The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

Words can be as powerful as any weapon. They have the power to spread ideas, yet that power can be dangerous. They have the ability to hinder, help, and heal someone. Depending on who is saying something, and how they say it, it affects people differently. During World War II, Hitler used his power to influence people with fear and hope to do dehumanize the Jews. Throughout The Book Thief, Markus Zusak uses cacophonous diction, imagery, and the third person point of view to relay the power of words which creates a sympathetic and frightened nature, that exposes the hardships that people face during the Holocaust.

The power of words can give a character two different faces, which brings them together by their similarities or pulls them apart

by their secrets. Diction is also used to add emphasis to the situations within the story. Death, as a narrator, uses cacophonous diction to help the reader understand the difficulties and the desperation of the Jews’ lives. He uses words such as “starving skulls” to explain the “suffering faces of depleted men and women”(392) that were exposed to the cruelty on the streets. Harsh sounding words that are depicted throughout The Book Thief, express the dehumanization that the Jews experienced during difficult times of the Holocaust.
Imagery is used to give the reader insight of the world around the Jews and Germans.

The “Germans loved burning books” (84) to keep people away from certain ideas, as if those ideas would spread like an infection. They feared those ideas, like the one in the book Liesel steals that a Jew could be a hero, because they could undermine the Nazi ideology and therefore the party’s control over Germany. As Max “cut out a collection of pages from Mein Kampf and painted over them in white” (223) this exemplifies that bad can be turned into good. Something that was once used to spread hate, is now bringing joy to Liesel. Death says that a Jews “face was flattened against the road” and that “the ache in his arms was unbearable to watch as they shook”(393), they were mentally and physically exhausted because of the overwhelming constant fear. They were scared to show their weaknesses because of an excessive power by the Nazi

Party.
The novel is told in mostly third third person point of view with few exceptions where it is told in first first person. Through the character of Death, Zusak is able to deliver a story that looks at humans through the eyes of an outsider. Although Death is “haunted by humans” (550), Rudy found a way to “step on his heart” and “make him cry” (531). This shows that despite the fact that he is not “supposed to have any feelings” because “it is not allowed” (13). It is very hard for him to separate himself from human emotion. Deaths feeling of sympathy creates an overall feeling of distress. This bias perspective only gives us what he has seen and therefore makes it easier to feel sorry.
While The Book Thief explores the ways that words can hurt as well as heal, the message is ultimately hopeful.

Death has carried around Liesel’s book, and her words, “so damning and brilliant” that have given him a new view of the human race, “so ugly and so glorious” (550). Death notes that though he serves villains and disasters, there are moments and stories he allows to distract him, and The Book Thief is one of those stories. For Liesel, even as the words took her mother away from her, endangered her best friend, and isolated her when they were beyond her grasp, words were what connected her to the people she loved. Words were powerful enough to literally save her, in the end. The Jews knew “they could not be saved” and for one man’s sake, “just give him five more minutes and he would surely fall into the German gutter and die”(393). This event gives a suspenseful feeling to the reader to create sympathy for the people in harm’s way experiencing harsh predicaments. Not only were the Jews sacred so were the Germans. Hans was whipped for giving a man a tiny piece of bread. This fear instilled with the people is very prominent, making others not want to stand up and use their voices. Death has feelings because he so baldy wished he could have said “Im sorry child”, but he couldn't because “it was not allowed” (13). The fact that death cannot express himself, yet has to constantly experience sorrow creates a sympathetic effect. It makes the reader feel bad for him because

he is all alone in a world full of people.
It is one of the most powerful ways to connect with anyone. Words have brought people together and conveyed the feeling of love in a world full of hate. Given to the reader, a feeling of never-ending fear and pain expressed through the literary techniques, exposes the hardships that both Germans and Jews faced during the challenging times of World War II. Words are what creates goodness, comfort, and sanity in a time of war. Words are a dangerous weapon of control.