...“Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.” The Book Thief centers around the life of Liesel Meminger, a young girl in Germany during World War 2. The story is narrated by Death who describes the beauty and the carnage during this time period. Throughout the novel, we see the immense impact books and words have on the charecters and their surroundings, They hurt, they heal , they instill hope, and most of all, they bring the world together wether it be for good or evil purposes. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, the theme of words and their power can be seen throughout the whole book. In the beginning of the novel, Liesel Memigner’s brother dies on the train on the way to their new foster parents. This has a traumatic effect on Liesel and the only thing she has to remember her brother is a book that she found at the graveyard titled The Gravediggers Handbook. This is...
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...The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is a novel about a girl in Nazi Germany, who moves into a new town after gaining new foster parents. There, she meets a lot of troubles in her life. She experiences person vs society conflicts many times during her stay on Himmel Street. She realizes that Nazi Germany was not so great as people had said when she asks her foster father “‘Is my mother a communist?’ Staring. Staring ahead. ‘They were always asking her things, before I came here.’ Hans edged forward a little, forming the beginnings of a lie. ‘I have no idea-I never met her.’ ‘Did the Fuhrer take her away?’...‘I think he might have, yes.’ ‘I knew it.’ The words were thrown at the steps and Liesel could feel the slush of anger, stirring heavily in...
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...Students and historians alike are often fascinated by World War Two. We study the tactics, the motivation, the battles, and the people. Perhaps most important of all, we study the Holocaust. The systematic murder of millions of people, mainly the Jewish population of many European states. However, Jewish life before the war is often glossed over, or avoided entirely. The novel, “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak shows us the inside of a Jewish man in hiding, while the photo archive of the United Sates Holocaust Memorial Museum gives us glimpses into the past, where we consider the life of Jewish Citizens before the war. This photo portrays a Jewish family travelling to a spa in Yugoslavia, Serbia to be more precise. A quote from the picture’s...
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...The published review I read was John Green’s review in the New York Times newspaper. In the review, John Green talked about Markus Zusak's amazing style of writing. I agree with his review due to the fact that Markus Zusak used descriptive words that created brilliant passages which allows the readers to visualize what is occurring in the novel. Many authors do not have this creative ability to attract a reader’s perspective in the novel. “People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them” (Page 4, Zusak). This line is one of the many examples of creative writing in the The Book Thief. This line portrays Zusak’s creativity and this is one of the many things he...
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...Chapter One - How Liesel’s Maturity is Affected by the Setting “War will change people!” -Aaron Starmer. In Markus Zusak’s, The Book Thief, the protagonist, Liesel Meminger is living in the time of World War II. She doesn’t act like a child, she is mature and sophisticated. In The Book Thief, the setting influences the maturity of the main character, Liesel Meminger. The Book Thief is set in the time of The Holocaust in Germany. Liesel’s Dad is not a Nazi. In that time, if a male figure of a family wasn’t part of the Nazis then that family didn’t have extra privileges and would most likely have issues with money. This is what happens to Liesel’s family. Because of this, Liesel must do everything she can to help her family. Liesel helps her...
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...to an event can change the course of their entire life. Adolph Hitler was a German man who believed his race should rule over all other races. Blue eyes and blonde hair is what kept a person safe in the 1940’s. Hitler used the power of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis) and the strength of the paramilitary organization Schutzstaffel (SS) to establish himself as dictator of Germany. He was a very charismatic man, which was beneficial to his goal to have people support his desire to rid Germany of all “undesirable” people. Under his direction and with the aid of his followers, Hitler was successful in “exterminating” millions of non-Germans and non-Christians in a dark segment of history called the Holocaust. Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Elie Wiesel’s Night, and Gerda Weissmann’s recollections in One Survivor Remembers center around events which took place before and during World War II. These three titles observe how the human spirit is able to respond to unimaginable horrors and unspeakable situations with an indomitable inner strength, enduring hope, and creative defenses. Even in the worst circumstances, the human spirit will not surrender. In the 1940 time era, a person who was not German or Christian was tortured in many devastating and heart-wrenching ways. Slowly, everything was taken from these people, particularly the Jews. Initially, those who did not match the “perfect” identity were forced from their homes with a small amount of personal documents...
