The Book Thief Character Analysis

The novel The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak, takes place during World War 2 in the town of Molching, Germany. The protagonist, Liesel Meminger, lives with a foster family, the Hubermann's, and has a deep love for literature. However, at the time, books are hard to come by so Liesel is forced to steal books from Nazi book burnings and the Mayor’s library. Liesel’s reading allows her to escape from the trying times of the war to the imaginary worlds of books. However, Liesel as Liesel matures, she discovers that books and words can not only be used for good, but for evil as well. The books that Liesel discovers throughout the novel directly contribute to Liesel’s growth as a human being and come to define her morals for life.
In the beginning of the novel, books are a source of great importance for Liesel. The first book she finds is titled The Grave Digger's Handbook which she finds while visiting her brother’s grave. Liesel cannot read, so

she has her foster father Hans teach her. This starts and ever growing thirst for knowledge. Because books are in short supply, Liesel is forced to steal books to quench her thirst for knowledge. Because she steals books Liesel is dubbed “the book thief” When she steals her first book it is said “The book thief has struck for the first time – the beginning of an illustrious career.” (Zusak 87). This is only the start of Liesel's book stealing career and her first dive into the world of knowledge.
While Liesel's first encounters with books bring her joy, she learns that books can also spread hate and anger. When Liesel receives Mein Kampf, Hitler's anti-semitic and racist view for the future of Germany, from Max, she realizes the power of what books can do. She realizes that books can not only bring great joy to people, but preach great hate and anger as well. Before books had been about escaping the horrible world in which she lived in but such a book preached hate and violence, and was the instigator of the evil that plagued her world. She ponders the necessity of the book thinking, “The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing.” (Zusak 657). Liesel discovers that without the power of language, the evil that Hitler preached becomes nothing. She knows that without the hateful words, there would be no hateful actions.
Although Liesel is affected by the hate and bigotry present in Mein Kampf, she regains her love of reading and sense of what is right through Max’s story, The Standover Man.

After she had read Mein Kampf, Liesel had realized the true power of what books can bring. She discovered that not only can books bring joy and a sense of escape to the reader, but can preach hate and bigotry as well. This is then changed by Max’s story, The Standing Man. The story illustrates Max’s strong relationship with Liesel and how she has helped him out through his tough times. However, the important aspect of the story is not the story itself, but on what the story is written. To write his story, Max had painted over the pages of Mein Kampf and on those he writes his story. This symbolizes the fact that the kind words that were the reason Liesel had gotten into reading in the first place, and that they were not to be trumped by the evilness of Mein Kampf. Liesel believes that kindness, friendship, and love trump the hate and evil in the

world.
Liesel's growth as a protagonist directly stems from the novels she collects throughout the book. From these novels, she realizes the true power of words and books and cements her morals that friendship and love trump hate and anger. Overall, Liesel matures from the beginning of the novel through the collection of books, which cement her morals that friendship and love trump hate and anger