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.

War cannot exist without hatred, and hatred cannot be soothed by more hate; it can only be masked by love. World War II was a time for darkness and death, injustice and inequality. People were subjected to acts of inhumanity and hatred, simply for being who they were, having thoughts and showcasing their opinions. Markus Zusak introduces characters such as Liesel and the Hubermanns, who live in Nazi Germany, in the midst of destruction and horror. The war deeply affects their way of living, bringing unwanted conflict in their lives. In The Book Thief, love is a prominent theme which works to hide and soothe the hatred brought along by the war; Max Vandenburg, a Jewish person, finds that the love shown to him by the Hubermanns overpower the hatred he faces because of how he was born, and Liesel and the Hubermanns learn that showing love when the war comes to Molching can help create a sense of comfort and safety.

The Book Thief, is a Death narrated novel by Markus Zusak. The story takes place in Nazi Germany, 1939, where Liesel Meminger arrives on Himmel Street to start a new life with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. She lives to a very old age and when Death finally comes to take her away, he wants to tell Liesel about beauty and brutality. But what could he tell her about beauty and brutality that she didn’t know, the Book Thief had lived through it all. The time she saw Max marching to Dachau, the time Rudy went into the Amper River to save The Whistler, and the final moments she spent with Mama. Liesel Meminger’s life had always represent beauty in the wake of brutality.

"No matter how many times she was told she was loved there was no recognition that the proof was in the abandonment" (Zusak 32). The novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young girl who struggles through WWII and faces the pain and suffering of abandonment. When one is faced with such an abandonment and is forced to cope on their own, they may feel lost and alone. These emotions force people to find comfort. As in Liesel 's case, some people find comfort in books and words. Liesel 's perspective on abandonment can be seen through how she coped with her childhood trauma, Max 's illness and the Himmel Street bombing.

The Holocaust was a brutal event in World War Two and millions of people were killed. Although this occurrence was brutal, beautiful things happened too. Beauty and brutality co-existed throughout the the Holocaust and changed people's lives. Markus Zusak used imagery to represent beauty and brutality co-existing in “The Book Thief” throughout the lives of Liesel, Hans, and Death.

Hope is elusive and one needs courage to ensure it does not fly away. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak develops the theme of courage and hope throughout the novel, showing people need both to survive. He portrays the theme effectively through the characterization of Liesel as well as the symbolism of Hans Hubermann’s accordion.

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.

Guilt is like a disease that plagues your thoughts, until it gets to much too handle. Why did I do that? Why had I not done something? Why him, not me? Guilt is a theme in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, from important characters, like Liesl's guilt for not telling her foster mother Ilsa Hubermann, that she loved her, to minor characters, like Michael Holtzapfel hanging himself over the fact that he survived Stalingrad, but his brother didn’t. Guilt directly affects the characters, changed how the story goes, and the tone of the story and the mood reader.

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.

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.

Guilt plays a very big role in “The Book Thief”. It is one of the ways in which characters suffer. Guilt is a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation. The feeling of guilt is inescapable and it constantly makes you “look behind your back”. Analyzing my observations, I concluded that there were two major characters that experience guilt: Hans Hubermann and Max Vandenburg. “Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then, think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.” (Zusak 211). This was a description of the feeling of guilt that Hans Hubermann was experiencing. He felt guilty because hiding a Jew. In Nazi Germany, this was very wrong. In fact, it was considered a crime. This feeling of guilt was eating him. Max Vandenburg was also being

In the very beginning, the protagonist, Liesel, is faced with her first tragic encounter. On a train traveling toward Munich to live with foster parents, Liesel endures the death of her six year old brother. “There was an intense spurt of coughing. Almost an inspired spurt. And soon after-nothing” (Zusak 20). Her brother’s death happens so quickly that Liesel and her mother are left in disbelief and despair. This incentive moment began the tragic journey for Liesel or as Death named her, the Book Thief. After leaving her mom and being brought to her foster home, Liesel clings to the hope that this is just temporary. Because her foster father, Hans, taught her how to read and write, she desperately attempts to reach out through letters to her mom with no response. Even though Liesel is in this tragic journey, she has comfort and companionship from her foster parent, Hans, Rudy, a neighbor boy, and finally Max, the hidden Jew. Each of these relationships causes a chain reaction towards tragedy. As for Hans, “Liesel observed the strangeness of her foster father's eyes. They were made of kindness, and silver. Like soft silver, melting” (Zusak 34). Because of his kindness, Liesel also observes the tragedy. Having seen Hans being whipped multiple times in front of many people for helping a Jew and then drafted into war for also helping a Jew, Liesel sees the consequences for standing up for your own beliefs. Hans also developed in Liesel the love of reading which causes her to stand in horror and watch the burning of the book ceremony. Rudy, on the other hand, has a different relationship with Liesel. A love hate relationship that dealt with stealing and a childhood of mischievousness, these two characters bring joy in each others’ lives. Not knowing what they would do without each other, Liesel and Rudy depend on each other only to have that

Words can influence the mind in many ways that thought may not be able to. They are carefully placed and shared in different ways by each and every individual. Words have powerful impacts and can majorly impact how one may think, feel, or even lead others to feel. Written by Markus Zusak, “The Book Thief” describes a story of an innocent foster girl, Liesel Meminger, who resides in Munich, Germany at one of the most troubling time periods in history, Nazi Germany. A tale narrated by the one and only Death himself, shows the perspective from his point of view, as well as others, describing how Liesel had been seized away from her birth mother at a young age, and put into a foster family. Her new family, the Hubermanns. As she matures and grows into a more critical thinker, understanding and analyzing everything that carefully happens around her. Her foster-father, Hans guides her and teaches her how to read, which little does she know sparks her journey, the art of stealing books. Liesel soon discovers that words aren 't simply lines on a page, they are strong emotions packed into a form that merely is held in her delicate hands. Not only did she hold the pages of emotion, she held a power, a dangerous weapon of words, a weapon of control, and every book that she had stolen was giving her unimaginable power that made her think in ways that she would’ve never thought she could have. As with Nazi propaganda, and a gift that enabled her to broaden her worldview. Liesel evolves

In Nazi Germany, the axis fought extremely hard to oppress Jews and dehumanize them. These ideals were pushed upon the German citizens relentlessly during Hitler's reign through laws. In the book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the author presents the readers with characters who are under Nazi rule. These characters are all affected by the government in different ways, but the overarching theme of the book is the dehumanization of good people. Hans, Rudy, and Liesel all give humanity back to someone who has been dehumanized, even in the face of adversity.