n The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger is presented as an angry and distrusting person. However, as the work progresses, she evolves into a strong, morally driven character. The books that Liesel steals throughout the story symbolize each step in the evolution of her character and reveal important character traits. The first four books that Liesel steals are particularly important in understanding the development of Liesel’s character. Each book is significant and shows a key change Liesel goes through during her life in Munich, Germany. The first book that Liesel steals is called The Grave Digger’s Handbook. Before Liesel steals it from a gravedigger who drops it, Liesel’s brother dies on the train ride to Munich. She was mad …show more content…
She steals it from Ilsa Hermann’s library. Ilsa is the mayor’s wife. At this point, a Jew named Max has taken shelter in the Hubermann’s basement. Every night after Liesel stole The Whistler, “...Liesel read The Whistler aloud to Max as he occupied her bed” (Zusak 319). This book marks another significant step in Liesel moral development. She has discovered her passion for helping others. The Dream Carrier is the fourth book that Liesel steals. Liesel steals this book from Ilsa’s library. Max has become ill and a doctor can’t be called for obvious reasons. Death tells us that “She gave The Dream Carrier to Max as if the words alone could nourish him” (Zusak 328). Even though Liesel doesn’t know how to remedy Max’s illness, she tries to comfort him by reading him The Dream Carrier. The significance of this book is similar to that of The Whistler, showing that Liesel is keen on helping people as best as she can. Liesel’s personality evolves greatly during her childhood in Munich. Her stolen books show how she changes. They show the steps she takes along the path to becoming a better person. The author does this by telling us about the books Liesel steals and relating them to her current situation. Liesel goes from being stuck in her own sadness to being a strong person that wants to help
Liesel grew as a person, began to wonder about the world, and realized the power of words. Liesel saw the meaning in the smallest things. In the beginning of the novel, Liesel became attracted to words when she stole her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook from her brother’s grave site. Even without having a clue what the words meant, the book became representative of the last time she saw her family and “as for the girl, there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn't even attempt to understand” (Zusak, 66).
Liesel, in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, had changed throughout the book to become a very courageous and determined person who was willing to sacrifice anything for her family. In The Book Thief, Liesel has changed drastically from the beginning to the end. At the beginning of the book, Liesel was scared and timid. Her brother had just passed away and she was being taken away to live with a foster family.
Liesel Meminger is a main character described in “The Book Thief”. After her mother can no longer support her Liesel and her brother, although he does not make the journey, are sent to a foster home in a small town in Germany called Munich were Liesel meets Hans and Rosa Hubermann or Mama and Papa. Although the initial warming up is hard Liesel soon becomes very close to her Papa. “Over the next few weeks and into summer, the midnight class began at the end of each nightmare” (Zusak,69). Hans teaches Liesel each night how to read and write to ease her mind when all Liesel can think about is her dead brother. Hans truly becomes Papa when Liesel trusts Hans will never let her be
In Markus Zusak novel “The Book Thief,” a little girl named Liesel serves as the protagonist. The plot of the story takes place in Germany during the late thirties, early fourtees while the anti-jewish sentimant is most prominent and Hitlers is at his peak in terms of power and followers. The book revolves around the life of Leisel and how these attrocious conditions shaped her life. This book does a great job of demonstrating many aspects described in “How to Read Literature Like a
In the second chapter of the book, Liesel starts to really get used to her new life and new foster parents. She also figures out that the person responsible for the deaths in her family was Hitler the person she was dreaming
Liesel discovers that by educating herself, she has the capability to allow herself to survive her desperate circumstances, while developing bonds with others. Liesel has gone through a lot and been in desperate circumstances. She uses her books as a way to persevere, she discovers the “book [with] silver writing on it,”(pg 21) it represents the end of a phase and a beginning of a new one. Liesel quickly adapts to reading, to mourn the loss of her brother, since she found the book where they buried her him. During the book burning, there is an opportunity for Liesel to retrieve more books, “the book thief [has] struck,” (pg 22) for the first time.
Every time Liesel steals books from people, she consistently places the lives of others at risk. An example of this is when Liesel is worried about Max dying and wants to steal a book and read it to him
Liesel Suffering from unbearable pain of lost ones, the protagonist of the story Liesel goes through many tough situations. In The Book Thief, Liesel changes greatly from being sad and lonely due to her harsh past, to accepting reality and learning to love her In the beginning of the story, Liesel loses her father, brother and only had her mother left, but soon also loses her. She was alone all by herself, until she got taken in by someone else. Although, it didn’t change anything for her since she was still always reminiscing over her family.
