Summary The novel, The Book Thief, is narrated by Death who tells us about the experiences a girl has during World War II in Nazi, Germany. The story is about a girl who steals back the words that are stolen from her. She is separated from her mother and is put with a new family. She makes an unexpected friendship with a Jew who is a common enemy in Germany. It starts with nine year old Liesel Meminger on a train with her mother and brother to Mulching, Germany. On the way, Liesel awakes to her dead brother staring at her. He is then buried and at his burial Liesel steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook. Once the trains arrives in Mulching, Liesel is separated from her mother because she is a communist and is sent …show more content…
to live with Hans and Rosa Huberman. In her first months on Himmel Street Liesel is constantly teased at school because she cannot read and is often awoken by nightmares of her brother’s death. To calm and comfort her, Hans teaches her how to read in the basement until morning comes around which helps create a bond between the two of them. As time goes on Liesel becomes more situated in Himmel and is often seen playing soccer with Rudy, her best friend. At the burning of the books to celebrate Hitler’s birthday, Liesel realizes that Hitler was the reason she was separated from her mother and why she doesn’t have a father and for this she hates him. Also, at this event Liesel steals her second book which was left over from the burning and is caught by Ilsa Hermann, the Mayor’s wife. When Liesel comes to pick up the laundry, Ilsa lets Liesel in her house and invites her to her library. The two create a nice bond and every time Liesel comes to pick the laundry she is allowed to read for hours. Liesel’s life is peaceful with her playing with Rudy, reading in the basement with Hans, and her invited to the mayors library until Max, a Jew, comes to her family for protection. A long time ago during World War I, Hans’s life was saved by a Jewish man, Erik Vandenburg. Hans makes a promise to Erik’s wife that if she ever needs something she could ask him and Hans keeps this promise even after thirty years. Both Liesel and Max are skeptical of each other but as time goes they realize they have a lot in common. They both have nightmares and they both lost family. They grow closer especially after Christmas when Max writes his first book for Liesel, The Standover Man. They comfort each other while Liesel reads and Max writes. Rosa is losing her customers to washing because of the poverty going around and that does not exclude Ilsa Hermann.
When Liesel is done reading in her library, she ask for the laundry, but is soon angry because her mother is losing money and she yells harsh words to Ilsa. Rudy and Liesel join a group who steals so they can have more food because they are basically starving. One day they plan to steal from the mayor’s kitchen but Liesel has other ideas. In that moment, Liesel steals her third book, The Whistler. Summer 1942, is filled with Hans and Liesel painting windows black for free to prepare for the air raids. Rudy is training for the Youth Carnival where he plans to win four gold medals like his hero, Jesse Owens, but he only wins three because he is disqualified in the fourth race. It also contains Liesel stealing more books from the mayor’s library. She takes the Duden Dictionary that is left for her and the note from Ilsa that says she knows it is Liesel taking the books and hopes one day she will come through the door instead of the window. Soon comes the air raids and the Hubermans are forced to leave Max behind and go to the Fiedlers’ basement to wait out the raid. In everyone’s panic Liesel reads, The Whistler which brings comfort for everyone. This soon becomes a habit whenever there is a
raid. In the fall a group of Jews are seen walking through Mulching on their way to Dachau, a concentration camp. Everyone notices their pain but some are proud of the Jews’ pain while the others feel bad for them like Hans. He feels so bad that he risks his life to give a Jew a piece of bread. Hans gets caught and he and the Jew are both whipped. Hans soon feels terrible and is mad at himself for what he did because now Max has to leave just in case a Nazi comes to the house. While the Hubermans are waiting for the Gestapos, at the Steiner’s house a group of Nazis are looking to take Rudy away to a school that is meant to start a better German generation. Rudy’s parents say no and later pay the consequences. Alex Steiner and Hans Huberman are soon drafted for the war. Sometime later Liesel, is given her second book from Max. It contains a collection of small stories that include The Word Shaker. As the Jews continue to walk through Mulching, Liesel is always looking for Max. Until one day she spots him and tries to communicate with him. She is caught by a solider and is whipped along with Max. This is when Liesel tells Rudy about Max. Liesel shows up at Ilsa’s library and rants to her about the power Liesel has with words and how they can make her angry but also bring comfort. About three days later Ilsa comes to her and gives Liesel a black journal to write her thoughts down. When the unannounced bombs fall in October, Liesel is protected because she is in her basement writing her story The Book Thief. When she comes up, Hans and Rosa, her best friend, Rudy, and his family are dead from the bombs. She is taken away from the setting and leaves her book. This is how Death finds her story. The mayor and his wife take Liesel in after the bombing. Liesel also starts to spend more time with Alex Steiner, telling him more about his son and helping him in his shop. In 1945, while Liesel is working at the shop a man comes and askes for her, this man was Max. Max and Liesel have their second reunion which is bittersweet. The story ends with Death telling us about Liesel’s long life and him coming to pick up Liesel’s soul. Death returns Liesel’s book to her and tells her he is haunted by humans.
