...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 of her breasts. She looked...
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...off young Liesel Meminger, the protagonist in the film The Book Thief, directed by Brian Percival in 2013. During the course of Liesel's journey she has gained great knowledge through her love of reading and writing but more importantly is the way her character has been shaped and moulded into the determined, strong-minded and matured Liesel she was always destined to be, through the new relationships she discovered with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa, Rudy a young boy she learned to call a friend and Max a Jew who stole her heart and mind as she looked to him for advice and guidance. Liesel's trust had to be earned. In the beginning, she had...
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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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...changed some effects of the story. An example of this would be when Hans stood up for the Jewish store owner getting beat by a Nazi, where in the book Hans courageously gave a Jewish man a piece of bread. The way it was written in the book seemed like more of a risk because it put his whole family in jeopardy, whereas in the movie it didn't seem as heroic. Also Alex Steiner and Hans should have left for the service at the same time, like in the book, because then Liesel and Rudy could have made a connection over their missing fathers. Although the movie made many changes, in some ways it also modified the book in a good way. One scene not in book was where Rudy and Liesel were in the woods, shouting “I hate Hitler!”. I thought this was a good addition because it was a sweet moment between them starting to become closer. Overall these added and excluded parts were mostly not complimenting the real story. I think the movie did a decent job of portraying Liesel's relationships. Like in the book, it was shown that Liesel and Rudy quickly formed a friendship...
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...One of the first fatherly acts Hans does for Liesel is playing his accordion. Still mourning the death of her mother and brother, Liesel spends her first few days in Molching crying. Yet when Hans brings the accordion back to life by playing it, “the sound of the accordion was, in fact, also the announcement of safety” (38). Though she suffers from tragic losses, Hans’s accordion speaks to Liesel as a symbol of safety and security, setting the foundation to their relationship. Before Liesel is taken in by the Hubermann family, she steals a book by her brother's grave, despite not knowing how to read. To prevent her nightmares and reassure her safety, Hans reads Liesel’s book to her during the night and consequently, teaches her to read. In this instance, “there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn’t even attempt to understand” (66). Not only does the book spark the beginning of Liesel’s book thieving journey, but it also represents the last time she saw her mother and brother. Having Hans help her read “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” aloud comforts her because the words give her a sense of security in an undiscovered place and demonstrate how “security and love are founded through the process of learning to read and being read to” (Webb 5). Moreover, their affectionate bond is a prime example of how Liesel converts Hitler’s words into a positive message for herself. Though Hitler’s words are destructive and discriminatory...
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...happening, and help make the beauty and brutality visible. Everything has beauty and brutality, and this is portrayed many times throughout the book. Beauty and Brutality is shown to co-exist when bombings would happen, Hans slapped Liesel, and the bombing of Himmel street happened. Beauty and Brutality was very prominent during some of the bombings that happened. Michael was a character and he was trying to get his mother to a bomb shelter. He cried to Rosa, Liesel’s step mother, “‘Tell me, Rosa, how can she sit there ready to die while I still want to live?’ The blood thickened. ‘Why do I want to live? I shouldn’t want to, but I do.’ (Zusak 487). He was trying everything to get her to move. He had a desire for life, something his mother lacked. Zuzak was using imagery, by hearing his voice, seeing his mother, and trying to pull her to the shelter. Even though this was brutal, beautiful moments were still happening. On Page 488, we learn of the event of the bomb shelter. “The night was long with bombs and reading. Her mouth was drying, but the book thief worked through fifty-four pages. The majority of children slept and didn’t hear the sirens of renewed safety. (Zusak 488)” In the midst of chaos, there was beauty in the...
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...survival? What if it was only for the betterment of oneself? How about if one did not care or even fully realize what they were doing? Would all of these still be considered thievery? Questions like these have the power to shroud opinions about what is defined as right and wrong. These certain questions are able to challenge people on their take of the difference between stealing for survival and stealing for greed. Ideas like these, revolving around the rightness of thievery, present themselves many times throughout The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak. This novel follows the life of the main character Liesel Meminger as she adapts to her new life while trying...
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...Date: EVENT 1867: Parents Hermann and Pauline marry. 1879 Born 14th March, Ulm, Germany. 1880 Move to Munich. Hermann and brother Jakob establish an electrical engineering firm. 1881 Sister Maria (Maja) born. 1884 Sense of wonder at a compass given to him by his father. Private tuition. 1885 Starts catholic school and violin lessons (until 14.) Jewish religious instruction at home. 1888 Passes entrance exam for Luitpold Gymnasium, Munich. 1889 Meets 21 year old student Max Talmud, introduces Einstein to key science and philosophy texts including Kant’s "Critique of pure reason" 1891: 2nd major sense of wonder with Euclidean geometry. Wrote later: “If Euclid fails to kindle your youthful enthusiasm, you were not born to be a scientific thinker.”Begins to excel in maths and science, despite hating regimentation of school and rote learning. 1892 Einstein is not bar mitzvahed so not technically a member of the Jewish community. 1894 June – Parent’s engineering company go into liquidation, the family move to Milan while Einstein remains in Munich with distance relatives to finish his schooling. 29th December - Einstein leaves school early with a medical certificate, joins family in Milan. He had no school leaving certificate but a letter from his maths teacher confirming his excellent maths abilities. 1895 Essay “On the investigation of the state of the Ether in a magnetic field” in summer sent to his uncle Caesar Kock in Belgium. Einstein’s family...
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...HALF-YEAR Age 14 to 14 1/2 CONCLUSION Collected & Compiled by Shashank A Sinha/GTS/CSC Exclusive for our News & Views Readers A Young Girl's Diary 3 PREFACE THE best preface to this journal written by a young girl belonging to the upper middle class is a letter by Sigmund Freud dated April 27, 1915, a letter wherein the distinguished Viennese psychologist testifies to the permanent value of the document: "This diary is a gem. Never before, I believe, has anything been written enabling us to see so clearly into the soul of a young girl, belonging to our social and cultural stratum, during the years of puberal development. We are shown how the sentiments pass from the simple egoism of childhood to attain maturity; how the relationships to parents and other members of the family first shape themselves, and how they gradually become more serious and more intimate; how friendships are formed and broken. We are shown the dawn of love, feeling out towards its first objects. Above all, we are shown how the mystery of the sexual life first presses itself vaguely on the attention, and then takes entire possession of the growing intelligence, so that the child suffers under the load of secret knowledge but gradually becomes enabled to shoulder the burden. Of all these things we have a description at once so charming, so serious, and so artless, that it cannot fail to be of supreme interest to educationists and psychologists. "It is certainly incumbent on you to publish the diary...
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