...The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Examines a wide variety of words. But with close analyzation of the words throughout the book, we find that it is the power of words that makes them stand out and have a purpose. Despite everything, even suffering, there are always words for Liesel to turn to for hope and an escape from the evil that was ruling Germany. Words are something we use and hear literally all of the time. In the novel, The Book Thief, words are used to create goodness, comfort, and sanity in a time of war. At age nine, Liesel is illiterate, and the first book she learns to read is a manual about grave digging. Learning to read brings Liesel closer to the understanding that Hitler's propaganda is the root of his power and the reason...
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...Ms. Wright May 23, 2015 The Kite Runner: The Power of Words “The power of words, written or spoken, have life. They can change the world.” (search quotes). The power of words should not be underestimated. Liesel proves this to be true in the novel and the film The Book Thief. She uses words to develop relationships with her foster father, Hans Hubermann; Max Vandenburg, the illicit Jew in her basement; and her neighbours. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak there is much more relationship development compared to the film The Book Thief directed by Brian Percival. This consequently causes the theme of the power of words to be less prominent in the film. The novel The Book Thief develops the relationship between Liesel Meminger and her neighbours more than the film The Book Thief therefore minimizing the theme. First, Liesel and Rudy become best friends, “Insane or not, Rudy was always destined to be Liesel’s best friend.” (Zusak 48). Rudy introduced himself to Liesel as soon as she moved in, he developed a liking for her and they soon become best friends. Rudy used his charming, and sometimes insulting, words to win over Liesel. This develops the theme because it shows that even if one does not want to like someone, their words can change them into a likable person. Second, Liesel and Frau Hermann develop a relationship, “When she came and stood with an impossibly frail steadfastness, she was holding a tower of books against her stomach, from her navel to the beginning...
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...Words can have a source of power for an individual. In The Book Thief, books become a source of power for Liesel. Liesel’s life changes as she picks up a book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook. She becomes interested in books and learns how to read with the help of her foster father, who plays a crucial role in her life. She then begins to steal multiple books wherever they are found. She overcomes many obstacles in her life and those obstacles shape her to who she has become. In the short story The Book Thief, Markus Zusak uses the books The Grave Digger’s Handbook, The Whistler, and The Book Thief to demonstrate Liesel’s understanding and development of how powerful words can be. The Grave Digger’s Handbook becomes the first ever book Liesel...
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...political power. In the 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...
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...Words are powerful, words are the most controlling force in the universe. They can be utilized in many ways, gracious or crude. Nevertheless, words can have a major effect on an individual level, in addition to on society as a whole. Throughout The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, he thoroughly explores this idea. The reader of The Book Thief gets to experience Liesel mature and flourish alongside literature. Words play a big role within the life of Liesel Meminger, also in the lives of all individuals and societies on earth. The Book Thief takes place in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. The holocaust was made possible by words, mentioned in the book that Max wrote for Liesel “The Word Shaker”. “The Word Shaker” explores the idea that Hitler uses purely words to take control of Germany. Hitler used words to manipulate a large amount of people into hating the Jewish people for irrational reasons. This is a superb example of how words alone can control human beings and their...
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...“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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...As most of society today knows Hitler used propaganda to capture his followers and supporters. Hitler was such an imposing persuasive person, that he assembled many citizens to believe the circumstances he did in which was that the Aryan race was destined to rule the world by using propaganda. In The Book Thief which is taken place in the fictional city, Mulching Germany, Hitler also compelled families to join “The Youth” using advertisment. Hitler was utterly becoming “more and more influential in German politics” because of how our world was then (“Propaganda In Nazi Germany” 2). During World War II, there was much propaganda involved with the reasoning that Hitler’s intentions were to over power the Jews. For example; in “The Book Thief”...
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...The novel The Book Thief is based on the life of Liesel Meminger, a nine year old girl, who lives in Nazi Germany during World War II. In the story, Death narrates the experiences of Liesel’s life. These experiences brought both magnificence and devastation that effected many lives that were in this era. After Liesel’s brother's death, she arrives in an upset state at the home of her new foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. While Liesel was there she saw many terrible things that the Nazi ruling has brought to Germany. As she sees these horrific things going on in Germany she struggles to find a way to defend her guilt in the disturbing surroundings. While the political situation in Germany gets worse Liesel’s foster parents decide to hide a man named max who is a Jew. While Max remains in the house it makes it dangerous for Liesel and her parents to stay in the home. Liesel’s foster dad, Hans, who has a close bond with Liesel, teaches her to read in...
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...always the brave one, and me – I was the one who cried at every obstacle that had been thrown at me. I remember climbing up the monkey bars with her and being too afraid to come down. She was afraid too, even though she stubbornly denied it. Being the risk taker she was, she had pushed away her fears and jumped, she scraped her knee pretty bad but it was all worth it to her. But me? I stayed up on the monkey unwilling to come down until my parent came and carried me down. And that was one example of us being different. “People may react to adverse circumstances in different ways.” For example – Liesel form The Book Thief by Mark Zusak may react to adversity differently than Elie Wiesel would and so can Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Everyone is different with their own schema and that’s what makes them unique. Throughout the book Christopher’s most challenging adversity was dealing with emotions. Christopher solves problem with logic and perseverance, emotions are not needed. After discovering...
