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How Does Liesel Use Power In The Book Thief

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Power of Words Essay- The Book Thief We use words every day of our life, yet we don’t seem to realize how much power or influence they can really have on us. In the book thief, Markus Zusak uses words to create a sense of comfort and sanity in a time of chaos and war. Words are used to strongly influence people and their decisions. When Liesel learned to read she was more intelligent and had more power to influence; “once words had rendered Liesel useless, but now, when she sat on the floor, with the mayor's wife at her husband’s desk, she felt an innate sense of power” (Zusak 147). In Nazi Germany, Hitler uses words to control the people. This is one way words can be used to hurt people. Liesel and Max both come from broken homes and can’t read. When they learn to read they have power. Liesel didn’t …show more content…

When she is able to read, she realizes what’s going on in the world around her. Words have the ability to bring people together or tear them apart. Hans and Liesel form a bond through their long nights of reading; “With a smile like that, you don’t need eyes”(Zusak 68). This relationship is the only reason Liesel is able to settle into her new home well. Their relationship shows how words have the power to bring people together. Words have the ability to calm people and bring peace. During the raid at the bomb shelter, Liesel begins to read from “the whistler”,”For at least twenty minutes she handed out the story.The youngest kids were soothed by her voice and everyone else saw visions of the whistler running from the crime scene”(Zusak 381). Although a story about a whistling murderer is not exactly the most soothing story during war, it somehow brought peace and joy to the people. Words were able to bring joy to the people in Germany, a place where joy was not very common. While words can help people, they can also hurt them. Words can be used to manipulate people. Having a strong vocabulary can give someone a big advantage

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