The Book Thief By Mark Zusak Analysis

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

C-The main character is a young German girl named Liesel that lives with her foster parents in Nazi Germany.”Wirelike shins.Coat hanger arms. She did not produce it easily,but when it came, a starving smile. Her hair was close enough brand of German blond, but she had dangerous eyes, dark brown” Told her physical appearance. One of her thoughts that describes her interests is “There were all different styles of books with different sized lettering on the spines of the black, the red, the grey, the every colored books. It was one of the most beautiful things Liesel had ever seen” The fact that she was originally very paranoid is supported by “Every night Liesel would nightmare,

In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, main character Liesel struggles to maintain the innocence of her childhood while combating the beliefs and hardships of living in Nazi Germany. The most predominant theme in this book was the use of fear and its complete and pure power when combined with death. As Mark Twain once said, “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” This quote truly explains the essence of The Book Thief, the fundamental reason being that death was the narrator. Which from start to finish, displayed the fears of a multitude of different people and how they see death, but more importantly how death sees them.

11 million people died during the Holocaust. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger loses many of her loved ones. At the beginning of the book, Liesel’s brother dies of illness on a train, and her mother is taken away by the Nazis for being a communist. After losing everyone she ever cared about, the story drags Liesel into a humble household where she discovers her passion for books, and her love for her family and friends. However, her loved ones are once again torn away from her as Himmel Street, the street she lives on, gets bombed. She loses her foster parents, her best friend, and everyone else she came to know. As a result of these adverse events, Liesel’s innocence was stolen from her. In The Book Thief, loss plays an essential role in developing characters, especially Liesel. After losing Werner, her brother, Liesel is plagued by

The Book Thief is narrated by death. All characters in the book thief handled death in different ways and are affected by it. The Book Thief’s focus on death allows the reader to see how it affects those who survive. Zusak clearly shows that life itself is frequently more grueling than its ending. In fact Death can bring peace from the horrors of war. Liesel witnesses death at a very young age when her brother dies while being given up by their mother to the Hubermann’s. Liesel also is affected by death when her parents and her companion get killed in a bomb and wishes they were still

In The Book Thief, a work of historical fiction, written by Markus Zusak introduces the main character Liesel Meminger, the reader starts to see how she keeps having many conflicts but always stays positive. Liesel has many conflicts, for example her brother dies early in the book and that shapes the way she is. Later on Liesel steals books and that makes her happy because the first book she stole was the grave digger's handbook and that is how she remembers her brother. Liesel steals and reads books this is how she finds happiness with all the bad things going on around her. In the end of the book most of the people she loves die and it is hard for her to find happiness again. The author uses the setting and point of view to express theme and to make the reader feel sympathy; He uses this because with the theme of finding light in the darkness, deaths perception, and the setting of Germany makes the theme clearer.

In chapter twelve we see once again Ender’s instinct to win for all time during a battle. Even with the odds stacked against him, Ender defeated Bonzo’s army. Ender realizes that Bonzo, if he didn’t already, hates Ender to his core, “this would surely turn his rage murderous […] Bonzo will be thirsting for blood now” (195). Petra attempts to warn Ender that he is in danger but, he already knows this. All five of his platoon leaders escort him to his room that night. When he arrives, he finds that Dink has left him a message of warning, “Don’t ever be alone. –Dink” (205). Ender can only sleep because he thinks that surely the teachers will keep him safe outside of the battle room. However, Graff insists that Ender must handle things on his own, that there will be

The Book Thief’s main character is Liesel Meminger throughout the book she develops more and more by opening up and doing new things. At first she was very shy and would not do hardly anything for example, “It took nearly fifteen minutes to coax her from the car. It was the tall man who did it. Quietly.”(28) That is when she first got out of the car “There was the gate next, which she clung to.”(28) This shows all the more how shy she was at the beginning of the book when she first arrived on Himmel Street. Then as the book goes on she starts to adopt her foster-mother, Rosa or Mama’s style of speaking and starts cussing some when talking to her best friend, Rudy and even the mayors wife when she terminated her mothers washing and ironing

Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, tells the heart-wrenching story of Liesel Meminger, a German girl, as she navigates adolescence in Nazi Germany. With his convincing depiction of the time, it could be said that Zusak worked within the conventions of realistic fiction were it not for his otherworldly narrator—Death. Death traditionally marks the end of a story, so Zusak’s decision to begin his novel with Death’s voice piqued my interest. This interest was intensified by Death’s unique characterization—he is personified, yet retains his inhuman features. This incongruity in conjunction with the aberrant choice in narrator raised the question:

In ‘The Book Thief’, Death introduces itself as the narrator. Zusak has chosen Death as the narrator because he says that ‘Death is weary, he's fatigued, and he's haunted by what he sees humans do to each other because he's on hand for all of our great miseries.’ In this novel Death is interested by humans and the colours of the world, but he struggles to decode how humans are capable of so much beauty but at the same time ugliness. He shows an interest in Liesel’s story and describes the incidents in her life. His opinions are mostly on his understanding of humans and bold texts are used in the novel to correct humans understanding of him.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to view life through the eyes of death? Markus Zusak effectively portrays this in his novel, The Book Thief. This is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl living at the peak of Nazi Germany. The narrator, Death, follows Liesel through her life and gives a different perspective on one of the most controversial time periods in history. With endearing characters and a timeless plotline, The Book Thief changed the way I perceive humanity.

The Emotions That Words Cause Words can break past the glass barriers that actions cannot seem to surpass. Readers of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak can understand this by taking a closer look at words in the book. In fact, it is narrated by Death himself, and he has experienced the extent of what words can do to people. Death tries to put a comical spin on things that have happened during World War II to distract him from the horrid events. The book is full of ways, words have affected people during one of the most devastating times in history.

The experience and meaning in Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief influences the reader’s response to the narrative perspective. The novel is narrated by Death, a character Zusak has created to be omniscient in the story line; he comments on Liesel’s life as the story progresses. Once Liesel learns how to read, literature becomes a significant importance to her life, this shapes her character’s growth and maturity. These relationships to each character cause the reader to become emotionally attached; only to end in the destruction of war. The Book Thief’s unique narration leads to the reader being affected by the war Liesel is facing, influencing the reader’s reaction to feel heartbroken.

Words are used for empowerment all over the world. Something as simplistic as being able to read a book can shape someone’s life in a positive way. Liesel does this by stealing books so she can learn to read and interpret them. The books that Liesel reads assist her view of the world in a different way than how it is presented to Liesel in Nazi, Germany. Liesel steals these books to empower herself, and this results in her empowering others like Max and Rudy. Liesel empowers Max by reading stories to him, “Max has woken up, you must come home” (Rosa 270). Rosa also recognizes the power that Liesel has to influence Max. In The Book Thief by Mark Zusak, Liesel aspires to discover the power of words and empowers herself by stealing and reading

Throughout this book, Liesel finds many friendships such as the Hubermanns, Max, and Rudy. I believe that Markus Zusak is trying to show that though war is a terrible struggle to be involved in, it can bring people who would never have met together. If Hitler had not taken Liesel’s mother away, Liesel may never have met the Hubermanns and learned to read with Hans. Though Rosa and Hans are her foster parents they learn to love each other and they become honest friends. The circumstances with Max led him to the Hubermanns for his survival and there he meets Liesel and their friendship slowly grows. Another unlikely friend of Liesel’s is the mayor’s wife. Though Liesel doesn’t see this as such, it definitely is.