The Book Thief Power Of Words

There is a part where we watch as humans are so ugly that it is hard for us to imagine that what they had done is possible. Liesel is playing soccer in the park and all of a sudden all the kids stop because of a noise they hear coming down the street. They think it could be a herd of cattle, but that not what it is. It is a group of Jewish people being led, or forced, to the death camps by German soldiers. On there way we watch a man die “He was dead. The man was dead. Just give him five minutes and he would surely fall into the German gutter and die. They would all let him, and they would all watch”(Zusak 393). This is talking about how when a Jewish person would die, the Germans wouldn’t do anything. They wouldn’t care that a man died right in front of them. While the Jews are walking Hans, Liesel adopted father, gives them bread. While Hans is giving this man bread a German soldier notices what is going on. He walks over to the man and, “The Jew was whipped six times. On his back, his heart, and

“From the toolbox the boy took out, of all things, a teddy bear. He reached in through the torn windshield and placed it on the pilot's chest.”“The book thief has struck for the first time – the beginning of an illustrious career.”“Then they discovered she couldn't read or write.”“Unofficially, it was called the midnight class, even though it commenced at around two in the morning. ““The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places it was burned. There were black crumbs and pepper, streaked across the redness.”“That was one war started. Liesel would soon be in another.”“In fact, on April 20 – the Führer's birthday – when she snatched a book from beneath a steaming pile of ashes, Liesel was a girl

For example, after the book burning, there were some books that were too wet to burn, and Liesel took advantage of this moment, “When she reached her hand, she was bitten, but on the second attempt, she made sure she was fast enough. She latched onto the closest of the books. It was hot” (Zusak 120). Jewish book burnings were popular across Germany during this time, as they were trying to destroy the power of the Jewish community. During the novel, Liesel is empowered by the words she reads in these books, and even shares this power with Max Vandenburg, the Jewish man living in her basement. The courage Liesel shares with Max allows him to build the hope he needs to want to fight Hitler. During his dreams, he imagines himself in a boxing ring with Hilter, and even though Hilter had the upper hand during the match, Max had hope that he would win, and therefore in his dream “he punched him [Hitler] seven times, aiming on each occasion for only one thing. The mustache” (Zusak 253). As previously mentioned, the accordian was also a very important form of symbolism in this novel. Not only does give the family hope during their

The film and novel both use words to cause emotions of viewers and readers. An example of the powerful use of words in the film is towards the end when Liesel finds Rudy dying on the road covered with gravel; Rudy is about to say “I love you” (Percival), but doesn’t finish his sentence before death takes him. It’s hard as a viewer to watch such a heart-breaking scene. Liesel knows what Rudy is going to say and his words from then and all he’s said to her in the past influenced her to kiss him.Readers no longer had to imagine any of the events or characters in the novel because it was in front of them on a screen. Unlike the movie, in the novel, Hans Jr tells his father to join the Nazi’s. Hans Jr tells Hans, “You’re either for the fuhrer or against him-and I can see that you’re against him”(105). When Hans Jr and Hans get into an argument about the Nazi

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.

“Liesel Shrugged away entirely from the crowd and entered the tide of Jews, weaving through them till she grabbed hold of his arm with her left hand”(510) At that moment Liesel wasn’t thinking about getting a beating, she was thinking about Max, and how she needed

Words: Words are something we use everyday to communicate. Words make up sentences and books. We use words to convey meanings, to show feelings, and to communicate. The problem is that most people take this for granted. Most people do not know the power their words have, and the effect they have on other people. The power of words holds a strong meaning in the novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. During the book, different characters acquire power through their words and language, in both positive and negative ways.

"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.

Hans first shows love and compassion towards Liesel, when she had first came to 33 Himmel street. It was Hans who sat with her every night because he understood that she was having nightmares and she had just lost her brother and would no longer see her family.. It took Liesel some time to finally open up and start showing love and compassion to Hans who she called “Papa”. Hans and Liesel’s relationship wasn’t like anyone else’s. Papa had introduced so many things to Liesel, Hans was Liesel’s first friend. Hans asked Liesel to keep a secret and it was about Max living inside of their home, but not only he was a Jew.

