Themes 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.

When writing a book authors like to use colors and symbols to describe and help make the story. In most books color is used a lot in the story to describe things from the sky to people's clothes. The Book Thief use color theory very often. Color Theory says that people will judge a character on the environment and what colors are in the environment(“Color Theory“). We are told the color of the sky when the main narrator Death is doing his job. He does not like his job so he uses colors to distract him from taking people's souls. Death says that he looks at the sky when he is doing his job, "I do try to enjoy every color I see - the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress," (Zusak 4). The color of the sky when someone dies had a lot of meaning behind the color. In the Book Thief, the colors are red, blue, black show up in the book the most.

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 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.

The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak shows how the impact on the power of language has on Liesel Meimeger through the structure of the novel. The structure of the novel shows the development of the character Liesel, highlighting the impact of the power of language. In her development, she finds the ability to express herself as well as to connect to others. Books become a comfort to her and heal her, they help her grow strong relationships with other characters in her life. However, she also sees the damage words have caused through Nazi propaganda, understanding that Hitler 's words have been the cause of suffering of the people in her life. Despite this, the structure of the novel shows the ability of the character to understand that

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.

The book is about a young girl named Liesel Meminger living with adoptive parents in World War II Germany. The book thief, Liesel, shows resistance to the cruel Nazis in many ways, one of which is stealing books from the Nazi book burnings. In a description of such an act, “Smoke lifted from the cover as she juggled it and hurried away (Zusak 121).” Another way that Liesel defies Hitler’s cruelty is by quietly voicing her beliefs against him when she says, “I hate Hitler (Zusak 115).” Liesel and her adoptive parents, for much of the book, also take in and care for a jewish man, Max, when he is on the run from Nazi soldiers. Liesel Meminger and the various characters of the book thief show a quiet but vibrant resistance to the hate and intolerance of the Nazi

What would the story of a book be like if many important parts were just removed? What if many symbolic items were just taken out? Symbolism is when items hold a deeper meaning within a story . The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a great example of symbolism within a book. Through symbols such as the accordion, the Nazi Flag, and books, Zusak demonstrates how ordinary objects can represent a deeper meaning to readers and the characters within the story of The Book Thief.

Shifting from Liesel, Death takes us to a small dark room where we come upon a sad hunched figure. A man, a Jewish man sits alone in this room filtering and re-filtering the same stale air. Starving and scared this figure only rises from himself to greet his friend Walter. " Max wake up." (139) Walter came with gifts, a fake identity card, a copy of Mein Kampf containing a key and a small ration of food barely large enough to be considered a meal. breaking his food into the portions Max devoured what he allowed himself before pleading to a man hundreds of miles away. " Please." (141)

In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak uses his characters to demonstrate the theme that there is both beauty and brutality in human nature. The characters that are examples of the novel are Rosa Huberman, Hans Huberman and Max Vandenberg. Rosa exemplifies the theme through her language and her tolerance. Hans exemplifies the theme through his interactions with Liesel. Max shows both characteristics through the novel. Rosa, Hans and Max are prime example of how human nature can have both beauty and brutality.

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

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a story that has many tragedies and losses. The setting is in Germany in a small town called Molching on Himmel Street during World War II. Most events are taken place here. In part one of the book, a few major characters are introduced. Liesel Meminger is a young girl who had to witness the death of her younger brother, Werner, and also steals books. The first-person narrator, Death. Rudy Steiner, an athletic boy who lives on Himmel Street, who becomes a very good friend of Liesel. Hans Hubermann and Rosa Hubermann who are married and have a son and daughter and turn out to be Liesel's stepparents. A few minor characters are also introduced, Frau Holtzapfel, Frau Diller, Tommy Müller, and Mr. Steiner.

If you believe in yourself and have dedication, pride, and never quit, you will be successful. Markus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief, creates a story of a young orphan named Liesel Meminger, who is living with her new foster family. She learns the wonders of reading from her foster father and grows to love books. During Liesel’s time with her new family, she shows determination through her efforts and kindness with her encounters with other people. Liesel in The Book Thief expresses her traits, such as hardworking, and bravery.

The book that I will be discussing is The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. This historical fiction novel's central question is about how humans can do both the most beautiful and the most cruel of things. Therefore, this central question is, what are humans capable of? How are they capable of such great things, as well as such horrible things? In this essay, I will demonstrate how the historical and cultural context of The Book Thief relate to the setting and advance the theme.

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.