Liesel experiences abandonment throughout her life, and the novel during a suppressed time in World War II Germany. Through her experiences Liesel’s learns to equate abandonment with love knowing that circumstance have forced her loved ones to leave her. Liesel understand that her mother left by circumstance due to the unraveling war unfolding in Germany, while Hitler was trying to reign complete control over all the political parties. During Hitler’s birthday one of his men gave a speech stating, “.. the evil machinations plotting to infect the motherland with its deplorable ways.” (Zusak 110.) The man refers to the ‘evils’ as,’ kommunisten,’ which is when Liesel starts to understand why her mother had to leave. She starts to put the …show more content…
numbers in order as she, “revisited those dark rooms of her past (...) saw it all so clearly,” (Zusak 111.) realizing her mother had to abandon her due to her father being a communist. This is only confirmed by Hans when Liesel ask if the Fuhrer took her mother due to her being a communist, and Hans replies, “I think he might have yes.” Another person who is forced to abandon Liesel due to circumstance Hans towards the end of the book.
Hans is forced to leave Liesel to serve in the military due to the Nazi Party accepting his application. “Don’t go, Papa. Just don’t go. Let them come for you if you stay. But don’t go, please don’t go.”(Zusak 424) Liesel understand due to the circumstances Hans, and not because of his choosing. Even Max had to leave at one point in order to maintain the safety of the Hubermanns. This still is all do to circumstance, which has thrusted Hans, Max and Liesel Mother to leave her …show more content…
ultimately. Valarie Moy 7th period 9/8/15 Essay Question 6 During WWI Hans befriends a Jew named Erik Vandenburg. who ends up saving his life. Through Erik’s death Hans takes his guilt and channels it into helping others. Hans feel guilty about Erik’s death due to the fact he had a wife and child, that he was unaware of.
He feels miserable for allowing Erik to sacrifice his life for his when Erik had a son and wife to provide for. You can see this when he quotes, “You never told (..) You never told me you had a son.” (Zusak 179) Hans feels if he would of known Erik was a father, then he wouldn’t have left him save his life. He sees it as Max still having a father which haunts truly him. Guilt even makes Hans turndown him application for the Nazi Party, because a he knows it would be wrong to support a group who detested Jews, when in reality one saved him. The guilt of Erik’s death inspires him to assist others which in returns helps alleviates the guilt by letting him know he’s living the meaningful that Erik died for. One way he does this is by helping Liesel learn how to read and write.In this quote Hans states, “To tell you the truth I am not such a good reader myself,” (Zusak 64.), this quote represents Hans’s dedication. He sees it’s honestly important to her, and even though he can’t perfectly read, Hans makes it his obligation for Liesel’s
sake. In the book Max states, “Living was living. The price was guilt and shame.” (Zusal 208) Max feels guilty because he’s knowingly putting Hans and Rosa through grave danger for persistently helping him. His will to not only survive but prevail in Nazi Germany makes him leave his family without a formal goodbye. Max feels terrible for not looking back at his family one last time before he left. And overall Max feels horrible for not keeping his family safe at the end of the day. Guilt drives the actions of both Hans and Max throughout the story.
In Markus Zusak’s novel, the book thief, Liesel Meminger is surrounded by death and fear as that is the norm in the 1930’s. Liesel is a strong young girl who has been deeply affected by her brother’s death and her mother leaving her and finds comfort in ‘The Grave Digger’s Handbook’, the book she stole at the site of her brother’s burial. Throughout the novel Liesel finds comfort in other books and reads them to escape the terrible reality that is Nazi Germany. Together with books she overcomes obstacles she wouldn't have been able to do without them
In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the narrator is Death, who shows itself as sympathetic and sensitive towards the suffering of the world and the cruel human nature, through its eyes, we can get to know the heartbreaking story of Liesel Meminger an ordinary, but very lucky nine-year old German girl; living in the midst of World War II in Germany. In this book the author provides a different insight and observation about humanity during this time period from a German view and not an Allied perspective, as we are used to.
One may hear the words love and abandonment and believe they are opposites, but this is not the case in The Book Thief. Markus Zusak uses abandonment to bring together two characters. One night Liesel and Max reveal to one another their reoccurring nightmares. Liesel has a dream where she feels abandoned by her mother and brother while Max has a dream where he abandons his family. Even though Liesel is abandoned and Max is the abandoner they both feel the same way toward what had occurred to each of them. Through this sharing of nightmares comes a special unspoken connection between the two. Liesel and Max go from strangers to practically brother and sister who love one another, which may seem odd for the love came directly from abandonment. Liesel’s first encounter with abandonment came from her brother dying on the train on the way to Liesel’s foster home. Liesel was very upset and hurt by her mother and did not under stand why she was doing this until later. “She saw it all so clearly. Her starving mother, her missing father. Kommunisten” (Zusak 111) Liesel connected the dots and realized that her mother was married to a communist, which was a great danger during the reign of Hitler. Liesel came to comprehend that her mother gave her up to keep her safe and away from Hitler. Her mother did all of this out of love for her. All the pain and suffering that Liesel has gone through has been caused by
The Book Thief and Nazi Germany The heavily proclaimed novel “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is a great story that can help you understand what living in Nazi Germany was like. Throughout the story, the main character, Liesel goes through many hardships to cope with a new life in a new town and to come to the recognition of what the Nazi party is. Liesel was given up for adoption after her mother gave her away to a new family, who seemed harsh at first, but ended up being the people who taught her all the things she needed to know. Life with the new family didn’t start off good, but the came to love them and her new friend, Rudy.
