Guilt In Mark Zusak's The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak set in Munich, Germany during the Nazi reign from 1936-1943. The novel incorporates a main character that is, in the beginning, an innocent child who doesn't understand the world and takes her on a journey where she grows up and matures through the hardships and challenges of her life. The story is narrated by the character Death, who is a fresh take on the Grim Reaper, only wearing the black cloak when it's cold and never carries a syte. Death describes the life Liesel Meminger, an orphaned girl who witnesses her brother's death and burial and finds herself being adopted by the benevolent old couple, the Hubermanns. The rest of the story follows Liesel's journey through her incredibly challenging life with the Hubermanns and characters such as Rudy, The mayor's wife, and Max helping her along. Symbolism in The Book Thief deepens the story by conveying many different ideas and emotions that supports the reader's understanding of the story. This is especially apparent with the use of the gravediggers to help the reader remember characters, the use of color to help the reader feel the proper emotions and remember the correct events, and the use of Liesel's changing feelings about Rudy to convey how Liesel grows and matures through the book.

The unavoidable uniform man comes knocking on a Jewish family’s home on the night of broken glass. Max Vandenburg is finally having the opportunity to escape danger, at the cost of leaving his family by themselves. As he was leaving his home, he did not turn around “for one last look at his family as he left the apartment. Perhaps then the guilt would not have been so heavy.” (Zusak 193) Later on, Max feels guiltier as he receives news of his family’s disappearance, and guilt continues to grow as he seeks refuge in the Hubermanns basement. Max is aware of the Hubermann is from Germany while he is a Jew and of the terrible punishment the

In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, suffering can be seen throughout the book.”Individuals can endure great suffering if they have something to live for”. There are various types of sufferings presented in the book like physical and emotional. Max Vandenburg a Jewish man who hides in the Hubermann’s basement and the conditions and distress he had to go through to stay hidden from the Nazis. Also suffering is shown when Max had lost his family was very miserable and cruel.

One character from the book thief that represents guilt is Liesel. Liesel feels like a burden living in the hubermann’s house due to the death of her mother, brother and incarceration of her father due to being a communist. She feels unwanted in the household because she knows that she is just another mouth to feed to due the lack of food supply in WWII. Liesel's feeling of guilt is overwhelming because she feel like she is unwanted in a household even though Mama and Papa love her. “You must get an allowance for the girl…” She berated Liesel’s naked chest as she scrubbed away. “You’re not worth that much, Saumensch, You're not making me rich you know” (Zusak 92). This quote is something that makes liesel feel unwanted because she felt that mama didn’t want her in the house and that she would only make their economic system even worse. This feeling

Liesel and her brother are travelling by train to Munich with their mother to be given to their foster parents when she notices her brother is sideways and dead. After Werner’s funeral, Liesel, overcome with shock and

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, shows the theme statement of surviver's guilt can be dealt with through kindness and friendship, and is proven in how characters manage the guilt by assisting the living. To start, Hans' life is

As we have discussed the penalties for harboring a jew was very high. Throughout the book distant members of the Hubermann family come into the picture which makes hiding Max quite a bit harder. Just like today politics are a gray area in family discussions. Politics have a habit of making perfectly peaceful conversations into, Angry gibberish being shouted all over the place. But during world war two political conversation could stir up a lot more than just angry words. For example, We meet Hans Junior and right from the get go we know that he is a member of the Nazi party and quite disgusted by his father's lack of support for the Nazi party. In Summary the whole conversation ends with Hans Junior disowning his father and never talking to him again. The Hubermanns and many other families during this time did not inform their family that they were harboring a “fugitive” and you can clearly see why. Max did not exist as far as the rest of the Hubermanns family was concerned. The Hubermann fell apart ,over a secret. Which only added more fear and more hate towards the Nazis. The Hubermanns had the mindset of “you can do what you want as long as you don't get caught” and it is perfectly displayed on page

The Book Thief is about a young German girl named Liesel Meminger as she goes through life while living in Germany in 1939. Liesel and her foster parents live a normal life on 33 Himmel Street. There is only one difference between their family and the others, they are hiding Max Vandenburg (a Jewish man) in their basement during the time of the Holocaust. This story, narrated by Death follows the life of Liesel from her first step into 33 Himmel Street, until the day she died in Sydney, Australia.

The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, outlines the tragedies and events that take place in Liesel Meminger’s life, in Nazi Germany. Throughout this young girl’s struggle of living in the oppressive Nazi regime, she is able to learn crucial lessons about life and the art of survival- some that follow her to the grave. The most important lesson she learned and the pivotal theme of the novel is that rebellion can be and beneficial in certain situations.

First of all, Hans Hubermann feels immense guilt for the death of his friend Erik Vandenburg. When Liesel's foster father, Hans Hubermann, was a young man The Great War broke out. He

The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak shows how the impact on the power of language has on Liesel Meimeger through the structure of the novel. The structure of the novel shows the development of the character Liesel, highlighting the impact of the power of language. In her development, she finds the ability to express herself as well as to connect to others. Books become a comfort to her and heal her, they help her grow strong relationships with other characters in her life. However, she also sees the damage words have caused through Nazi propaganda, understanding that Hitler 's words have been the cause of suffering of the people in her life. Despite this, the structure of the novel shows the ability of the character to understand that

Guilt plays a very big role in “The Book Thief”. It is one of the ways in which characters suffer. Guilt is a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation. The feeling of guilt is inescapable and it constantly makes you “look behind your back”. Analyzing my observations, I concluded that there were two major characters that experience guilt: Hans Hubermann and Max Vandenburg. “Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then, think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.” (Zusak 211). This was a description of the feeling of guilt that Hans Hubermann was experiencing. He felt guilty because hiding a Jew. In Nazi Germany, this was very wrong. In fact, it was considered a crime. This feeling of guilt was eating him. Max Vandenburg was also being

Liesel’s early experiences with loss motivate when she is able to control her anger to stick up for herself as well as others, as when she beats up a classmate for making fun of her. Max Had brown hair tall and brown eyes, he was The Hubermann’s secret lodger. When Max comes to hide in the Hubermanns he was cautious and withdrawn As he grows stronger, he shows his tremendous rage towards Hitler, with that motivates him to stay alive no matter what, he is the most who understands Liesel’s experience the two become not just friends they become soul mates. He feels ashamed of the burden he places on the Hubermanns since he knows he’s putting them in serious danger by being in their home his wish to make life easier for the Hubermanns by leaving, but he knows by leaving would likely mean his death stay alive against the cold and illness as he hides it out & Hans Liesel’s stepfather, Hans is patient and gentle with Liesel, and is the first adult to win her trust.

The main character in the book thief was Liesel. Liesel was presented by the death of her father because of his Communist sympathies. On the way to her foster home, on the train, he brother dies unexpectedly, this effect Liesel. She picks up a book off the ground that fell out one of the gravedigger’s jacket and keeps it hence the name “the book thief”. After the death of her brother Liesel is vulnerable, she opens up when she arrives at the Hubermanns her foster home because she can trust them the same with Hans, Rudy, and Max.

Guilt is defined as an emotion of regret or accountability for some offense, which drives a person to make amends in some way. Shame is defined as a painful emotion arising from the consciousness of committing something immoral. The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink, is a novel that is filled with various examples of guilt and shame. Guilt is especially important because the symbolic meaning of the story contains illustrations of both collective and personal guilt. This emphasis on guilt begs the question: “How can the novel, The Reader, be seen as a study in collective and personal guilt?” The Reader can be seen as a study in collective and personal guilt because it shows how Hanna and Michael represent the guilt of Germans communally and individually.