The Giver In The Book Thief Essay

1072 Words3 Pages

As humans, there are certain things that each individual deems as important, whether it be to themselves, or to any other aspect of their lives. The things in our lives that are “important,” are those that leave an impression with us for the entirety of our lives. They have the power to change who we are as people, to completely alter the way we view ourselves and the world around us. For young Liesel Meminger, words are especially important, and become more so as she grows up in Nazi Germany in The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Words allow her to understand the world she is forced to grow up in, as well as the people she is surrounded by in her life. Correspondingly, Jonas in Lois Lowry’s The Giver has a special relationship with the memories …show more content…

At his funeral, Liesel steals her first book, The Grave Diggers Handbook (24). The book is the gateway to not only her becoming a book thief, but also the gateway to her papa teaching her to read. This fact comes in handy during one of the air raids (381), when Liesel reads to the others in order to distract them from their anxieties. In The Giver, when Jonas is made aware of what life was like before Sameness, he realizes that the way the community has been living isn’t truly living. There is no emotion, no individuality, and everything is a shallow version of what it was in the past. Deciding that the members of the community should no longer have to live in the bland reality that has been created for them, he and the Giver devise a plan: Jonas must leave the community and release the memories so that they find the people of the community (117). Jonas gives up his family, his friends, and the only home he has ever known, all to give the community a chance to feel emotion and individuality once more. Both characters exhibited strength in moments where it was necessary, strength given to them by the things they deemed …show more content…

When she and Papa spent time learning, teaching her to read and write, it formed an unbreakable bond between them. When she and Max began sharing nightmares, when she would describe the weather to him (249), it permitted her to see that the Jewish people were not all filth the way the führer was leading the rest of Germany to believe. They allowed her to comfort those in the bomb shelter during the air raid. Liesel’s relationship with words gave her the power and strength to connect with people she would not have been able to connect with, had she not had them. The same goes for Jonas and his relationship with the memories. Had he not been selected, he would not have grown to care for the Giver, much less have become as wise as he was towards the end of the books. The memories also enabled him to form a bond with Gabriel, a bond that potentially saved Gabe’s life when he was about to be “released.” In each situation, the characters had been given abilities to help & connect with those around them, even in situations where one has deemed it impossible to

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