Liesel Thief Themes

When readers first meet Liesel Meminger, she is a young girl standing quietly with her mother and brother on the train. At this time, she seems confused and a little bit afraid. She doesn’t know exactly

This part of the novel resembles a point in Liesel’s character in which she was passionate about the things she was feeling - almost as if she was determined to do something about it. As this event occurred, Liesel was filled with anger about her parent’s disappearance. She had recently found out that Hitler had something to do with it, which pushed Liesel to the conclusion that Hitler was not a man to be celebrated. As her hatred for Nazi ideals grew, so did her bravery.

Once he realized he was probably going to be punished for feeding the Jews bread, he felt guilty for leaving his family and making Max leave, because of what could happen. The last and final example that indicates Guilt and Punishment in this book is how Max felt about making the Hubermanns risk their lives just so he lives. When Max finally arrives on Himmel Street he feels guilty for making a family risk their life just so he lives, and leaving his original family behind to

In this discussion, we analyze in depth the relationships Liesel has with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann.

Max Vanderburg’s arrival is the third important experience in Liesel’s life. Hiding a Jew in their basement causes the family to be in huge danger because if the government found they were hiding a Jew, Hans and Rosa could be taken to prison. Max Vanderburg also serves as a good friend to Liesel to whom she can tell everything. Max starts writing and drawing things for Liesel which brings them even closer.

There have been many stories written about gruesome battles and heroic feats, but there are few that center around a carton of a dozen eggs. City of Thieves by David Benioff is a tale about how two lone characters are thrown together to achieve an incredible feat. By themselves, the two men would have had no chance whatsoever of completing the task set before them, but together they form a much stronger bond, a friendship of sorts, and are able to overcome hardship and grow personally. By starting out needing each other just to survive a friendship soon blossoms and becomes one of the most recurring themes throughout the book.

Max and Liesel were scared of each other at the beginning of the novel because they didn’t know what was going on. Throughout the book they both become very close friends and start to give presents to each other. “As it turned out, the gift was delivered on paper, just over a week later. He would bring it to her in the early hours of the morning, before retreating down the concrete steps to what he now liked to call home” (pg.222). Max has been hiding in the basement for many weeks now and he makes a book called The Standover Man. This is the book Max is delivering to Liesel so they can have a closer relationship and become like family. This is the first item that Max gives to Liesel and Liesel will give lots more because her love for Max is very strong and cannot be broken. A quote from this novel that explains their unbreakable relationship would be when Liesel sees Max walking to a concentration camp. “‘You have to let go of me, Liesel.’ After a long line of steps, the first soldier noticed. He pointed his whip. ‘Get out of there.’ When she ignored him completely, the soldier used his arm to separate the stickiness of people. The soldier took her. ‘I said get out!’ he ordered her, and now he dragged the girl to the side and flung her into the wall of onlooking Germans. She reentered” (pg.511). This passage shows the unbreakable relationship of Max and Liesel. Even though the soldier pushes

Liesel’s choice of hating Hitler changes her actions completely, which then moves her life in a certain direction.

Connection: It is clear that Max resists and defies the Nazi regime and its goal by hiding from them and escaping death. In the novel, Max escapes with Walter Kugler to a hidden storeroom, despite this being very dangerous. Max, “The Jewish First Fighter,” does anything within his power to escape the Nazis, even if this means leaving behind his family. Max does not succumb to the Nazi ideology that Jews are inferior to Germans, and fights to survive in hiding. Although, the Jews and Max are surrounded by a hostile and terrorized population, Max is one of the very few to find a place to run to and hide. In essence, Max resists and defies the Nazi regime by not letting them kill him. Max’s survival is seen as a resistance to Hitler and injustice.

In the life of Liesel Meminger, we look at the struggles, hatred, and love she experiences in Nazi German. Unfortunately, her brother dies on the train ride and Liesel is forever haunted by her dead brother. Liesel Meminger leaves the orphanage to live with her foster parents. She quickly learns to love her father, Hans Huberman. Her father soon discovers that Liesel does not know how to read. He teaches Liesel to read and write. Liesel begins stealing books due to her reading obsession. For example she says “When life robs you, sometimes you have to rob it back.” As the war intensifies, the Huberman’s harbor a Jewish man named Max Vandenberg. Liesel quickly befriends Max and they began sharing stories and lessons on writing. Max says “In

Seeing how much Max valued their friendship and how happy it made him, Mary is moved to tears of joy as the film closes.

In addition, Max defies the Nazi regime and exhibits courage, through his tenacious will to survive. As Max arrives at 32 Himmel Street, his character is portrayed to the reader, as Death describes, “The pieces of a Jewish fist-fighting puzzle [is] assembled before them all. Sometimes there [is] humor in Max Vandenburg's voice, though its physicality was like friction - like a stone being gently rubbed across a large rock.” (Zusak 217). Despite his struggle to laugh, Max is able to look past the hardship and display optimism. As Max fights for his life, he defies the racial extermination policies of the Nazi regime by surviving, and educates Liesel on hope and courage in order to continue fighting. All in all, his persistent will to survive and gift giving portrays Max

So Liesel is sent away to live with new foster parents alone as her little brother dies on the journey, alone and scared Liesel’s whole life begins to change. Much like in Room, because Liesel is given the opportunity to learn and flourish her whole identity is changed for the better as she makes friends and becomes literate but nothing can change her constant need to contact her real mother. Abandonment is something Liesel comes to know as she realises she will never see her mother again. Abandonment is something Jack also feels as Room becomes his ‘family’ and when he loses Room he longs for familiarity just like Liesel does with her mother. There was no possible way for Liesel to control where or who she was placed with due to the injustices and unfairness of society at the time, the hardships of the war taught Liesel how to overcome heartbreak and abandonment. Death narrates “I witness the ones that are left behind, crumbled among the jigsaw pieces of realisation, despair and surprise. They have punctured hearts, they have beaten lungs.” Liesel was left behind and perhaps that is why she was so understanding when she was asked to aid in hiding a Jew, her personality had developed to a point where she was able to be sympathetic and understand the importance of helping hide the boy. Because of her hardships and

I believe that Mr. Dussel has the more logical response because this time, no one could be trusted, especially people that was attempting to steal from a building. If the thief figures out that they are there then the thief will, for sure, tell the green police for a special price. The thief would not care about others, probably only the money. The thief was, however, frightened about the noise that the families made did scare the thief off. So the thief may have been someone trying to escape from the Green Police as well, so they might have realized they were there, and left not to get caught.

Besides the power of words, kindness and cruelty are recurring themes in the novel. There are many displays of this theme, ranging from the Hubermann’s kindness to take in Max, to the cruelty of Viktor and friends towards Rudy. The acts of kindness and cruelty have a lasting impact on the characters involved, and change them for the better or worse. The first and biggest act of kindness is the Hubermann’s deciding to take in and hide Max.