Compare And Contrast Essay On The Book Thief

The Book Thief Essay

Everyone is obviously different, but the personal qualities of a person and external situations that are occurring in the world around them can create similarities between people who have vast differences. In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, this idea is very clearly shown through the lives of Liesel and Max. Although they come from vastly different backgrounds, the situations around them and their personal qualities reveal similarities between their lives. In The Book Thief, Max and Liesel’s lives have much in common, such as their love of literature and the impact on their lives as a result of Nazi persecution. However, they also differ in many aspects of their lives such as the degree of freedom that they were able to exercise and their attitudes toward life.

Book and eloquent language were one of the many things that tied Max and Liesel together. For example, when Max was very sick and not waking up, Liesel would go into the room where he was unconscious and read The Whistler to

him. She read the whole book to him while he was asleep, and during the last pages of the book, as she “[read] proudly, she unloaded the final frightening words to Max Vandenburg” (Zusak 323). This is a prime example of their shared love of books, as Liesel was doing this in the hope the the eloquence of the words would make him wake up. Liesel also gave Max another gift involving language while he was deathly ill. While he was asleep, Liesel sought to capture the beauty of the world that Max was missing out on by describing the world around them. One day she saw a massive cloud, so later that night she told the unconscious Max that it “was like a great white beast.” When he didn't respond she continued by describing how “it came from over the mountains” (Zusak 324). Not only did Liesel's description of the world around them show their shared love for language, but her use of advanced vocabulary and precise detail also showed this. Overall, one of Liesel and Max’s greatest shared traits was this love of language.
Max and Liesel are both heavily affected by the Nazi regime’s persecution of other races and political opponents as well. For instance, Liesel's mother and father were both taken away by the Nazis due to their beliefs in Communism. Liesel finally realized this at the book burning when she “saw it all so clearly. Her starving mother, her missing father. Kommunisten. Her dead brother” (Zusak 111). At this particular moment, Liesel begins to resent the Nazis due to their role in destroying her family. Without the Nazis, she would still be united with her family and her brother would still be alive. Max also experiences heartbreak and terror as a result of his faith. The Nazi regime sought to exterminate the Jewish race and implanted this idea into the entire German populace. Max was forced to hide in the Hubermann’s basement, where “he could feel the fists of an entire nation. One by one they climbed into the ring and beat him down” (Zusak 254). This shows his desperation and situation, as nearly the entire German nation was hostile towards him. Without the Nazis, Max would have never been put into this situation where he was forced to hide away, lest he be destroyed by an entire nation’s racism and hate. As a result of the persecution of other races and political opponents, Max and Liesel’s lives were both drastically changed.
Perhaps the largest difference between Max and Liesel was the amount of freedom that they had.

For example, Liesel was free to do just about anything that she wanted to. One day she noticed Rudy walking down and concluded that “he’s going stealing. She ran out to meet him” (Zusak 482). This demonstrates how she was able to come and go how she pleased at her house as well as do whatever she wanted outside of her home, including stealing. On the contrary, Max was heavily confined due to having to keep his presence a secret. Max had even convinced himself that “the basement was the only place for him” (Zusak 207). Since he had to be kept in the basement, the domain of his freedom was the basement. He had so little freedom that he “had not seen the outside world for twenty-two months” (Zusak 377). This lack of freedom was sharply in contrast with Liesel's abundance of freedom. Overall, Liesel had as much freedom as she could dream of, and Max had virtually none at

all.
Another large difference between Liesel and Max was their attitudes toward life. Liesel was still and innocent and rebellious young girl. She would often go out to do mischief with Rudy for fun. One of these times, they decided to drop bread in front of an oncoming parade of Jews. Rudy and Liesel “pedaled ahead of the parade toward Dachau, and stopped at an empty piece of road” (Zusak 440). Here they conducted their mischief by dropping pieces of bread on the road to cause chaos among the parade of hungry Jews. However, when they were caught, both of them simply ran away. Max, on the other hand, was a fighter. He believed that it was always necessary to fight, particularly against death. One day when Max was still a boy, he vowed that “when death captures me, he will feel my fist on his face” (Zusak 189). Max ends up being true to his word as well. When death came to carry Max away during his sickness, Death claimed that “there was a resurgence- an immense struggle against my weight” (Zusak 318). This resurgence was Max fighting Death off and not allowing himself to be consumed and die. From the moment that Max entered Liesel’s life, the difference between their attitudes was blinding.
Throughout the whole book, the similarities and differences of Max and Liesel’s lives are demonstrated clearly. This was done through avenues such as their shared love for literature, the effect of Nazi-sponsored persecution has on their lives, their differing degrees of freedom, and their attitudes towards life. Max and Liesel are both perfect demonstrations of how all humans can be tied together through their personal qualities and the situations around them. No matter how different other people are, one can always find similarities between them and others.