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...The Power of the Human Spirit A person’s reaction 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...
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...reality, words are one of the most powerful drugs of mankind. When a poor family in Nazi Germany decides to protect a Jewish man in their basement, a young girl’s stolen books help her develop a deeper understanding of the world beyond Himmel Street, encouraging her to give a new life to Hitler’s toxic words in her own stories. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the simultaneous existence of anti-Semitic propaganda in Nazi Germany alongside Liesel’s cherished books and Max’s captivating stories demonstrate how words can be both destructive and self-delegating in an oppressed society. First, Hitler demonstrates the...
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...Review on The Prophet’s Hair by Salman Rushdie The Prophet’s hair is a magical realistic short story from the book ‘East, West’ written by Salman Rushdie. Rushdie is an author, novelist, essayist and sometimes a critic. He blends myth and fantasy in a world of reality and that is what he is famous for. The prophet’s hair is based on the story of the theft of the prophet Muhammad’s hair. Whoever comes in contact with this relic, faces strange or miraculous events. The story takes place in the early 1980’s during winter season in a rural area called Srinagar in India. Srinagar is a Kashmir valley. This story also depicts a setting that can be assumed as the beginning of the 20th century where religion and government structures were reaching its heights. The social environment revolves around money, honor, respectable values and religion; in this case the Islam. Every character is concerned about his place in society and his greed for money. The story is written in third person omniscient point of view. The writer as he describes the setting, moves from character to character narrating the story. In this short story, Hashim is the protagonist. He is the father of Huma and Atta. Hashim comes upon the stolen hair accidentally. He does not return the relic as greed consumes. He justifies his act as a community service basing it on the Islamic views of deity. Hashim turns into a religious hypocrite from a secular person. Hashim’s son Atta knows the truth about the hair and steals...
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...The film The Book Thief follows a young German girl, Liesel in the 1940s during Hitlers reign. Throughout the film we see Liesel learn to read and write after being adopted into a German family household from her communist background. Liesel begins to discover the power of words. The film describes Hitler's use of words and his ability to brainwash Germany and urge all German citizens to turn against Jews. This film relates to my theme of power, specifically propaganda. Words and stories are valuable in this film, the power of words suggests that they are among the most powerful ways in which people connect and potentially control one another. Words hold a strong power to compel people to commit acts of cruelty for example threats even persuasion are among these techniques that can be used. Numerous examples of the ways words connect people are shown throughout this movie for example when Liesel reaches out to her birth mother through a letter, Hans (her...
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...POWER OF WORDS ESSAY “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak expresses that words have a tremendous amount of power throughout the novel. Words express all of your feelings and emotions. The book was narrated by death who shared Liesel Meminger’s through feelings and emotions. Throughout the story we see Liesel’s roller coaster of a life. Although the novel was mainly about Liesel, other characters also had power through their words. Anyone can use words, but sometimes when the words are too powerful they can become hurtful. Liesel gets frustrated near the middle of the book and screams at Frau Hermann for not being able to pay for the washing anymore: “It’s about time that you do your own stinking washing anyway. It’s about time that you faced the fact that your son is dead. He got killed! He got strangled and cut up more than twenty years ago. Or did he freeze to death? Either way, he’s dead! He’s dead and it’s pathetic that you sit here shivering in your own house to suffer for it. You think you’re the only one?” (Zusak 262). Liesel had lost her brother on her way to Molching. Yelling at the mayor’s wife could have been a way that Liesel finally releases from stress from...
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...W.I. Thomas who, in 1928, wrote, "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences." In the 1950’s and 1960’s, labeling theory or social reaction theory came to be out of a rejection of consensus theory or structural functionalism. Sociologists were beginning to study the aspects of different kinds of behavior. Labeling theory was just a theory until 1966 when Thomas J Scheff published his book called, Being Mentally Ill. His book stated that there are certain behaviors and actions that society views as deviant and those who engage in these types of behaviors are considered mentally ill or having a mental illness. Another labeling theorist was Frank Tannenbaum. His theory was of labeling was socially stigmatizing and that suggesting, tagging, defining, identifying, segregating, describing, and emphasizing any individual out for special treatment becomes a way of stimulating, and evoking the very traits that are complained of. A person becomes the thing they are described as being. This theory implies that no act is intrinsically criminal, rather, criminality is established through the formation of laws, and the interpretation of those laws by the courts police and correctional institutions. Deviance is therefore not a set of characteristics of individuals or groups, but rather it is a process of interaction between deviants and non-deviants and the context in which criminality is being interpreted. Labeling theory or social reaction theory is concerned...
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