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 …show more content…
Death knew Rudy had asked for a kiss from Leisel multiple times with no avail, and Rudy held himself back because he loved Leisel as a friend. Rudy asked Leisel for a kiss when he thought he was about to die saving her book, and Death told us Rudy would end up getting his kiss after he actually died. Leisel kissed Rudy and we knew that he would be happy because Death told us he knew Rudy would be happy.“He’d have been glad to witness her kissing his dusty, bomb-hit lips. Yes, I know it. In the darkness of my dark-beating heart, I know. He’d have loved it, all right. You see? Even death has a heart.” (Zusak, 99). Death was referring to how he knew Rudy would be happy seeing Leisel kiss him, because that’s what Rudy wished for. On the other hand, Death pulled Rudy’s soul out from his body and he died to see that …show more content…
Rosa and Hans both helped Liesel bring in snow, which showed Ma was loved equally by everyone. Even if the snow in the house made Max sick, it was presumed he would die anyways, so he might as well have been happy. “It was the beginning of the greatest Christmas ever. Little food. No presents. But there was a snowman in their basement.” (Zusak, 312). It shows how badly Max wanted to do such simple things as to see a snowman, because he couldn’t go outside and see snow for himself. Death showed us this to show the reader there are good things in bad
Liesel yearns to discover the power of words through reading books. Throughout the story, she repeatedly steals books to grasp more information. It all starts with The Gravediggers Manuel; Liesel attains this book the day that her brother dies, while he is being buried by the gravediggers. Liesel pilfers this book from the gravediggers because the book will symbolize her remembrance of her brother, Werner. This also will start the beginning of her acrimony for the Fuhrer, because Liesel discovers that he is answerable for his death.
Rosa is the one to jump to this conclusion, "I bet it started with the snowman -fooling around with ice and snow in the cold down there" (Zusak 315). Rosa primes Liesel's guilt by identifying that the ice could possibly be the source of Max's' illness. This identification causes Liesel to feel guilt as she questions herself, "Why did I have to bring all that snow down" (Zusak 316). Liesel seems to feel guilt stronger in this situation considering she turkey cares about Max. Liesel directly displays her guilt when she clenches her hands, "She clenched her hands, as if to pray" (Zusak 316). This shows that she feels guilty for her actions and results in her praying for Max’s
In The Book Thief, the protagonist, Liesel Meminger has a strong and emotional relationship with her neighbor, Rudy Steiner. He is a young German boy who is eight months older than Liesel, has bony legs, sharp teeth, blue eyes and lemon-colored hair. He is depicted as a kind and loyal character that is at Liesel’s side for a majority of the book. Soon after meeting each other a few days after Liesel arrives on Himmel Street, the two become best friends. Rudy accompanies Liesel on all of her adventures in addition to providing emotional aid to each other’s problems. As the story progresses, we see their already very strong relationship fortify in a way that makes the two them the most prevalent character-to-character relationship in the book. It seems fit to include them as, if not the most,
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
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.
In the novel, The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, there are countless times when the characters show that they can be heroic, but the ones that stand out the most are: Rudy, Hans, and Liesel. Rudy is a hero from the start with his reckless and gallant personality. Hans is a wise man who often does the what he thinks is noble. By the end of the book, Liesel grows to be a human being who knows how to care and influence others. Having humanity and consideration goes hand in hand with heroism, too. Throughout the novel, the three characters experience moments when they stay strong for everyone else or help others around them even when they are not obliged to do anything. Yet, sometimes when they try to act like heroes, it does not always work
...internationally and has often been called ‘Harry Potter and the Holocaust’, a young girl’s difficult yet determined journey towards maturity. However, there are some who argue that a book so sad and sentimental is hardly a suitable read for teenagers. In Zusak’s own country, the book was published for a more mature audience and I think it does require a grown-up head to interpret the complicated emotions portrayed in here. Still, reading it can be a life-changing experience for this book comes with a message of hope. Liesel is the embodiment of that hope, a personification of love and generosity that even Death comes to love and respect. Read The Book Thief for it’s a lesson for life and food for thought for our generation. Read it for it shows one how to hope, and above all, read it for Death, the narrator with a heart, who confesses that he is haunted by humans.
