Theme Of Love In The Book Thief

The Book Thief is a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak set in Munich, Germany during the Nazi reign from 1936-1943. The novel incorporates a main character that is, in the beginning, an innocent child who doesn't understand the world and takes her on a journey where she grows up and matures through the hardships and challenges of her life. The story is narrated by the character Death, who is a fresh take on the Grim Reaper, only wearing the black cloak when it's cold and never carries a syte. Death describes the life Liesel Meminger, an orphaned girl who witnesses her brother's death and burial and finds herself being adopted by the benevolent old couple, the Hubermanns. The rest of the story follows Liesel's journey through her incredibly challenging life with the Hubermanns and characters such as Rudy, The mayor's wife, and Max helping her along. Symbolism in The Book Thief deepens the story by conveying many different ideas and emotions that supports the reader's understanding of the story. This is especially apparent with the use of the gravediggers to help the reader remember characters, the use of color to help the reader feel the proper emotions and remember the correct events, and the use of Liesel's changing feelings about Rudy to convey how Liesel grows and matures through the book.

Once she arrives at her new home, 33 Himmel Street in Molching, Germany, she meets her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Rosa is violent to some extent, often beating Liesel over the head with a wooden spoon, as well as using excessively foul language, often calling Liesel and Hans 'filthy pigs'. Despite this however, Rosa still loved Liesel, and

Hans Hubermann generates a sense of belonging and feeling of protection for Liesel almost instantly. This develops and grows through the art of literature and music. Hans attending to Liesel during her nightmares, teaching her how to read and write, are a major progress in developing Liesel's sense of belonging. Liesel learning how to read and write have the biggest effect on her life. Through words Liesel is able to bring a

When Max first arrives at the Hubermann’s house he is in search of hospitality, he asks, “Do you play the accordion by any chance?” (187). Hans’ accordion was given to him as a gift by Max’s father in World War I. Max is really asking whether or not Hans will help him and respect his former friend. In this moment the accordion is a symbol of courage. Does Hans have the courage to help a Jew when the act is illegal or do the right thing and help a friend in need. Hans ends up helping Max showing that he has the courage to do what is right even though the risks are greater than the rewards. The accordion is also a symbol of hope as portrayed when Hans is sent off to war. The narrator explains, “Rosa Hubermann was sitting on the edge of the bed with her husband’s accordion tied to her chest” (422). In this scene, Rosa is in a place of sorrow as her husband is sent of to his likely death. The accordion is the only form of hope she has left. The accordion is a connection from her to her husband that gives her the slightest bit of comfort and

The Book Thief is set in the time of World War 2 where the Holocaust is present and disaster is everywhere. Throughout the story, Liesel, the main character, learns that words are extremely powerful and hold the ability for people to use them for good or for evil. Among the disaster and altercations, Liesel uses her literature to comfort her and make herself more powerful due to her knowledge, which demonstrates the theme of the story, the comfort and power of literature and words softens the pain of loss.

What is the first thing you think about when you hear the word death? In most cases, people fear death but as the narrator in Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief, Death is a compassionate and honorable character.

The acts of human nature can become a very difficult concept to understand. Markus Zusak uses Death throughout the The Book Thief to express the complexity of human nature. Death illustrates how complicated beings humans are and how they hold the capacity to act in both evil and beautiful ways. Throughout the novel Death helps give readers insight to the ignorance displayed and the pain it may cause a person. In the most troublesome and discriminatory times of the Holocaust, Death will point out the beautiful acts of compassion carried out by characters involved in the novel. Sometimes beauty and pain is mixed within the sacrifice some make for those they love and are loyal to.

