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 …show more content…
Before claiming the book she becomes furious with Ilsa Herman, the woman who gives her the book, because she fires Liesel’s mom’s laundry service and in return gives her The Whistler. Without hesitation, she expresses brutal words toward her. ‘“This book...I don’t want it.’ She (throws) The Whistler at the woman’s feet…[Ilsa] (edges) forward and (picks) up the book. She [becomes] battered and beaten up...All from the words. From Liesel’s words” (Zusak 263). Liesel starts to understand how words,even her words, can cause Ilsa to feel the internal pain of feeling battered and beaten up. Another scene of The Whistler happens during an air raid. Even through tough times Liesel relies on books to relax her, but she realizes that her reading also comforted others. During a bomb raid, she realizes as she reads out loud the others in basement listen to Liesel’s voice. Zusak conveys, “she didn’t dare to look up, but she could feel their frightened eyes hanging on to her as she hauled the words in and breathed them out...many of the older people...thanked [Liesel] for the distraction” (381&382). Through this scene Liesel discover the power of her words. She knows by reading it can provide her with the ability to take their fear away and provide them with a distraction and