World War Two and Its Effects on Liesel Meminger in The Book Thief
Between 1939 and 1945, World War Two took place and greatly affected Germany. Every person who lived during this time, including Liesel, has a story, was affected in a very different way, and experienced horrifying tragedies and overwhelming joy throughout these years. The Book Thief discusses “horrible events in gorgeous and moving prose” (“The Book Thief”), which is a very good description of Liesel’s life throughout the novel. Death, the narrator, is completely curious about this intelligent, lonely girl (Zusak, Corduner, and Cresswell) even though Death knows that all of these people whom she loves will eventually die. Even the beginning of the story lets the reader know, “You are going to die” (Zusak 3). World War Two had a tumultuous effect on Liesel Meminger’s life. Her
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experiences of love, death, and friendship are all only some of the emotions that she went through as she survived the six fatiguing years of war. Love, which by definition is a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person, is a common feeling throughout Liesel Meminger’s life in the novel that brings her hope and happiness in her life at war. World War Two affected Meminger when she had to move and start a new life on Himmel Street in Munich, and it brought forth great love in her heart through new family and friends such as her best friend, Rudy, her Papa, Hans, and her newly found Jewish hidee, Max. Meminger’s love for Rudy Steiner, her best friend and confidante with whom she enjoys stealing books and food (“A Review”), is everlasting and true, from her friendship at the beginning of the novel to a more clear love as the novel progressed. Because of World War Two, Liesel met Rudy when she moved to Himmel Street and, without the war causing her to relocate, she would have never met him and she would have never experienced his affection and fun that he brought to her life. Hans Hubermann, who eventually becomes Liesel’s Papa when she moves to Himmel Street, loves Liesel unconditionally throughout the awful war even if she is not his child by blood. Without World War Two, Liesel would not have ever have met Hans and would have never been able to experience his loving and supporting fatherly spirit. Max, the Jew hiding in the Hubermann's basement, truly loves Liesel in the end after being untrusting and scared for so long. Without the war, he may never have learned to love words as much as he loves Liesel, for it was because of her that he grew to love the beauty of writing. A basement, which is typically considered by most a dark, dreary place, was made light and vibrant by Liesel (Koprince) as her love and appreciation of her bond with Max grew stronger. Death was a very common theme throughout the Book Thief.
Liesel Meminger experienced many horrific and appalling deaths during World War Two. This was a time in which many of her loved ones died including her beloved brother, her new papa, Hans, and her best friend in the entire world, Rudy. Liesel’s brother’s death at the beginning of the novel brought great sorrow as Liesel bewailed his death although she also found light that day in the finding of her first book, the Gravedigger's Handbook, which was the beginning of her love of words. Hans Hubermann's death during the horrific bombing attack at the end of the novel crushed Liesel’s heart along with the other loved souls taken that day through one of the intermittent, horrifying bombing attacks. As described by one article, “The shadow of death at the end of the Second World War” (“Between”), which was, in other words, a description of the bombing attacks including the attack on Molching which was very fatal and even brought along the death of Liesel’s dearest friend, Rudy. World War Two took many souls and loves away from Liesel, including a boy whom Liesel truly
loved. Friendship was a very enduring theme during the assiduous World War Two. After moving to Himmel Street, Meminger started new life-changing friendships and bonds with people including Rudy, the Mayor’s wife, and Hans. After meeting Rudy Steiner, Liesel experienced great joy in her life through experiences with her best friend during the horrors of the war. They created a great bond over their hatred of Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party and the chancellor of Germany who was an extreme nationalist and racist (“Hitler”), and their love for running, soccer, and stealing. When the War brought hardships and the Mayor’s wife no longer needed laundering from Rosa Hubermann, Liesel hated her, but they came to be friends through Liesel’s curiosity and love for books and the Mayor’s wife’s massive library. Max and Liesel’s friendship grew over a love for words and hatred for anti-semitic Adolf Hitler and would be a happiness in Liesel’s life until he left, was captured, and taken to a German concentration camp. Without the war, the Jew would never have had to hide, would have never met Liesel, and would have never learned the power and beauty of words. World War Two’s effect on Liesel Meminger truly changed her in positive and negative ways through torrid love, awful death, and flourishing friendships which she would not have experienced without the war. As the writer of the article, “A Review: The Book Thief”, Sonal Chhabra said, “It’s just a small story really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery” (“A Review”), Liesel’s time during the war is just an array of new experiences, people, and feelings coming together to change her life during World War Two. The effect that World War Two had on Liesel’s life affected her long past the war and into her old age, as discussed in the epilogue of the novel (Zusak 543). Although the war was awful, without these experiences, Liesel would never have met the new, amazing people who changed her life forever.
Elie and Liesel live and survive during the time of World War II. Both characters face the harsh reality of the terrible period of time they are living in. The memoir, Night and the movie, “The Book Thief” share similarities and dissimilarities that make Elie and Liesel both stand out. Due to the loss of family, determination to live, and fear helps both of them survive the war, but depends on the different reactions, mistreated for different reasons, and hope.
