Guilt is a prevalent theme throughout The Book Thief. Liesel endures guilt multiple times, when she steals laundry money from Rosa, gets Max sick, verbally attacks Ilsa Hermann, and experiences the guilt of surviving. All of these acts caused Liesel to experience some sort of guilt which later causes her to perform questionable tasks. After Liesel learns how to read and write, she receives the task of , “completing a letter for homework” (Zusak 95). Eventually she arrives at the conclusion to write to her biological mother. Liesel then continues to write more letters, but lacks the money to purchase stamps in order to send them. On her birthday, she would give “a present from herself. She would gather all the accrued letters to her mother, stuff them into one envelope, and use just a tiny portion of the washing and ironing money to mail it” (Zusak 98). Consequently, Liesel’s foster mother, Rosa soon discovers the gap in her laundry payments. When enraged, Rosa makes Liesel break just by asking her about the missing money. It was Liesel’s guilt that made her feel the need to confess so easily to the crime. …show more content…
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
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).
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
In the novel the book thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel states, “as long as both she and Rudy lived she would never kiss that miserable, filthy Saukerl (Zusak, 55). Liesel Memiger, the protagonist in the novel, is the foster daughter of Hans and Rosa Huberman. When Liesel first arrives at Himmel Street, a boy with hair the color of lemons walks her to school for her first day, she does not like him at first, but little does she know he will become her best friend (Zusak, 25-34). This is ironic because Liesel never does kiss Rudy until after he is dead. Rudy Steiner is Liesel’s best friend he has hair the color of lemons `and is adventurous and courageous. He wants Liesel to kiss him throughout the whole book but she never does until he is dead. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death gives clear examples from Liesel and Rudy’s different points of view on their relationship and we can see how it changes throughout the story.
In chapter (?) The Gates of Thievery. In this chapter Hans Hubermann ( Liesel Foster farther) meets Liesel on the church steps after a book burning. Liesel she asks Hans if her mother is a comm...
Suffered the loss of her brother werner, while attending his funeral “there was something black and rectangular lodged in the snow. Only [liesel] saw it. She bent down and picked it up and held it firmly in her fingers. The book had silver writing on it” (zusak 24). It was a book named “the grave digger 's handbook”. This proves that without even understanding the book Liesel was already looking for ways to learn and find a passion to mourn her brothers death. Next, is the relationship Liesel has with her papa, Hans. He shows Liesel how to read and write. Liesel, who doesn 't know how, grabs books that Hans then quietly shows her to translate. He does this through their night time nightmare hours “Unofficially, it was called the midnight class, even though it commenced at around two in the morning” (70). furthermore in the storm cellar, utilizing Hans ' paints to show her how to compose. He is staggeringly understanding, as this is an extremely troublesome and moderate procedure, and he never demonstrates restlessness or dissatisfaction with Liesel 's moderate advancement, thus proving that liesel stuck with her idea and followed through with her passion. Lastly, Liesel 's passion for reading and writing progressed when Ilsa gave her the a journal to write her story in, “[she] thought if [Liesel was not] going to read anymore of [her] books, [she] might like to write one instead.”
In the novel The Book Thief, setting and point of view affect the theme and book a lot. The point of view of this novel is third person omniscient and a little bit of second and first person when the narrator talks about himself or to the reader. The setting of the story is Nazi Germany and it is based on a young girl named Liesel Meminger and what her life was like during this time. Her story is told by the narrator, death. Mark Zusak, the author, uses setting and point of view to express the theme of the novel because there was so much death happening, Liesel encountered him so many times, causing him to be able to tell her story; without this setting and the narrator, the theme story would have been different.
Words have the power to affect people in many ways from empowerment or to taking upon action. Words are able to make huge changes in the lives of many and can make good or bad changes. In history, people used words in both good and bad function from making a promise to a nation or even manipulating multitudes of people within a nation. Words definitely have the ability to take situations a far distance but despite the fact that evil can manipulate the majority of people, individuals too can realize the true actions and evil buried inside the perpetrator. People can be both ugly and beautiful at sometimes with weapons along their sides. A novel called The Book Thief illustrates the power of words in a multitude of ways, showing the potential
Throughout the book Liesel Hubermann changed her views on human rights. At the beginning of the book Liesel's innocence blinds her from the violations of human rights taking place in Germany. As you progress in the book she has more knowledge and is more aware of the violations.
