Liesel Thief Themes

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

Max is Jewish man that is sent to the live and hide with Liesel and her family from the Nazis. After close to a year of living with the Hubermanns Nazi soldiers came to Mulching to look for Jews in hiding. Therefore Max had the ultimate decision to continue to hid and have the risk to get caught or to leave before the Nazis come knocking on the door. The consequences for Max staying

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

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.

Name and significance – Adolf Hitler, he is the cause of all Liesel’s pain and he is the reason she keeps losing her loved ones.

During this time period, Germany and Russia were in a horrific war. There was constant bombings and raids in cities including Himmel Street in Molching, Germany. This kept everyone on their toes just in case they were bombed in this area. They needed to get out of the area as soon as possible so they didn’t die. In the book during the second raid, people scared out of their mind sat around, “That was still an immutable fact, but at least they were distracted now, by the girl and her book” (Zusak 382). Liesel read to the scared people to try and comfort them. In this dark time, Liesel gave people comfort and she was able to make the situation slightly better and not as scary for many people. Sometimes, the right words can make the situation a lot better. Words can be comforting and make everything feel better. For example, “For at least 20 minutes,s he handed out the story. The youngest kids were soothed by her voice” (Zusak 381). Even though it is a dark situation, it made it better. Comfort during this dark time is what these people needed. Being calm in a situation like this had a positive effect on everyone around Liesel. Next, when Max, a Jew and the son of Hans Hubermann’ s friend, moved into the Hubermann household, it put the family in a very risky and life threatening situation. If they had gotten caught with a Jew in their basement, there would have been horrible consequences for all of them. But, the more time that Max

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.

Also, Hans feels guilty for what he did to Erik’s son, Max Vandenburg. Since the Vanderburg family is a family of Jews, the believe only one person in their family would survive, because of this the only person they try to save is Max, sending him to hide (which Max feels guilty for leaving his family behind). Though he stays at his friend’s store for sometime, when it gets too dangerous for him to be there, his friend, Walter Kugler goes to Himmel Street and Hans agrees to take Max, feeling it’s the least he can do for Erik. For the period of time that Max is in the Hubermann home, he becomes close with Hans, Ilsa and Liesel, with him writing books for Liesel, making a snowman in the basement and fist fights Hitler in the basement. To get to the Dachau Camp, at least once a

Liesel Meminger, who was a very sympathetic young girl which her words were used from her warm heart towards people. Frau Holtzapfel had lost both of her sons, so for her to be happy, Liesel would read to her a lot, which also made Frau Holtzapfel feel comforted. Also when Max was taken in by the Hubermann’s, he was a Jew, which meant he wasn’t allowed to see the outside world. Liesel would go outside and tell Max the

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.

Liesel Meminger went through several crucial events that shaped her life and made her a stronger person. The first crucial event Liesel experienced was being taken away from her mother. Being taken from her mother led her to Molching, Germany where she underwent many other imperative events. After Liesel was taken away from her mother, she was driven to her new foster family’s home on 33 Himmel Street. In Molching, Liesel learned how to read and write. Liesel befriended many people in Molching that help shape her life such as Rudy Steiner who served as a good friend to Liesel, Hans Huberman who taught Liesel how to read, Rosa Huberman who taught Liesel basic chores, Max Vanderburg who helped to teach Liesel how to love everyone, and Ilsa Hermann

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.

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

This positively influences Liesel by having a thoughtful gift from Max and it also gives what she loves the most, a book to read. In addition, Max has Mein Kampf with him when he is hiding and it helps him survive: “‘Is it-good?’ [...] ‘It’s the best book ever.’ Looking at Papa, then back at the girl. ‘It saved my life’”

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.