Power Of Words In Mein Kampf's The Book Thief

This shows when Hans slaps Liesel for saying she hates Hitler. Although Hans dislikes Germany’s leader as well, he chooses to reprimand his daughter for her spiteful actions in public. He slaps her “squarely in the face”, but whispers to her right after that he allows her to “say that in [the] house” (116). This verbal juxtaposition from Hans affects Liesel, by showing her what not to say because it appears inappropriate; however, it more importantly shows how one decision Hans makes the choice to hold off on affects him for the rest of his life. Here Zusak uses juxtaposition to inform the reader of Hans’ duality and inner confliction.

Max Vandenburg was able to escape Stuttgart by carrying Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ which highlights Hitler’s hatred for Jewish people. The words in this story enforced the cruelty of human’s, the German’s who succumbed to Hitler’s words became Nazi’s. In this context, it can be seen that words can be used in a negative way, however, Max would later paint over the pages of ‘Mein Kampf’ to write his own story, ‘The Standover Man’ which he would gift to Liesel, “Max had cut out a collection of pages from Mein Kampf and painted them over in white.” This novel was an act of kindness for Liesel who was fascinated by words yet could not buy novels or obtain them legally. Max’s second novel ‘The Word Shaker’ was also gifted to Liesel when he’d left for Dachau, in this he discusses the power of words and how they can be used in a cruel way, “Yes, the Fuhrer, decided that he would rule the world with words….. He watched them grow, until eventually, great forests of words had risen throughout Germany.” Through ‘Mein Kampf’, ‘The Standover Man’ and ‘The Word Shaker’ the reader can understand the power of words on human

Mein Kampf was a key symbol in the novel, it helped Max with his struggle plus it helped Hans with his image. Mein Kampf shows how powerful words can be and how words can have such an influence on people’s decisions. Hitler’s struggle helped Hans and Max in their own struggle, without his knowledge. I read some of Mein Kampf and I was astonished to see how well he wrote. Obviously he knew what he was doing and how to do it. I was shocked while hearing the tragic stories during the Holocaust when I visited Europe this summer.

“You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.” (Ziglar) In The Book Thief, Liesel uses the power of words to positively influence how people feel. This can be seen through Liesel’s interactions with Max throughout the novel. Similarly, the story of “The Word Shaker” shows the powerful influence of words both good and bad. Finally, Liesel’s interactions with Max, provide yet another example of how words can make a positive impact on another person. The positive effect of words can be seen through the actions of Liesel’s character in “The Word Shaker”. However, words can also be used in a negative way in like in“The Word Shaker” when Max is trembling at the words of Mein Kampf and when in “The Word Shaker

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.

Max Vandenburg, who was a very supportive boy of Liesel, always helped her during her worst times and even her best times. Max had missed Liesel’s 12th birthday so he made her a little gift. He took a book called Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, but made it his own called The Standover Man. He gave this book to Liesel as it symbolizes how people have always stood over him in his life to help him just like Liesel has. “During that week, Max had cut out a collection of pages from Mein Kampf and painted over them in white. He then hung them up with pegs on some string, from one end of the basement to the other … Only then, on the paper that had bubbled and humped under the stress of drying paint, did he begin to write the story. It was done with a small black paintbrush” (Zusak 223). This quote reflects the power of words because Max is doing this for Liesel since they are good friends, and since it's her birthday. This comes to show that Max is about positive words towards his friends, but mainly Liesel.

The book 's importance is explained through Death where ‘“The books meaning 1. The last time she saw her brother. 2. The last time she saw her mother.” Despite Liesel being illiterate, the Gravedigger’s handbook holds significant meaning for the character. Liesel has an overwhelming feeling of loss of control and acts out in rebellion to steal the book that lay beside her brothers grave. By stealing the book, she has a reminder of her small family and it stops her feeling defeated by her ever changing life, which she has no control over. This idea is then reinforced with another action of the character. Liesel then finds out that Hitler was the cause of the suffering and loss of freedom of the people she loved and knew in her life.This second act of rebellion takes place while Liesel visits a Nazi book burning. Liesel soon understands that the Nazi’s burnt books to brainwash citizens of Germany(_____). As a result of this Lisel then understands the importance and power words have, causing her to again acts rebelliously in a protest. “And it was anger and dark hatred that had fueled her desire to steal it.” This passage from the novel shows the emotions of Liesel. As a character who is unable to express herself verbally, her actions speak for her. Liesel 's desire to understand words begins to grow, with her understanding that Nazis burn books in fear of what they may do to society.

