The Book Thief is a story about a young girl, Liesel Meminger, whose parents abandon her. She is given to foster parents, whose names are Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Her parents educated her in reading and writing; a skill that would become very useful later on in the story. Liesel spends World War II with the Hubermanns’ and has very significant events happen to her during her stay. Liesel meets and becomes close friends with Rudy Steiner who falls madly in love with her. Rudy is a very active member of the Hitler Youth Association, however he has a deep hate for Hitler. This opinion of Hitler gets Rudy into some trouble later on. As Liesel grows, she begins to learn and understand more aspects of her life before the Hubermanns’. One of these …show more content…
Later in the story Liesel meets Ilsa Hermann after Liesel steals a book from the book burning. Ilsa invites Liesel to come read in her library. Ilsa leaves the window of her library open in hopes of Liesel stealing books, and Liesel’s first stolen book from the library is called The Whistler. Erik Vandenburg saves Hans’ life in the form of Erik volunteering Hans for writing the letters for the Captain. Erik is killed in battle and Hans fulfils his promise of hiding a jewish boy named Max Vandenburg in their basement. Liesel and Max become very close during this time. There are moments of fear and terror that they all go through together. There is sickness, pain, and suffering that pulls everyone closer together. One day Hans gives food to a an older looking Jew heading to a concentration camp. This results in a very negative outcome and Max must leave the basement to keep from being caught by Nazis. At this time Hans is enlisted into the military and he must go fight. Liesel is saddened by Max’s departure and eventually she sees him being taken to a concentration camp in Dachau. This is when Liesel begins to write her story in the Hubermanns’ …show more content…
He writes for the story and not the reader. Zusak wrote the Book Thief because he wanted to focus on the effects of World War II. He wrote a story of an accurate depiction of what a German family most likely experienced. The book was not ‘sugar coated’ in any way. Zusak wrote it as it is. There is a saying that war is Hell and I feel like that could be an accurate summarization of the main idea of this story. War rarely has a happy ending and the happiest one is usually the saddest. This one being that Liesel survived, which is a happy outcome, however, the rest of her family died. In life there are rarely happy endings. There is no way more than one person could ever survive a direct air raid. Zusak took that possibility of one survival and incorporated it into the story. Zusak wrote The Book Thief logically, and that made it a very compelling piece of
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.
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.
Hans can’t help to offer a piece of bread to one of the prisoners and is beaten along with the prisoner for this act of nobility. He is frightened that the Nazi will search his house and discover Max. That same night Max leaves Himmel Street. Hans is sent to war as his punishment and Alex Steiner is also conscripted for not permitting Rudy be part of a special training school. With Hans and Max gone, Liesel does her best to go on. She reads to the inhabitants of Himmel Street in the bomb shelter during air raids, robs food with Rudy, and helps Rosa who is devastated by Hans’s departure. The last book she steals is called “The Last Human Stranger” at this point she is frustrated and
Mark of the Thief is a book written by Jennifer A. Nielsen. This book is the first in the “Mark of the Thief” trilogy and is set in ancient Rome around the year 400 CE. The story itself takes place primarily in the city of Rome and the mines south of Rome where the story begins.
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
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a young German girl of about ten years of age, who is fostered by the Hubermanns’, in a small town in Germany between 1939 and 1943. In the prologue, the reader is informed that ‘It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery’. It is however, much more. Despite the immense sadness and heartache of the overarching context, Zusak employs powerful techniques including; Death’s distinctive narrative voice, the symbolism of words and the inclusion of graphic stories to encourage the reader to feel enlivened throughout the story.
Words, so simple, yet are the most powerful ways of communication. The weight of words is one of most impactful themes in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, and is felt throughout the entire novel. The Book Thief is a story that takes place during World War II, and follows the Hubermann family and friendships as the Narrator: Death follows them through their journey of Germany in 1939. Hans Hubermann is one of the greatest supporters of words right next to the Book Thief herself, Liesel Meminger. Words are emphasized through stolen books, spoken conversations, and thoughts of the characters. Hans Hubermann backs Liesel’s desire to read through many long nights, protects Max Vandenburg while in hiding, and consistently stands up against the dehumanization
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.
The protagonist of The Book Thief is Liesel Meminger, a girl growing up in holocaust Germany. As the book begins Liesel is 9 years old, a girl given up by her mother to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the German town of Molching. On the way to Molching Liesel’s brother Werner who was supposed to join her at the Hubermanns’ dies and Liesel is traumatized making the separation from her mother, her only remaining family much more painful. Thankfully the blow is softened by the love extended to her from her foster-father. Hans compared to Rosa with her gruff, loud love is just the solace Liesel needs. He is gentle and kind, patient enough to teach Liesel how to read, starting with a book she picked up at the graveyard where her brother was buried. With his aid Liesel slowly becomes more comfortable in her new life, venturing out in the neighborhood at a soccer match she befriends Rudy Steiner, a boy who falls in love with her. Over that summer they have many adventures together and the shadow of war is left in the joy of childhood freedom. A shadow, warded off for long finally falls upon Liese...
...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.
A theme in “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is the strength of love and the way it affects others. Zusak presents this theme in the story through personal sacrifice for loved ones. Papa, Liesel's foster father, sacrifices his money/tobacco to buy books for Liesel, his foster daughter. “She came home to find something wrapped in newspaper under the Christmas tree. “From Saint Niklaus,” Papa said.
In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, beauty and brutality is seen in many of the characters. Rudy, Liesel, and Rosa display examples of beauty and brutality often without realizing what exactly they are doing, because it is a part of their human nature. Zusak not only uses his characters, but also the setting of the novel in Nazi Germany to allude to his theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature. The time in which the novel is set, during World War II, displays great examples of beauty and brutality, such as the mistreatment of the Jews. As a result of this time period, the characters have to go through troubling times, which reveals their beautiful and brutal nature in certain circumstances. Zusak uses his characters and their experiences to demonstrate the theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature in the novel.
A Jew who has been living in secret with the Hubermanns in their basement. He befriends Liesel and has been steadily learning how to read with her help. With Liesel’s inspiration, he starts to draw and write his own books, basing them off his life and his visions. He titles the two books “The Standover Man” and “The Word Shaker”. Hitler is a recurring thought for him, as he imagines himself fighting him in a fist fight, which makes sense considering that Max was always ready and willing for fighting other people when he was younger. Max is forced to leave after Hans makes a mistake and shows his compassion for people.
Within The Book Thief, Zusak presents the reader with the reality of war torn Germany. Throughout the novel Liesel shows great lengths of humanity, even through the hardest of times. Zusak strategically uses the literary techniques of using symbolism to illustrate the power of words, which engages the reader, allowing a sense of hatred towards Hitler. By further employing visual elements to explore mortality, and employing Death as the narrator to portray ideas of inhumanity. Zusak enables the reader to become disheartened by the ideas of war. The powerful way in which Zusak presents these techniques, delicately teaches viewers about such a dark time in history.