The novel The Book Thief is a book about a young girl by the name of Liesel Meminger. Observing the life of this young girl is not easy as this is the time of Hitler’s reign in Germany. In a short period of time, this girl faces many difficulties. More than any child should ever have to encounter. She has to deal with being abandoned by her mother, the death of her younger brother, and relocation to another part of Germany. Immediately when Liesel arrives to Molching, her life is forever changed. She is forced to live with two strangers, now her new mama and papa. Liesel faces much abuse both at school and at home. At school she is made fun of for her illiteracy and at home, mama speaks very rudely to her calling her a swine and other insults.
Throughout Night Wiesel’s most important motivation remains his father and almost nothing else. When Chlomo finally passes on at the end, Wiesel has nothing left to care about. Wisel writes, “I have nothing to say of my life during this period. It no longer mattered. After my father’s death, nothing could touch me anymore” (Wiesel 107). This book reminds us not only of the terror of the Holocaust, but of the importance of family in life.
The feeling of guilt can be revealed through Hans’ character due to the death of his friend, Erik Vandenburg. For example, after Erik’s death, Hans felt responsible to visit his family. When he came back from the war, Hans told Erik’s wife, ““You know,” Hans explained to her, “he saved my life.” [...] “He—if there’s anything you ever need.” He
Liesel’s mom leaves her with foster parents because she wishes to protect her from the fate she is enduring. The words Paula, Liesel’s mom, uses go against Hitler because she is a communist which resulted in her being taken away and Liesel to lose her mother and experience the loss of her. This shows Liesel experiences unhappiness because of her mother’s disappearance which is caused by the words she openly uses that contradicts Hitler.
...by American bombers and everyone but Liesel dies on the street. Liesel only survives because she was writing a book of her own, and was in the basement when the bombs struck. When she is rescued by the police, she rushes to find her parents and Rudy, but only finds them both dead. The story ends with her being adopted by Ilsa Hermann. Of course, this does not mean the story is over; there is an epilogue. Max survives the war and later finds his way back to Liesel, who rejoices when they finally meet. When Liesel finally dies, death takes her away from the others and shows her the book that she was writing when the bombs fell. She asks him if he understood the meaning of it, to which he responds with his own sage advice. When death takes her soul away for good this time, and takes one last look at the title of the book. The Book Thief by Liesel Meminger.
... In return, she explains what her own dreams [are] made of” (Zusak 333-334). Liesel exchanging conversations with Max over their dreams defies the Nazis' rules since Max is a Jew and having polite conversations with one is prohibited. Anyone caught having relations any relations to a Jew is a traitor to the Nazi regime. Thus, the kids are opposing the Nazis through their exchanges with the opposition.
...d her and her books. Liesel, the mayor, and the mayor’s wife were the only ones left alive in the community. The most important message is that words have an impact on us for it is the theme of this story. This is what the author wants to convey to the readers. Words have an influence on people to do good and bad things. In the Word Shaker, Max wrote about Liesel and how Hitler realized that words have an effect on people. He also wrote that the people on top are the ones that fully understand words. She benefited from the friends she had. Liesel learns how to read from Hans Hubermann and steal what she loves with Rudy. As Liesel Meminger concludes her narrative, she says, “I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.” (Zusak 528)
The main character Liesel, known as “the book thief” is who Death is looking over. Liesel, her mother, and brother are on a train to Munich. On the train ride her brother dies. She and her mother get off the train to bury him. The first book Liesel steals is from the gravediggers. They continue the journey to a town called Molching, where Liesel will be raised by foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel adjusts to her new home life. Hans teaches Liesel how to read. The war is escalating in Germany. The town holds a book-burning to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. That’s when Liesel steals another book from the flames. Liesel’s job is to deliver laundry to the Hermann family. The Hermanns’ have a library full of books. Liesel is allowed to read them in the study. Meanwhile, a German-Jew named Max needs help, so he seeks out the Hubermanns. Max hides in the basement, so he is safe from the Nazis. Liesel begins stealing books from the Hermanns. The Nazis parade the Jews through the town of Molching on their way to the concentration camp for everyone to see. Liesel is given a blank notebook to write her own story. One night the neighborhood is bombed. Hans, Rosa, and the rest of the neighborhood is killed. Rescue workers find Liesel under the rubble. She leaves behind her finished book, called The Book Thief. Death, who has been watching, rescues the book. Liesel ends up living with the mayor
Accordingly, to the book, Book Theif on page 86, Death says that liesel was a girl” with a mountain to climb.”what does this mean? In this situation Liesel is trying to live through the frightening Nazi Germany which most certainly creates a huge part of that mountain. However, she does has climbing partners. The three main points were on the three partners which were Huberman's, Rudy, and Max. They seem to help Liesel carry through the suffering and pain of being neglected by her own mother on top of that, She then is armed to live with her.
Hans Hubermann is Liesel’s father that helped her educate herself along with providing Liesel with support and materials. He is a painter yet he doesn’t agree with the doings and acts of the Nazi Party which allows Liesel to open her eyes and see this too.
The language used between Liesel and those close to her redefined the meaning people are more familiar with: “‘Yes,’ Liesel promptly agreed. Quick answers were appreciated in this household. ‘Yes, Mama,’ Mama corrected her. ‘Saumensch. Call me Mama when you talk to me’”(35). The English translation of Saumensch is pig. A lot of people would take the word for what it is, a filthy swine. For Liesel, this was her own brand of love. It was through this word that Liesel knew she was talking to a loved one. At the beginning of the story Liesel started off timid and sorrowful. In the later course of the story she built confidence around the words exposed to her, going as far as opposing the Nazi