At first, the book did not become very popular because it brought forward the darkest zone of humanity; it broached a topic that the world wanted to leave untouched, forgotten. But that is exactly what Wiesel did not want to let happen. One of the great successes of this hugely appreciated and critically appraised book was that it managed to bring out the stark reality of the concentration camps, the Nazis, the Polish and all the people in the world who kept silent on the face of such atrocities meted out to their fellow citizens. Wiesel once remarked that the opposite of good was not evil, but indifference. The horror of the Holocaust was not only the acts committed by a section of people but the fact that a

In the past few weeks, we have been reading the book, the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The book tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a girl from Germany in the time of the Holocaust. The book starts with her as a nine year old, and progresses through her life until she is an old lady. The story details the life of this woman through these times. And in the story, her priorities are reading and learning. She steals books like The Grave Digger’s Handbook and The Shoulder Shrug, but one book which has negative influence was the book made by the Nazi Leader, Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). Hitler wrote the autobiographical book, which was spread around the Germans, who were brainwashed by the propaganda. The Mein Kampf influenced these citizens, but was the influence good? The book created nothing but negativity. There are three examples which are strong showings to prove the influence of the Führer caused nothing but hatred. Those three are Hans Junior, Max, and the entire population of the Jews. Those three personas were effected in a way which caused nothing but hurt to people.

"Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble." (Economy). Consequently, this quote exemplifies the illustrious meaning of words being so powerful that they will never be forgotten and only be remembered by those that they affect most. Words give us the power to communicate and explain our thoughts, which can affect change on others in the society. Therefore, they are not as influential and manipulative as they seem to be. In the novel, The Book Thief, power of words are used as emotion, influential, and building knowledge.

Finding way to pass the time while in hiding he decides this, “During that week, Max had cut out a collection of pages from Mein Kampf and painted over them in white”(223) He is displaying that Hitler’s words does not concern him any longer with destroying Hitler’s book and making a book of his own struggle. So forth into the book,Max puts together a book with sketches and tells Rosa to give it to Liesel when she is ready. Max wrote, “Liesel-I almost scribbled this story out. I thought you might be too old for such a tale,but maybe no one is.

When there were bomb raids approaching the town, the people gathered in a small basement and Liesel began to read to everyone there. It is amazing how her words would calm everyone present and made them forget that they could possibly die at any given moment. When everything in her life is at a downfall, reading and writing takes Liesel out of this cruel world. That is the main reason why she is attracted to words and books. Words kept her alive in a dull world but also literally kept her living. She was reading in that basement when the bombs hit her street so it saved her. She also developed relationships with people with words and storytelling. In a time like this, a normal conversation will not help. But in order to distract one from reality the best way to do that is to share stories. Max Vandenburg is not in great condition when he arrives, but creates a special bond with Liesel through words. The two have frequent nightmares about their past and losing the ones that they care about the most. Though all this has happened, they both enjoy to story tell and that’s how their bond grows. "Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out, like the rain (85)". Liesel’s words effected her situation and the perspective of it so much. As words bought friendship to Liesel, it also bought

German's love to burn things so it was no surprise that on Hitler's birthday they were burning books that were created by non-Aryans. Liesel is becoming a great reader and writing. Liesel rewarded with two books that Hans traded for eight cigarettes per book. Liesel next book stolen book was The Shoulder Shrug which came from the bottom of burning ashes during the burning of books for Hitler's birthday. Liesel decides to contact her mother and has lots of letters. She stole money from her foster mother to mail them. Liesel stole another book from the book bonfire but this time the book is still hot. Rudy has taken a liking to Liesel and becomes her friend. Liesel beats up Ludwig Schmeikl and Tommy Müeller. So the questions now to be asked

Meanwhile for Sophie, as an art lover she watched her favorite artists leave the country because they refused to create the forms of art Hitler deemed acceptable. Also, she discovered that many of her favorite books were placed under the “ banned books” list because they had been written by Jewish authors. As a result of these experiences, both Hans and Sophie realized that Hitler was not proposing to build a new world for everyone, but that his true plan was to build a utopia where blond, blue-eyed Aryans thrived and those that did not match this description were imprisoned, tortured, and killed (“Hans Scholl”).

Mein Kampf portrays Hitler's political views and led a significant amount of readers to believe the same as Hitler. To illustrate, ¨Meanwhile in Mein Kampf, and especially in an unpublished untitled book, Hitler theoretically reconciled those the terms of his politics. Whereas other people compete for land and ultimately World Conquest,