Every relationship that we have shapes who we are. As children we had many friends and took advantage of the friendships, not realizing how wonderful they were until we grow up and have to look back at what may have been, had we not taken those relationships for granted. Liesel Meminger has many important relationships throughout the novel The Book Thief. The most significant of these relationships is the one she has with Rudy Steiner, which is like one of our many friendships as children. The narrator of the novel, Death, shows the beauty and brutality of this relationship when he retells Liesel’s wonderful friendship with Rudy, her rude awakening of her love for him, and the strength of both as they divulge secrets to each other.
When Liesel first arrives on Himmel Street, she has no friends. However, her quick friendship with Rudy grows strong and fast. Shortly after they become friends, Rudy begins to have romantic feelings for Liesel when he states hopefully, “If I beat you, I get to kiss you” (53). Unfortunately, she does not see him as anything other than a friend in the beginning. Their relationship is beautiful because it is so filled with love. Liesel learns from a young age what it is like to have someone you love taken away by Death and so it is hard for her to find love for a while in her life. Her relationship with Rudy, in addition to her relationship with Hans, helps her to “relearn” what love is. She only sees Rudy as the child who covered himself in dirt and called himself Jesse Owens, not a teenager who has always been there for her with love that blossomed early and endured forever. It was only until it was too late that she realizes that “He was her best friend.” (518) and she truly loved him.
Love comes in...
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...ret from him. This helps her to see that she loves him and allows her to further analyze their amazing relationship.
Overall Liesel and Rudy’s relationship is so significant because, in a way, it has us rethink own relationships in retrospect. Through their relationship we learn about our own, and their relationship teaches us to have no regrets in love. Their relationship is special in The Book Thief and it is one thing that remains constant in Liesel’s crazy life after her mom leaves her. Death shows the beauty and brutality of this relationship when he retells Liesel’s wonderful friendship with Rudy, her rude awakening of her love for him, and the strength of both as they divulge secrets to each other. Rudy and Liesel have been through many ups, and few downs in their relationship, but it has affected her for the better because Rudy retaught Liesel how to love.
Liesel yearns to discover the power of words through reading books. Throughout the story, she repeatedly steals books to grasp more information. It all starts with The Gravediggers Manuel; Liesel attains this book the day that her brother dies, while he is being buried by the gravediggers. Liesel pilfers this book from the gravediggers because the book will symbolize her remembrance of her brother, Werner. This also will start the beginning of her acrimony for the Fuhrer, because Liesel discovers that he is answerable for his death.
Strong feelings towards another can lead to imprudent actions. Throughout The Book Thief Liesel, Rudy, and Hans make impetuous decisions due to their strong emotions towards another. From reading this novel one can conclude that there is a very fine line between irrationality and bravery. Most of the decisions and subsequent actions made in the story could be regarded as brave but in truth many of these decisions were impetuous and ill thought out. In fact many of the characters subsequently came to this conclusion as well. The characters could have achieved more by executing logically planed actions instead of acting on the spur of the moment and jeopardizing their lives or the lives of others. It is amazing that even polar opposites emotions like love and hate result in the same irrational consequences as exemplified by Rudy, Hans and Liesel.
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.
Not that it was a living hell. It wasn't. But it sure wasn't heaven, either”. (5.87) Death tells us. She became really fond of Hans Hubermann; a painter and accordion player, but with Rosa things were more complicated; she was a rough woman who did the washing and ironing of Molching’s wealthy inhabitants. Liesel starts to have dreams of her brother dying and wets in bed which leads us to her first reading session; Papa finds the book hidden under Liesel’s mattress and after a while he notices that Liesel does not know how to read and doing his best with a fourth grade education he teaches her how to read and write. She also makes a friend that she would never forget Rudy Steiner or we can call it Jesse Owens too; they met on the street during a soccer game and since then they became
Also about the choices they make. I will also talk about what are they are characteristics and how both Liesel and Max are compared Liesel is nine years old, almost ten, at the start of the book. She is about fifteen toward the end of the book when the bombs destroy her home and kill her loved ones. The book ends when she is an old woman and Death comes to collect her soul. Liesel is the book thief.
Elie and Liesel live and survive during the time of World War II. Both characters face the harsh reality of the terrible period of time they are living in. The memoir, Night and the movie, “The Book Thief” share similarities and dissimilarities that make Elie and Liesel both stand out. Due to the loss of family, determination to live, and fear helps both of them survive the war, but depends on the different reactions, mistreated for different reasons, and hope.
’’Liesel observed the strangeness of her foster father's eyes. They were made of kindness, and silver. Like soft silver…..upon seeing those eyes,she understood Hans Hubermann was worth a lot.’’ (Zusak,34) Liesel saw kindness in Hans Hubermanns eyes which made her feels more comfortable with him rather than Rosa Hubermann.
