The central theme represented in The Book Thief is abandonment. Liesel believes that everyone that she loves will abandon her and in one way or another, they eventually do. To begin with, Liesel is first abandoned by her mother and brother. Her brother dies on the way to Munich and her mother leaves her with a foster family.’’when Liesel searched the mailbox for a reply to her letter, it clearly broke her foster father’s heart...Where was she? What had they done to her?’’ (Zusak, 97) She attempts to wrote letters to her biological mother but Liesel never gets a reply. She then begins to think about what Rosa was saying about people taking her mother away for being a communist. Liesel understands her mother's betrayal when it's Hitler's birthday and he states ‘’The immoral.The Kommunisten!’’ (Zusak,110) she realizes that ‘’Her starving mother,her missing father.Kommunisten. Her dead brother. She saw it all clearly.’’ (Zusak,111) Her mother was a communist and wanted her to be safe. In order for that to happen she had to ‘’abandon’’ her. …show more content…
To continue, Liesel gets attached to her foster parents along with the Jew hiding in her basement, Max.
‘’The scrawled words of practice stood magnificently on the wall .. they looked on as both the hidden Jew and the girl slept, hand to shoulder.’’ (Zusak 238) Liesel had grown to love both of them but unfortunately they both eventually abandoned her. Liesel's foster parents abandon her when there is a bombing of Himmel Street. They both are killed in their sleep.’’They are not moving..she began to rock back and forth. A shrill,quiet note was caught in her throat somewhere.’’ (Zusak,537) Her parents death was circumstantial because they had no choice. They bombing was the cause of all the
destruction. Max was the hidden Jew in Liesel’s basement who also abandoned her.When the huberman's were being suspected of, Max knew that he had to leave in order to protect himself and Liesl's family. Liesel's gets very attached to Max and he even gifts her The Standover Man to read. Their friendship was very important to both of them because it saved both of their lives and gave them courage to keep living. Max once said, ‘’The best standover man i’ve met isn't a man at all.’’ (Zusak 235) This describes how his friendship with Liesel allowed him to survive in the harsh world. In the end, Max’s abandonment wants by heart but because of the safety of Liesel and himself.The central theme of the novel is abandonment but everyone she loved didn't leave because it was by heart, but rather by the circumstances.
Elli talks about daily life in her neighborhood. Her mother does not show any compassion for her. When Elli complains of this, her mother brings up excuses that are unconvincing. Elli believes her mother does not care for her and that her brother is the favorite. Hilter’s reoccurring radio broadcast give nightmares to Elli, whos family is Jewish. The nights when the Hungarian military police would come and stir trouble did not provide anymore comfort for Elli. One night, her brother, Bubi, comes home with news that Germany invaded Budapest, the town where he goes to school. But the next morning, there is no news in the headlines. The father sends him back to school. He learns the next day that a neighbor’s son who goes to school with Bubi has said the same. The day after, the newspapers scream the news of the invasion. Bubi arrives home, and the terror begins.
Elie and Liesel live and survive during the time of World War II. Both characters face the harsh reality of the terrible period of time they are living in. The memoir, Night and the movie, “The Book Thief” share similarities and dissimilarities that make Elie and Liesel both stand out. Due to the loss of family, determination to live, and fear helps both of them survive the war, but depends on the different reactions, mistreated for different reasons, and hope.
In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak tells the tragic story of Liesel Meminger and her experiences in 1939 Nazi Germany. Zuzak incorporates compelling literary devices such as toe curling foreshadowing, personification, and vivid imagery in the form of simile and metaphors to grasp the readers’ interest. Zusak’s use of various literary devices helps to deepen the text and morals of the story, and makes the dramatic historical novel nearly impossible to put down.
Not that it was a living hell. It wasn't. But it sure wasn't heaven, either”. (5.87) Death tells us. She became really fond of Hans Hubermann; a painter and accordion player, but with Rosa things were more complicated; she was a rough woman who did the washing and ironing of Molching’s wealthy inhabitants. Liesel starts to have dreams of her brother dying and wets in bed which leads us to her first reading session; Papa finds the book hidden under Liesel’s mattress and after a while he notices that Liesel does not know how to read and doing his best with a fourth grade education he teaches her how to read and write. She also makes a friend that she would never forget Rudy Steiner or we can call it Jesse Owens too; they met on the street during a soccer game and since then they became
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
Another bit of Liesel emotions that I was interested was the book thief words give Liesel life
In the novel The Book Thief, setting and point of view affect the theme and book a lot. The point of view of this novel is third person omniscient and a little bit of second and first person when the narrator talks about himself or to the reader. The setting of the story is Nazi Germany and it is based on a young girl named Liesel Meminger and what her life was like during this time. Her story is told by the narrator, death. Mark Zusak, the author, uses setting and point of view to express the theme of the novel because there was so much death happening, Liesel encountered him so many times, causing him to be able to tell her story; without this setting and the narrator, the theme story would have been different.
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.