She finally tells Rudy about Max after the incident. Liesel returns to Ilsa Hermann’s library and destroys a book because she becomes angry with how words can bring so much hate and then she writes and apology to Mrs. Hermann. Mrs. Hermann comes to Liesel’s house a few days later and gives her a journal so she can write her own story. One day while she was writing in her journal in the basement, an air raid happens and Liesel is the only survivor because she was safe in the basement. She is saved by the LSE and kisses Rudy’s dead lips and says goodbye to her Mama and Papa. She is taken by the mayor and his wife and when Alex Steiner comes back from the war, him and Liesel spend a lot of time together. Eventually, Max shows up and they have a bittersweet
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
After Liesel steals her second book she pulls it out and her father sees The Shoulder Shrug (Zusak 126). However, he tells her it will be their secret and he will not tell her mother (Zusak 126). Although her father will keep the secret, she is worried about the mayor's wife who saw her take the book (Zusak 132). Much to Liesel’s surprise, when she delivers the laundry to the major's wife doesn't scold her; instead the she allows Liesel to use her library (Zusak 134). Later Liesel finds out the mayor and his wife lost their son, probably, in World War I and she sees their grief (Zusak 145).
The Silber Medal winning biography, “Surviving Hitler," written by Andrea Warren paints picture of life for teenagers during the Holocaust, mainly by telling the story of Jack Mandelbaum. Avoiding the use of historical analysis, Warren, along with Mandelbaum’s experiences, explains how Jack, along with a few other Jewish and non-Jewish people survived.
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
The Book Thief: A novel taken place in Germany during War World 11. Throughout this novel we meet a girl named Liesel meminger,
In this essay I will talk about The Book Thief Characters. The characters are Liesel, Rudy, And Max. I Will talk about how they are Influenced by society in This Book/Movie. I am going to three Paragraphs about these three characters. This essay is going to be a Compare and Contrast Essay.
Another bit of Liesel emotions that I was interested was the book thief words give Liesel life
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.
Words, so simple, yet are the most powerful ways of communication. The weight of words is one of most impactful themes in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, and is felt throughout the entire novel. The Book Thief is a story that takes place during World War II, and follows the Hubermann family and friendships as the Narrator: Death follows them through their journey of Germany in 1939. Hans Hubermann is one of the greatest supporters of words right next to the Book Thief herself, Liesel Meminger. Words are emphasized through stolen books, spoken conversations, and thoughts of the characters. Hans Hubermann backs Liesel’s desire to read through many long nights, protects Max Vandenburg while in hiding, and consistently stands up against the dehumanization
The story begins with Liesel, her mother, and her brother, Werner, riding on a train. Werner dies and Liesel and her mother step off to bury him. At the funeral one of the grave diggers drops a book. Liesel
“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 Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, beauty and brutality is seen in many of the characters. Rudy, Liesel, and Rosa display examples of beauty and brutality often without realizing what exactly they are doing, because it is a part of their human nature. Zusak not only uses his characters, but also the setting of the novel in Nazi Germany to allude to his theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature. The time in which the novel is set, during World War II, displays great examples of beauty and brutality, such as the mistreatment of the Jews. As a result of this time period, the characters have to go through troubling times, which reveals their beautiful and brutal nature in certain circumstances. Zusak uses his characters and their experiences to demonstrate the theme of the beauty and brutality of human nature in the novel.
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
... Liesel’s family would have also been affected. It is times like this where Liesel should have learned to control her actions towards those more powerful than her as she and those around her could have been punished.