The Book Thief starts out by introducing a young girl by the name of Liesel Meminger. Liesel is forced to move in with foster parents named Rosa and Hans Huberman in Nazi Germany. Liesel grows up with the parents and a new friend Max, a Jew Hans Huberman had promised to keep safe from the Nazis in their basement. Liesel is fascinated with words, so she grows up learning to read and write. She gets so hungry for words, that she steals a book from a fire, hence the name The Book Thief. Max gets taken away, and the street is bombed, leaving almost everyone dead. Liesel miraculously survives, so she goes on to reunite with max, write a book about her journey, and live a long life.
The book that Liesel got started her interest in books, and it is shown when: “The book thief had struck for the first time- the beginning of illustrious career” (Zusak and White 29). After Liesel steals her first book, she is content, but her decision changes easily. Liesel does not want any perfectly book to be extirpated, so she quickly steals then from Jewish book burnings. The Grave Digger’s Handbook also reminds Liesel of her dead family. The book was the last object that Liesel saw before seeing her family alive for the last time, and she kept the book to make sure that she never forgets them. Also, when Liesel looks at the book, she sees her family, and that provides Liesel with another reason to keep the book. The Grave Digger’s Handbook started Liesel’s life of thievery, and it reminds her of her deceased
The Book Thief is about Liesel Meminger, whose brother, mother, and father died, and had to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann right before World War II. When they were burying her brother, she steals a book from a grave-digger. Later, when the book burning started, Liesel realizes how her mother and father died, and steals a book from the burning books. She is seen by the mayor's wife, Ilsa Hermann, who invited Liesel to read in her room. Later, a man named Max, a Jew, saves Hans's life, so he tries to hide him in his basement. When the Germans saw Hans giving food to the other Jews, Max is sent away and Hans is sent to a military service. Liesel loses hope, and she starts writing a book in the Hubermanns' basement because she wanted to blame
Max describes Liesel’s use of books as a refuge in the story he leaves for her, “The Word Shaker.” In Max’s book, words are transformed into seeds, which Hitler uses to create a forest that fills people with Nazi ideology. However, Liesel grows her own tree and takes shelter in it, no one can chop it down but Max is able to climb it and take shelter with her. The story dramatises the way Liesel has used words and books to create a refuge in the midst of Nazi Germany and how she shared her refuge with Max. Also, Liesel begins using book to comfort people in the shelter by reading to them. The last lines of Liesel’s own book are “I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” This shows Liesel’s drastic development from the girl who was unable to read in front of her class, to the person who uses books to comfort her neighbours. However, books can’t protect Liesel from everything. When Liesel sees Max on his way to the concentration camp, she rips the pages out of a book in Frau Hermann’s library in rage. It is this moment that Liesel makes a connection in her mind between words and the current state of the world. Although, at the end of the novel, a book indirectly saves Liesel’s life as she was in the basement working on her own novel when the bombs fell on Himmel Street. This is the book that Death finds, and that gives Liesel her
Liesel wants to walk with her, but both her and Max are beaten senseless by the Gestapo. The rest of the book goes on about the life of Liesel and her book thievery. Being a poor girl in Nazi Germany, her and Rudy did more stealing than books. In one instance in winter, they put water on a sidewalk.
Liesel loves to read and it doesn't take her long to withhold her title as Book Thief. She starts with The Grave Digger’s Handbook which is the book she picks up after her brother’s death. Hans teachers her to read and painted her a “chalkboard” in the basement so that she can write down the new words she has learned. There ends up being a town “parade” which is really a book burning event where Hitler and the Nazis are commemorated, during this time Germany was looking towards invading new countries. Liesel is handed a book and pressured to throw it into the fire, to which she eventually does so. However, once the fire has been put out and everyone has gone home, she notices a book that is only slightly charred, not destroyed by the fire and picks it up. A car drives by and a woman, who is Ilsa Herman, the mayor’s wife, sees her take the book, but Liesel hides it under her coat and runs away quickly back home.
She replies yes, after that night Liesel learns how to read. This event symbolizes Hans letting Liesel grieve over her brother, instead of sitting into the empty bed that is originally for Werner, he sits in a chair and watches over her. Since the young girl and her foster father are extremely close, they both teach each other ways of rebelling. Hans is teaching Liesel to read, she continuously practices reading, the book thief receives gifts for christmas which are two books and because of lack of money, she steals some books. During this time in Germany, the Nazi’s burn many books Jewish authors write.