In Markus Zusak’s novel, the book thief, Liesel Meminger is surrounded by death and fear as that is the norm in the 1930’s. Liesel is a strong young girl who has been deeply affected by her brother’s death and her mother leaving her and finds comfort in ‘The Grave Digger’s Handbook’, the book she stole at the site of her brother’s burial. Throughout the novel Liesel finds comfort in other books and reads them to escape the terrible reality that is Nazi Germany. Together with books she overcomes obstacles she wouldn't have been able to do without them
In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the narrator is Death, who shows itself as sympathetic and sensitive towards the suffering of the world and the cruel human nature, through its eyes, we can get to know the heartbreaking story of Liesel Meminger an ordinary, but very lucky nine-year old German girl; living in the midst of World War II in Germany. In this book the author provides a different insight and observation about humanity during this time period from a German view and not an Allied perspective, as we are used to.
Liesel experiences abandonment throughout her life, and the novel during a suppressed time in World War II Germany. Through her experiences Liesel’s learns to equate abandonment with love knowing that circumstance have forced her loved ones to leave her.
Through Liesel’s and Ilsa’s friendship comes an understanding of what Ilsa Hermann has experienced in her son dying. “I used to read here with my son.” (Zusak 451) Before Ilsa makes a connecting to Liesel it seems as if Ilsa was floating through life like a zombie awaiting death to cause the pain of living with out her son to stop. It was not until she comes to care for Liesel, almost as if she thinks she is her own does she have a revival of the spirit. After revealing to Liesel that she knows that Liesel is taking books from her library Ilsa gives Liesel a blank book and tells her to write her own story in it. Every night Liesel would go down into her basement because it was her favorite place to be and write down there for hours. One night there was a bombing on Molching with no warning while Liesel was down writing. She ended up surviving because of the long chain of events starting all the way back to her stealing The Grave Digger’s Handbook in the graveyard her brother lays in. (Word Count
In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger, an orphaned little girl living in Nazi Germany, evolves partly through her numerous literary thefts. At her younger brother’s gravesite, she steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, which teaches her not only the method to physically bury her brother, but also lets her emotionally bury him and move on. The theft of her next book, The Shoulder Shrug, from a book burning marks the start of Liesel’s awareness and resistance to the Nazi regime. As a story with a Jewish protagonist “who [is] tired of letting life pass him by – what he refer[s] to as the shrugging of the shoulders to the problems and pleasures of a person’s time on earth,” this novel prepares her both for resisting the
Loss can be a heartbreaking experience or just an inconvenience. It is significant in both books because of what the characters loss or what the characters loose. Whether it is a family member or an object, all the losses have some significance to the war or symbolism. In the novel, the book thief Liesel loses her mother. “ There was a chaos of goodbye”(Zusak 25). “The sudden realization that this would all be for nothing - that her mother would never write back and she would never see her again.” (Zusak 99). These two quotes explain Liesel's loss of her mother. When Liesel joined her new family and she never got a letter back, she realized that her old life is behind her and she can never go back to her mother. Her mother is thought to have
Liesel Meminger was a very bright girl that didn’t have the resources to flourish. Her mother must hide from the Nazis because she is a communist and sends Liesel ...
1.The Grave Digger’s Handbook: Represents the last time Liesel saw her mother and her brother. It is the first book Liesel steals and reads, and it helps her start reading.
The Book Thief and Nazi Germany The heavily proclaimed novel “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is a great story that can help you understand what living in Nazi Germany was like. Throughout the story, the main character, Liesel goes through many hardships to cope with a new life in a new town and to come to the recognition of what the Nazi party is. Liesel was given up for adoption after her mother gave her away to a new family, who seemed harsh at first, but ended up being the people who taught her all the things she needed to know. Life with the new family didn’t start off good, but the came to love them and her new friend, Rudy.
This accumulation of events which are skewed by common cultural perspectives is counteracted by the creative choice of narrator. The Book Thief, a narrative detailing Liesel, a young girl's journey of life during World War II employs this frequently. This form of biased writing within the novel byMarkus Zusak has constructed his expression of character and events to be distanced from our general connotations of the events occurring and preconceived ideas of the people of NAZI Germany. Few scenes occur outside of the context of the Hubberman's or Himmel street and no time goes by where the scene is not overlooked by the narration of Death.
...by American bombers and everyone but Liesel dies on the street. Liesel only survives because she was writing a book of her own, and was in the basement when the bombs struck. When she is rescued by the police, she rushes to find her parents and Rudy, but only finds them both dead. The story ends with her being adopted by Ilsa Hermann. Of course, this does not mean the story is over; there is an epilogue. Max survives the war and later finds his way back to Liesel, who rejoices when they finally meet. When Liesel finally dies, death takes her away from the others and shows her the book that she was writing when the bombs fell. She asks him if he understood the meaning of it, to which he responds with his own sage advice. When death takes her soul away for good this time, and takes one last look at the title of the book. The Book Thief by Liesel Meminger.
During the disarray of this time period, and with Death’s job at all time high, we find Liesel beginning to make radical connections with not only the people and scene around her, but with the words and the books that compose her new foundation. Throughout the progression of the book, we follow the rivers of Liesel’s relationships. Nestled beneath the surface of them all lies two mighty antipodes: Hitler and Death. With these powers as the control panel, we see much destruction, devastation, and despair within the story, but only one of those characters is at fault. Despite the fact that we would typically place the fault upon both Hitler and Death, in an eye opening reality, humanity is illustrated in the character who isn’t even human. In The Book Thief, an interesting perspective is shown through Death’s narration, revealing that beauty is present even during a time saturated in brutality. Contrast also makes its appearance as Hitler’s and Death’s usage of words exhibits a drastic difference in the impact words can have and models the power
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
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