Examples Of Liesel's Dependence On Books In The Book Thief

Liesel's dependence on books in the Book Thief

By: Silke lozier

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

After the death of her brother, Werner, she becomes despondent and irrational. As she numbly follows her mother to the burial

site, numb throughout the ceremony. After the ceremony ended everyone but Liesel leaves. Liesel stays at the burial site in disbelief and begins to claw at the frozen earth not believing that her brother is dead, she doesn’t realize her fingertips are bleeding until she feels her mother's hand upon her shoulder. While standing over the grave with her mother Liesel picks up a book one of the grave diggers dropped and holds it in her hands as she and her mother remained at the grave. Liesel begins to get attached to the book as it means two things to her. 1: the last time she saw her brother and 2: the last time she saw her mother. As she learns to read she uses the words as an escape and to remember her family.
Even after arriving at the Hubermann's residence she is still irrational as she refuses to leave the car and once the aid physically removes her she attaches herself to a fence, though eventually going inside. Once inside Rosa Hubermann, her new foster mother, demands her to take a bath. She does not. "Liesel, naturally, was bathed in anxiety. There was no way she was getting into any bath, or into bed for that matter. She was twisted into one corner of the closetlike washroom, clutching for the nonexistent arms of the wall for some level of support. There was nothing but dry paint, difficult breath, and the deluge of abuse from Rosa." (24) death states. After Werner's death and she feels depressed and scared, having awful nightmares every night about her brother, this is when she begins to learn to read with Hans. Learning to read one on one with hans helped her calm down from her nightmares and being read the grave diggers handbook and reading it helped her cope. Throughout the novel she has a craving for more and more books as she has developed a love for words.

Her anxiety, fear, depression, guilt and anger shape her into the woman she is at the end of the novel.

Throughout the novel Liesel reaches new highs and new lows, overcoming her fears and succumbing to her anger. Liesel's sudden outburst at Ilsa Hermann after Ilsa asking to stop the laundry services caused her to finally accept her brother's death and even helped Ilsa accept her son's death as well. Ilsa's guilt consumed her and caused her to become a house ridden woman overcome by her grief while Liesel overcame her guilt and grief by learning how to read and write not allowing them to overcome her. "“It’s about time,” she [Liesel] informed her, “that you do your own stinking washing anyway. It’s about time you faced the fact that your son is dead. He got killed! He got strangled and cut up more than twenty years ago! Or did he freeze to death? Either way, he’s dead! He’s dead and it’s pathetic that you sit here shivering in your own house to suffer for it. You think you’re the only one?” Immediately. Her brother was next to her. He whispered for her to stop, but he, too, was dead, and not worth listening to. He died in a train. They buried him in the snow. […] “This book,” she went on. She shoved the boy down the steps, making him fall. “I don’t want it.” The words were quieter now, but still just as hot. She threw The Whistler at the woman’s slippered feet, hearing the clack of it as it landed on the cement. “I don’t want your miserable book. ”[…] her brother holding his

knee, disappeared" (180). Liesel and Ilsa both going through the same thing decided for themselves how they could cope, with liesel it was reading the grave diggers handbook and remembering her brother and mother while for Ilsa it was mourning and never forgetting.
Everyone in the world goes through grief, guilt and anger but they choose to let it over come them or to over come it. Though with help Liesel chose to overcome her grief, guilt, fear, and anger. Liesel became dependant on books and used that as something to help her cope, though accepting her brother's death and over coming everything took years she was still able to over come all of this with the help of books.