Liesel’s mom leaves her with foster parents because she wishes to protect her from the fate she is enduring. The words Paula, Liesel’s mom, uses go against Hitler because she is a communist which resulted in her being taken away and Liesel to lose her mother and experience the loss of her. This shows Liesel experiences unhappiness because of her mother’s disappearance which is caused by the words she openly uses that contradicts Hitler.
“I am haunted by humans” (Zusak 550). The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is about the horrors of World War II. Liesel and her family help out an old friend by hiding a Jew. Liesel also steals her first book when she at her brother’s funeral. Liesel Meminger’s remarkable actions like feeling good when she steals a book and her family hiding a Jew help demonstrate why Death is “haunted by humans”.
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.
To begin, the inner struggle of guilt is shown in many characters in The Book Thief. Max Vandenburg is the Jewish man that Liesel’s foster parents agreed to hide in their basement to escape the Nazis. Max says to Rosa and Hans Hubermann about hiding in their basement, “You will not hear from me. I will not make a sound” (Max, 207). It writes that to live, “The price was guilt and shame” (Zusak, 208). The Hubermanns are in considerable danger due to hiding Max from the Nazis. In order to hide himself from the persecution of the Nazis in that time, Max must risk those around him and this is a source of immense guilt for him to struggle with. Another character to struggle with guilt is Hans Hubermann, Liesel’s foster father. Ironically, Hans experiences significant guilt over an action that could be considered virtuous.
She was an average girl who had lost her brother at the age of 9. When she turned 10 she was placed into Hitler Youth School, but in a lower class due to her inability to read. Hans Hubermann helped Liesel her illiteracy by reading to her and making her write the alphabet. One night as she was going back to sleep, “the unmistakable voice of Rosa Hubermann entered the kitchen. It shocked her awake”(197). As she went to see why she was speaking in the kitchen, Liesel saw Max Vandenburg. The next morning, Liesel had a conversation with Hans about the man she saw last night. Hans explained how she was not to tell anyone about Max and that if she does tell anyone he will burn all of her books. Furthermore, the Gestapo will take Liesel away for her new family. As time progressed she began to read at the mayor’s wife library. One day as she was reading a book, “She imagined herself walking over, gently tearing some fluffy hair to the side, and whispering in the woman’s ear: ‘There’s a Jew in my basement’”(246). This imagination was soon shot down by the reality of her situation. She had remembered what Hans had told her and that if she had told anyone she would be taken away from her family. This thought influenced her decision to not tell the mayor’s wife. Liesel had understood that in order to keep her family together and safe, she would have to resist these urges to tell people about the truth about the Jew in her
The Book Thief opens in a way which is unique to the reader with the narrator who turn out to be Death himself. In the Book Thief , the author Markus Zusak , crafts a marvelous tale through the eyes of Death. Death is the narrator of the Book Thief. He in a way is initially sardonic with a dorky sense of humor , but as the novel progresses and WW2 advances , he expresses weariness and remorse about having to collect so many souls. My first argument is that Death offers a unique and different approach when it comes to narrating the story. He is described as an Omniscient First-person point of view in the story. My second argument is that Death can foreshadow and hint important events of key characters in the book. My third argument is that
This lie continues when Helmer asks his wife if she went to the candy store. Nora lied by telling her husband that she had not, even though the reader saw that she was snacking on macaroons earlier. This is just a small act of deceit from Nora, who had been keeping a huge secret from her husband. Part of the huge secret is revealed to Mrs. Linde, an old friend of Nora’s and a widower, when Nora confides in her. After lying about the source of the money for a trip that was taken to help her husband heal from an illness, Nora admits that her father did not give her the money. This confuses Mrs. Linde because just a few lines before, Nora tells her the money for the trip came from her father. In truth, the money came from a loan. This confuses Mrs. Linde even further, since at th...