The protagonist of The Book Thief is Liesel Meminger, a girl growing up in holocaust Germany. As the book begins Liesel is 9 years old, a girl given up by her mother to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in the German town of Molching. On the way to Molching Liesel’s brother Werner who was supposed to join her at the Hubermanns’ dies and Liesel is traumatized making the separation from her mother, her only remaining family much more painful. Thankfully the blow is softened by the love extended to her from her foster-father. Hans compared to Rosa with her gruff, loud love is just the solace Liesel needs. He is gentle and kind, patient enough to teach Liesel how to read, starting with a book she picked up at the graveyard where her brother was buried. With his aid Liesel slowly becomes more comfortable in her new life, venturing out in the neighborhood at a soccer match she befriends Rudy Steiner, a boy who falls in love with her. Over that summer they have many adventures together and the shadow of war is left in the joy of childhood freedom. A shadow, warded off for long finally falls upon Liese...
“Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness” (84). In the beginning, we are introduced to the narrator by the name of Death. He informs the readers that he has many stories, but only remembers the ones that interest him. The tale of Liesel Meminger is one such tale, as he was always fascinated by her will to live through the most horrible instances. It should be duly noted however, that this story does not have a happy ending. Death makes this clear before we even have a chance to get our hopes up. He tells us that everyone dies; the amount of time that they last is truly the only difference. After this sordid fact is in place, he mentions just Liesel first attracted his attention.
In the story, “ The Book Thief,” written by Markus Zusak a poor little girl loses everything, but then a family adopts her. Rudy took water on a cold day and poured it on the road so it would turn into ice, on this road a boy named Otto Sturm traveled it everyday with a basket of food. A boy named Max starts have daydreams throughout the days. The sweet, old lady named Rosa has a foster daughter.
Imagine being in Germany during World War II and the only things able to help you through this period of darkness is books, that’s what life was like for the main character, Liesel Meminger, in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The entire story revolved around how books help you through thick and thin. For Example, Mein Kampf led Max to his refuge, Liesel would read to people when they need it (like when Max fell ill, or when everyone was in a bomb shelter), reading helped Liesel cope with her brother dying, and also so much more. The books that Max write for Liesel help her understand what he’s going through during this time. For example, The Standover Man shows everyone that Max was always protected by someone who cares about him throughout his life. In short, books have a very important meaning in
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art … It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival,” (C.S. Lewis). Oddly enough, The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak is about a young girl Liesel who is placed with her foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann (SS3). During her time with them she learns how to read, and together they try to survive over the time of the Nazis and World War II (SS2). Affable and brave, is the best way to describe Liesel. Due to that Liesel is able to form many friendships in the book (SS1). The main friendship within the novel is between Liesel and Rudy, another friendship is between Liesel and Max. Through the characters, Zusak depicts the theme that no matter how bad things are around someone, they will always have the love of friendships to help them.
In the novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Rudy Steiner undertakes a tremendous transformation from being selfish and naive to mature, empathetic and cognitive. Rudy was a skinny ten year old boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. From the outside he was a hitler youth but in the inside his idol was Jesse Owens, a black athlete, Rudy looks past all of the nazi ideals and sees no difference between himself and Jesse Owens. Through this, people perceived Rudy as a crazy kid for having those alien beliefs. In the beginning, Rudy doesn't really know what was happening around him. To show off at the Hitler youth carnival, Rudy won multiple races. To his own ignorance he drawed attention of the Nazi officials and was recruited to a special school.
Even though the style of writing is simple and direct, it does a good job conveying the different themes of the story, including the different conflicts between politics and religion, separation of families, death, and etc. The power of words is shown as soon as Liesel learns how to read. Her will for prosperity and curiosity becomes more powerful with every word she learns. She realizes that words, through cruel and wicked manners, can be impact people to force acts of brutality. During the burial of her baby brother, she finds her first book, the grave digger’s manual. Even though liesel couldn’t read at the moment, she knows the memories its words
Death states that, “I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both” (Zusak 491). This book shows us human doing things that weren’t even imaginable before this point. Many people give into ideas that were lies. But, we also watch a few people go out of their way and sacrifice everything for a man they barely even know. They do everything they can to keep him safe and alive. They work harder, the get another job, and they even steal. In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, death examines the ugliness and the beauty of humans.