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...One’s sense of identity is vital to who they are. It helps them connect with their family and have a place in life. Traumatic events such as war can alter one’s sense of identity. In books such as “Night”, “The Book Thief”, and “Maus”, we can see the effects of war on individuals and how it has altered their lives. War can cause one to question themselves, present day stresses, and could build one’s sense of identity. To begin with, the effect of war can make question one’s sense of identity. This is shown throughout Elie Wiesel’s “Night”. When Elie and his father are first taken into the camps, they are determined to stick together and make it out. As the conditions worsen, Elie starts questioning his religious beliefs. Once Elie saw the...
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...I have never been so hard to myself for truly reading a book; therefore, when I knew I would have a reading project in Advanced Reading course, I had to go online, searched for some book titles and hoped to find out some which could meet my need. “The Book Thief” appeared to be my best choice at that time because it was a bestseller book, it was highly recommended by a lot of people; moreover, it was set in the time of Nazi Germany, the nightmare of all people in the world and even the German themselves, the time I wanted so much to get to know more. With all those reasons, I chose The Book Thief as the book for my reading project. Like everybody said the book is good, especially for the author’s language. Markus Zusak’s writing is haunting,...
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...In Markus Zusak’s Book Thief, Liesel is a young girl who has recently been placed into foster care and has found a new home with the Hubermanns. Imagery plays a distinct role in developing Liesel’s character by describing her build and features to depict her dire situation. Upon examination of Liesel, it is evident that the loss of her brother and mother has fully taken its toll on her. Visual imagery is manifested in “Wirelike shins. Coat hanger arms” because it paints a clear picture of malnourishment and frailty and how her body has deteriorated after facing obstacles in life. Furthermore, the effect of weather on her body is also mentioned to add to the brutality of her surroundings where the narrator describes it causing “bite marks of...
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...Rosa Hubermann, a character in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, is a seemingly abrasive person who despite first appearances, is a brave mother that acts based on morals regardless of the consequences for herself and is often unable to show her love and appreciation for her family. Rosa is considerate of others in her actions, whether family or a stranger only offering danger to her life. Death states that what shocks Liesel the most after they hide Max for weeks is the change in Rosa, “[w]hether it was the calculated way in which she divided the food, or the considerable muzzling of her notorious mouth, or even the gentler expression on her cardboard face” (211). Her changes reveal her thoughtfulness for others despite it having no benefit for herself as if she did not divide the food so that Max gets...
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...novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, it is evident that books, reading, and words themselves represent power for different characters in different ways. Close analysis of Liesel Meminger and Max Vandenburg reveals that power can be achieved through literacy in a context where literacy is severely limited. Literacy plays a major role in Liesel’s adolescence. Liesel obtains power through literacy as it gives her a sense of comfort and control. The act of reading and writing gives Liesel the strength to cope with and heal from her emotional trauma. Reading and finishing the book The Gravedigger’s Handbook helps Liesel find the courage to move on from the loss of her brother. Although Liesel does not yet know how to read when she arrives at the Hubermann’s on Himmel Street, she keeps the book to comfort her, as it is the last object she has relating to her brother. When papa and Liesel finish reading the book, Liesel “trot[s] out, involuntarily” (Zusak 87) by explaining to Hans that her brother’s name “‘was Werner’” (87). The act of Liesel’s words being spoken involuntarily suggests that “she is finding some freedom in the effects of her disturbing experiences” (Lee 14). Liesel does not have to force herself to speak to Hans about her brother as she has gained emotional stability. Additionally, literacy helps Liesel recover from her distress as Hans reads to her nightly. Hans reads to Liesel “to soothe her, to love her” (Zusak 36). Hans’ spoken words from the books and his mollifying...
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