One may hear the words love and abandonment and believe they are opposites, but this is not the case in The Book Thief. Markus Zusak uses abandonment to bring together two characters. One night Liesel and Max reveal to one another their reoccurring nightmares. Liesel has a dream where she feels abandoned by her mother and brother while Max has a dream where he abandons his family. Even though Liesel is abandoned and Max is the abandoner they both feel the same way toward what had occurred to each of them. Through this sharing of nightmares comes a special unspoken connection between the two. Liesel and Max go from strangers to practically brother and sister who love one another, which may seem odd for the love came directly from abandonment. Liesel’s first encounter with abandonment came from her brother dying on the train on the way to Liesel’s foster home. Liesel was very upset and hurt by her mother and did not under stand why she was doing this until later. “She saw it all so clearly. Her starving mother, her missing father. Kommunisten” (Zusak 111) Liesel connected the dots and realized that her mother was married to a communist, which was a great danger during the reign of Hitler. Liesel came to comprehend that her mother gave her up to keep her safe and away from Hitler. Her mother did all of this out of love for her. All the pain and suffering that Liesel has gone through has been caused by
Guilt is a prevalent theme throughout The Book Thief. Liesel endures guilt multiple times, when she steals laundry money from Rosa, gets Max sick, verbally attacks Ilsa Hermann, and experiences the guilt of surviving. All of these acts caused Liesel to experience some sort of guilt which later causes her to perform questionable tasks.
The main character Liesel, known as “the book thief” is who Death is looking over. Liesel, her mother, and brother are on a train to Munich. On the train ride her brother dies. She and her mother get off the train to bury him. The first book Liesel steals is from the gravediggers. They continue the journey to a town called Molching, where Liesel will be raised by foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel adjusts to her new home life. Hans teaches Liesel how to read. The war is escalating in Germany. The town holds a book-burning to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. That’s when Liesel steals another book from the flames. Liesel’s job is to deliver laundry to the Hermann family. The Hermanns’ have a library full of books. Liesel is allowed to read them in the study. Meanwhile, a German-Jew named Max needs help, so he seeks out the Hubermanns. Max hides in the basement, so he is safe from the Nazis. Liesel begins stealing books from the Hermanns. The Nazis parade the Jews through the town of Molching on their way to the concentration camp for everyone to see. Liesel is given a blank notebook to write her own story. One night the neighborhood is bombed. Hans, Rosa, and the rest of the neighborhood is killed. Rescue workers find Liesel under the rubble. She leaves behind her finished book, called The Book Thief. Death, who has been watching, rescues the book. Liesel ends up living with the mayor
The novel The Book Thief is a book about a young girl by the name of Liesel Meminger. Observing the life of this young girl is not easy as this is the time of Hitler’s reign in Germany. In a short period of time, this girl faces many difficulties. More than any child should ever have to encounter. She has to deal with being abandoned by her mother, the death of her younger brother, and relocation to another part of Germany. Immediately when Liesel arrives to Molching, her life is forever changed. She is forced to live with two strangers, now her new mama and papa. Liesel faces much abuse both at school and at home. At school she is made fun of for her illiteracy and at home, mama speaks very rudely to her calling her a swine and other insults.
Zusak uses his characters and their experiences to demonstrate the theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature in the novel. First, Zusak uses his character, Rudy, to support his theme of the brutality and beauty of human nature. Rudy’s brutality is revealed in a certain moment when he devises a plan to steal food from the priest by causing the delivery boy to wreck on the way to the priest’s house. Rudy’s beauty is also displayed in many things he does for Liesel, such as jumping in the ice-cold river for her book.
Throughout the story Zusak portrays family as being one of the most pivotal forces on the lives of the characters. One example of family connections being of such grave importance in the novel would have to be the life of Liesel Meminger. Liesel began the story as an adopted child to Rosa and Hans Hubermann, but was practically empty inside due to the loss of her real parents. She soon forms essential connections with Hans and
...t Max gave to Liesel as a gift. This book represents the power of words, and how words can make a difference in a person’s life.The readers are engaged because it is interesting know the back stories behind these books when we read about them in the novel. Finally, Hans’ accordion symbolises comfort in The Book Thief. When Hans leaves to go fight in the war, he leaves his accordion at home with Rosa and Liesel. This is the moment that Liesel know that Rosa truly does love Hans, although she might not show it. “Liesel watched. She knew that for the next few days, Mama would be walking around with the imprint of an accordion on her body” (429). Rosa, Liesel’s “Mama”, keeps the accordion close to her heart because it reminds her of her husband, Hans, whom she misses so much. In The Book Thief, symbolism attracts attention to certain thematic ideas and the novel itself.
The Book Thief, now both a film and a book, is about a girl named Liesel and her struggle with the power of words. The film and book are very similar in content and were most likely made to be that way. It is evident that the producer tried their best to assure that the plot of the book is retained in the movie. The characters, Liesel, Hans , Rosa, Max and Rudy have their characteristics well reflected into the film. From Mama’s thunderous bellows to Rudy’s incessant pestering, the movie made that characters feel as if they had jumped out of the book and into the film.