bird- like creature who fears ‘men standing over’ him. His fear may be associated with the events of his life that have left him vulnerable, for example, losing his father at a young age and losing a fist fight to a friend. As the story progresses, it becomes evident that Liesel’s presence provides comfort to Max, as he begins to realise that ‘the best standover man [he’s] ever known is not a man at all’, but is Liesel; a companion who is ultimately able to redefine Max’s preconceived notion of ‘the standover man’, as being someone associated with abandonment and antagonism to a compassionate figure that he need not fear. The second story, The Word Shaker, written by Max, and created with the assistance of the Hubermanns, juxtaposes a book of oppression and detestation into a story of hope and resilience, to impart optimism within the reader. The fact that the faint text of the Mein Kampf does not leak through the painted pages, as it did in The Standover Man, is symbolic of how the only way to obliterate the legacy of Hitler is through the union of Jews and Germans. This is utterly uplifting, as they elicit the realisation that even for Max, who is secluded from the world and tormented by the Nazi morals, is powerful enough to overcome his fear of Hitler’s
In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, many characters develop an understanding of the power of words which results in many characters being negatively impacted by the theme.
...by American bombers and everyone but Liesel dies on the street. Liesel only survives because she was writing a book of her own, and was in the basement when the bombs struck. When she is rescued by the police, she rushes to find her parents and Rudy, but only finds them both dead. The story ends with her being adopted by Ilsa Hermann. Of course, this does not mean the story is over; there is an epilogue. Max survives the war and later finds his way back to Liesel, who rejoices when they finally meet. When Liesel finally dies, death takes her away from the others and shows her the book that she was writing when the bombs fell. She asks him if he understood the meaning of it, to which he responds with his own sage advice. When death takes her soul away for good this time, and takes one last look at the title of the book. The Book Thief by Liesel Meminger.
Foreshadowing in The Book Thief is one literary device used that some readers love and some readers hate. There are more than a few instances when the narrator, death, uses foreshadowing to keep the reader interested in the story and to further on certain thematic ideas in the novel. For example, death says that “Hans Hubermann was not granted membership in the Nazi Party. Not yet, anyway” (183). Here, it is being foreshadowed that Hans Hubermann will be forced to join the Nazi Party at some point in his life. By giving us this piece of information, the narrator is causing the readers to be curious and wanting to know more. This foreshadowing blends in with the thematic idea of war because by joining the Nazi Party, Hans will have to go fi...
When the word ‘beauty’ comes up, most people think about beauty in a physical sense, but there is more to beauty than what meets the eye. A person may seem beautiful on the outside, but true beauty comes from within and from the heart. Kindness is one type of beauty and kindness is the type of beauty that has the power to make an impact on people’s lives and spread love to other people. Kindness is beautiful because of the simplicity of it and when it is an unexpected and rare thing that is what makes kindness all the more beautiful. In the novel, The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak shows how beauty can still be found in the midst of the brutality that is present during the war through kindness. Zusak exhibits the beauty of kindness through friendship,
Death is a very well-known figure that is feared by many in all countries. He is suspected of being cruel, disturbing and all synonyms of horrifying. Death is inevitable and that is the most fearing aspect of his persona. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Death is made to seem or resemble humans. Effectively using the narration role, Death introduces a unique description and definition of colors in which he uses as a tool to effectively engage the readers to the events occurring throughout the book. He also demonstrates him personal and different experiences as well, mostly about soul gathering and the implications of WWII that have affected him. On the contrary to Death’s dead, appalling and scary nature that many interpret him to be during the book, Death shows many emotions and features to his personality that reasoning would declare otherwise. One of those feature would be the colors.
8.The Standover Man: Max makes the book for Liesel’s birthday. In the book he talks about how they have things in common, and how she gave a gift to him on her birthday. It connects her to Max.
During Markus Zusak’s book we observe the beauty of humans at many times. One of the most beautiful things a human does is when Max, the jew the Hubermanns are hiding from the nazis, gives Liesel a book that he made himself. But he says that “Now I think we are friends, this girl and me. On her birthday it was she who gave a gift to me”(Zusak 235). Max made this book for leisel by taking paint from the basement and painting over pages in Mein Kampf. He lets the pages dry and then he writes a story on them. He makes this book for Liesel because he can’t afford to buy one, and even if he could he can’t leave the house. But when he gives Liesel the book we also examine humans doing something so unbelievably nice. Liesel accepts max as a friend. Which in the long run will help Max out a lot, because he is locked in the basement and he can’t even go up stairs during the day. So someone who is there to talk to him, and someone for him to talk to will help him out. Throughout this book we watch their friendship grow. Liesel feels bad for Max because he is stuck in the basement so on a regular basis she will tell Max what the weather is like...
This happens after her brother dies on the train to go live with her new parents. The grave digger dropped the book next to the grave and Liesel grabbed it before anyone noticed. She moves to a good sized house in Munich, Germany on Himmel street. Almost immediately after she meets her new parents( Hans and Rosa Hubberman) she likes Hans and not Rosa. She likes Hans because he is kind and caring, but Rosa has a screechy mean voice and bosses her around. She soon meets her soon to be best friend, Rudy. Rudy is about the size of Liesel, they may have the same blonde hair, but Liesel has dark, dangerous eyes instead of Rudy's bright blue eyes. She meets Rudy while playing soccer in the street and being the new girl Liesel gets goalie. A bigger boy runs to shoot at Liesel and shoots strong and accurate... But Liesel jumps and saves it, no one stops this boy's goals. As everyone is cheering for her a boy comes up and high fives her, Rudy. After she meets Rudy she goes on a couple of smaller adventures with him, but her life changes the most when Max comes, a Jew.