The Book Thief is set in Nazi Germany where showing the smallest acts of love and compassion were sometimes considered as crimes. Love is shown in the form of loyalty, camaraderie and love of family. Although, love is often thought to be romantic but love in The Book Thief is not. The novel is mostly controlled by death and cruelty. Showing love will always be stronger than hate because loving something comes more naturally to humans than hating. Markus Zusak suggests that love is ultimately stronger than hate, when Hans Hubermann slaps his foster daughter, Liesel Meminger, across the face, when Rosa Hubermann looks after Frau Holtzapfel or when Hans Hubermann gives a Jew the crust of a stale piece of bread. These incidents might not look as if they’re examples of love, but they are.

In the novel The book Thief, Markus Zusak explores that death and war are often more difficult for those who survive. At the center of the text is the idea that those who are left behind after tragedy suffer greatly. This is revealed through the hardship of life and experience a gentle transition. This was shown as an experience of Liesel who struggles as well as the other characters that have difficult processing their grief and guilt. Zusak’s novel acts to alert his readers the dangers of war and by the hardship of life and experience a gentle transition.

Brutality and Beauty are both aspects of the human spirit and therefore are evident in society and have been through the ages. History can be examined to bring forth examples of both, often side by side, often in times of great destruction such as in times of war. In the novel, The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak explores and compares the juxtaposition between great brutality and beauty in the human spirit evident in the German town of Molching during WW2. The author demonstrates how the characters in the novel can overcome cruelty and ruthlessness with acts of extraordinary kindness and humaneness. This is shown through the novel with Max and Liesel’s friendship, when Hans gives one of the Jewish camp prisoners a piece of bread and when Rosa and Hans protect Max from the Nazis. Zusak illustrates that a human’s capacity for hope is difficult to destroy regardless of the circumstances.

An item is never just an item, an idea is never just an idea. There is always is deeper meaning behind an object's physical form. Throughout The Book Thief, Zusak uses elements of symbolism to create a novel layered with hidden values. Possessions in the book soon become representations of the memories and emotions the characters live with. This is why the theme of The Book Thief is simple objects can have complex meanings.

Death is the narrator. He is fascinated by humans and the colors of the world, but he struggles throughout the novel to figure out how humans are capable of so much ugliness and so much beauty. Death has real feelings,you can see him experience both sadness and joy. He even gets depressed.Death often provides humorous, or dark quotes. having death to narrate the book thief, foreshadows the book. Death is this mean character that kills people. He is sometimes nice and helps.He lists the main elements of the story, and reveals that he has seen the main character, the book thief, three times. The first time he saw her was on a train where he had come to collect the soul of a small boy. The book thief watched him take the boy with tears frozen

Finally, the Hubermann’s bond with Ms. Holtzapfel improved through words as well. At the beginning, “it was a tradition for Frau Holtzapfel, one of their neighbors, to spit on the Hubermanns’ door every time she walked past” (Zusak 44), showing that their relationship was pretty rough. However, things started to change after Liesel read the The Whistler in the bomb shelter. Liesel got an offer to read to Ms. Holtzapfel for her coffee ration and the cessation of the door spitting. When the sirens blared, Ms. Hubermann “waddled swiftly through the gate and stood in the open doorway. ‘Holtzapfel!’ …’Holtzapfel, get out here, you miserable old swine!’ Tact had never been Rosa Hubermann’s strong point. ‘If you don’t come out, we’re all going to die here on the

Markus Zusak uses death as the narrator in the book to describe his work and also as a choice of language, which makes the readers see how death establishes the main events of the story. He identifies the book describing the moment he has seen her all through her life. He divided the book into sections and each has a theme that conveys its meaning. His constant use of death with colors as a theme express his concern towards human existence, and how it plagues our society today. It also prompts the readers to reflect on how behavior changes like weather giving a connection with the use of theme death and color. The location setting for the events of the book thief took place at Nazi Germany, given readers the time it all happened. Another

The main theme of The Book Thief is that you must have courage even when it seems impossible to do so. Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, uses many different elements to convey the theme. Zusak uses communicates the theme topic of courage to the reader by through setting, symbolism, and character development.