He explains that the bombs dropped on Liesel’s town were actually an accident due to a misread of a map, and that there were not even air raid sirens to warn the town of the oncoming attack. Death describes first taking the life of Rudy’s brothers, then his mother as they slept. Then, Death talks about coming for Rosa and Hans, their last thoughts being of Liesel. We cut to the next morning to see that the down is nothing more than rubble, and soldiers are searching for bodies and survivors in the mess. They are able to find Liesel alive as she had fallen asleep in the basement as she was reading where Max used to sleep, and being underground protected her. She is devastated to find the bodies of Hans and Rosa, and then runs next door as the soldiers pull Rudy from the wreckage. He is still alive but very badly hurt, and Liesel cries and she begs him to hold on. Rudy tries to say something to Liesel that sounds like the beginning of “I love you” as he’s always had a crush on Liesel, but he only gets out, “I l-“ before he grows quiet and death takes him as well. Only 3 or 4 years have passed from the beginning of the movie, but Liesel is now about 12 years old and orphaned again. She cries in the rubble for some time without anywhere to go, before she sees a car stop on the road about fifty feet away. It is Buergmeister and Ilsa Hermann, who have arrived to assess the devastation to the town (it’s implied that their home is relatively undamaged since they lived in a larger home just outside of town). Ilsa, who had become very close to Liesel in their time reading together, sees Liesel and the two run to each other, implying that Liesel has found a new home with Ilsa. Cut to a few years later – the war is over and Liesel is now a teenager working in a shop in town. Someone comes in and says that there’s someone here to see her, and she turns around to see Max smiling at her. Max has

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak shows through the midst of brutality, beauty can still be shown. The main characters Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner and Hans Huberman, prove this statement they are all faced with perilous situations, but still manage to show beauty throughout the situations. Liesel Meminger display beauty during the air raids, as she manages to read to people in the basement. Rudy Steiner displays beauty he jumps in the river to get Liesel’s book. Through Hans Huberman nobel character he displays beauty as he risks his life to hide a Jewish man in his basement.

Words are more influential than thought. Words can have such a powerful impact on how you interpret things, how you feel, and how you can make others feel as well. The word choice used in The Book Thief demonstrates many themes throughout such as death, friendship, guilt, reason, and the struggle between ones inner self and the society in which he is surrounded. As complex as this may sound, the method was used in a simplistic fashion to construct the meaning and details of certain situations through the senses that ultimately capture how the characters take in the world around them. The power of words in the novel The Book Thief is used to control individuals and gain power if rooted from bad intentions; however, the power of words also

The Book Thief by Mark Zusak is a book that takes place in Nazi Germany narrated by Death. In The book Thief the power of words is established with the relationships that are developed. Through Liesel Meminger, Max, Hitler and Hans Hubermann characters it is established how words are used to destroy, comfort and frighten. When Liesel finds out the mayor’s wife fired her Mama she goes and attacks her with negative and aggressive words. “ The injury of words: yes, the brutality of words.”

After losing her mother and her brother, Liesel’s life and identity is changed drastically many times. It is through books that she discovers and becomes comfortable with this change. When she first meets Hans and Rosa Hubermann, her new foster parents, she does not wish to speak with them or get to know them. However, once Hans discovers Liesel with the book she stole when her brother was buried, The Gravedigger’s Manual, they bond over Hans teaching Liesel to read. Liesle describes the first time her and Hans have a lesson in the middle of the night: “She had done this at school, in the kindergarten class, but this time was better. … It was nice to watch Papa’s hand as he wrote the words and slowly constructed the primitive sketches” (Zusak

Unlike the Nazi’s however, Liesel realizes the pain her words caused. "Blood leaked from her nose and licked at her lips. Her eyes had blackened. Cuts had opened up and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin. All from words. From Liesel's words" (Zuask 253). A child, no more than 12 years old, was telling someone not to cry, that she was being “pathetic.” It was all because of one group of people taking the lives of millions that a young girl believes crying over your loved ones deaths was ridiculous. At one point, Death even compares itself to humanity saying, "You want to know what I truly look like? I'll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue" (Zuask 307).