Finding beauty in ugly situations was a theme that was very key in the development of the Book Thief. This can be seen many times in the text and really brings the whole story together. Keeping a positive attitude in a bad situation and finding the good things is what keeps Liesel’s happiness. She may not have the best life yet she has a very positive outlook on life. It doesn’t matter the situation, you can always find happiness.
It was on a train with Liesel’s mother and brother where they were travelling when death made his first appearance in the book thief’s life. He took the soul of her brother and only glanced at the girl truly, not taking real note of her as he did his job. She knew that her brother was dead at that point, but the shock wouldn’t truly take her until she snatched a book from where it had fallen near her brother’s hastily made grave. After he was buried, Liesel and her mother continued on their way, arriving at the town of Molching, where she met Hans and Rosa Hubermann. In the first few months that she had arrived, nightmares plagued her mind, haunting her with images of Werner, her brother, and his cold dead eyes. Hans is the one to comfort her, and because of this she grows to trust in him and truly view him as her father. She enjoys his company as well, for he can play the accordion and is always smiling and winking at her in a joyous way. He also begins to teach her how to read the book that she picked up on the day d...
The events of the Holocaust during WWII had the power to dehumanize Liesel, but instead it gave her the courage to live a meaningful life. “In my religion, we’re taught that every living thing, every leaf, every bird is only alive because it contains the secret word for life… Words are life, Liesel. All those blank pages are for you to fill.” (The Book Thief) Even though this is a quote that Max said to Liesel, it helps show how words give life meaning. This sparked the heart of Liesel’s life because she is given a blank to fill with words; she has the power to use her words as tools or weapons, to either live a meaningful life or an insignificant one. Liesel chose to use her words to gain strength and courage to live a life worth living through the books that she read and wrote. In Throne of Glass, Celaena Sardothien helps show that even though people may face struggles, it is ultimately what gives our life meaning because we learn to never give up and to endure through them. “If you learn to endure pain, you can survive anything.” (Maas 2). Parts of our strength comes from the things that we are forced to endure. If we go through life giving up on everything, it would seem like the real potential in living life is wasted. The words in these books show how life is a struggle, but if you at least try to face it with a brave face, it will make life more worthwhile.
The book takes place in WWII, and centers around what Death sees in this time. Death’s job is to collect the souls of many found dead, but he takes an interest in Liesel, who isn’t someone he really needed to pay attention to. However, he followed her because he pitied her, and The Book Thief is the story of her life, narrated by him. Everyone always tells you to find the silver lining in the bad things that happen, but this book doesn’t just tell someone to do that but shows someone how to do that. He makes Liesel’s best friend, Rudy, smile by showing him Liesel kissing his corpse. He follows Liesel because he sees something interesting in her, showing even Death has a heart. He chose to retell signs of good that he saw in the book, specifically
Books helped Liesel bring comfort to others, in one occasion Liesel reads to the other residents of Himmel Street in the bomb shelter during the air raids to try and calm the people down and make them feel safe. She finds comfort in books even when she gives up books; when Ilsa gives the blank book to Liesel she begins writing The Book Thief, the story of her life. Books saved her life, the only reason she was still alive after the bombing of Himmel Street was that she was staying up to edit. Throughout Liesel's life books helped her create relationships, resist against the Nazi regime, gain power and confidence over her words, soothe people, make refuge, and even saved her
The text of Night reads “A truck grew closer and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes...children thrown into flames” (Wiesel 32). The Nazis carried out the plans set in place by the SS and HItler. Here, they are murdering and burning children without showing any guilt or remorse. They simply did as they were told without questions. In a like manner, "Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother” (Wiesel 27). The eight words Wiesel is describing here are”Men to the left. Women to the right”.This is the moment the Nazis separated Wiesel from his mother. Whether it be starvation, separation from family, or murder, there were many ways the Nazis harmed the
First off Liesel lost her brother who was basically her best friend. Not only did her brother Werner die which is suffering enough for a young girl, she was the one to find him dead. That image will always be there in the back of her mind, and she will never be able to get passed that. Throughout the novel Liesel is still reminded of this event on a regular basis especially in her dreams, “Every night, Liesel would nightmare. Her brother’s face. Staring at the floor”(Zusak 36). The dreams moved her suffering from the outside world into her sleep which is usually a person’s escape from the world and their problems. One could imagine and hope Liesel would not have to experience anything else like losing her brother but their imagination will deceive them. During a Parade of Jews going through Molching Hans, Liesel’s foster father throws a piece of bread to a straggling Jew. This action is obviously a huge no in the Nazi book. As a result Hans is whipped for being a ‘Jew Lover’. Han’s knew this action had compromised his current situation of hiding Max; a Jew in their basement. (QUOTE). Max knew as well, Hans is now a target in the party’s eyes and he must leave, this is the moment when Liesel experiences more loss, “He could not see the figure in the kitchen window, but she could see him” (Zusak 397). Losing once again another person in her life that was important to her, caused Liesel to once