In this everyday world seven billion people occupy, sacrifices are one object that can make or break ties to anything. Although sacrifices are not an actual human being, it is safe to say they should be treated like one. Every person in this non-cookie cutter universe has their own up close and personal experiences. In the The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a world full of these so called sacrifices is unveiled. Each character has their own story and it is certainly told. Hans Hubermann is one of those characters that is impossible to forget. Throughout the duration of the book, the readers illustrate the values of Hans based off the sacrifices he makes. The values that are portrayed of Hans based off the sacrifices in the story are selfless, caring, and courageous.
First off, if it is one character that has a definite eye for others, Hans would be the one.
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Throughout the book, Hans is often beaten down emotionally by his wife Rosa for certain decisions. However, Hans wipes off the emotional disgrace and moves forward. At one point in the story, the readers witnessed a moment where Hans gave up something he usually gets for himself. “You know what he did? He rolled up all of his filthy cigarettes, went to the market when it was in town, and traded them with some gypsy.’ ‘Eight cigarettes per book.’ Papa shoves one to his mouth, in triumph” (Zusak 89). This situation highlighted a point where Hans put another person first. Liesel wanted books but her stealing did not take off completely yet. Furthermore, Hans wanted to do something special for Liesel with it being just a few, short days after Christmas. Hans did not have to use the cigarettes to trade for the books but it was in his intentions to make Liesel a happy girl. He wanted to do all he could for her and always does. Second, Hans also sacrifices countless nights doing something he honestly never thought he would be doing. When Liesel first moved under the Hubermann’s roof, she was like a deer in headlights. Liesel did not know how to react being in a completely new place and the loss of her brother. This course of events forced Liesel into a position no one should have to endure. For the longest point of time, Liesel is woken up by horrifying nightmares that nearly paralyze her emotionally. These nightmares leave her wetting the bed and screaming for Hans. In this instance, Hans sacrifices night after night worth of sleep to read to Liesel and calm her down. “In the night, Liesel dreamed like she always did. At first, she saw the brownshirts marching, but soon enough, they led her to a train, and the usual discovery awaited. Her brother was staring again. When she woke up screaming, Liesel knew immediately that on this occasion, something had changed” (Zusak 63). Hans has always been there for Liesel and continues to sacrifice his time that he could be sleeping and resting up to come to her aid. He cares that Liesel is undergoing this hardship in her lifetime and helps her grow to overcome it. Finally, Hans shows his true courage to a random Jew he had no intention of knowing.
Parades are a common venture in Munich and Dauchau. There is talk of parades quite often during the book. Hans attends the parades with Liesel and they witness the Jews who are not so happy to be a part of these parades. At one parade in Dauchau, Hans does the unthinkable. “The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread, like magic” (Zusak 394). Despite the people around him and the rules he must live by, he still made this person feel much better and more important. Consequently, Hans received an intense beating. The Jew, it goes without saying he also received his fair share of cruel and unusual punishment. “The Jew whipped six times. On his back, his head, and his legs. ‘You filth! You swine!’ Blood dripped from his ear. Then it was Papa’s turn” (Zusak 394). The beatings may have had a horrifying physical impact on Hans but at the end of the day, he sacrificed greatly for a man he did not even
know. The sacrifices Hans made during these rough times made Hans who he was. By the end of the book, the audience has a complete understanding of the type of person Hans is and the difference between who he is not. Hans Hubermann has never had any crude or envious intentions. The values Hans Hubermann carried progressed the story in an emotional and powerful way.
“The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak is narrated by death and begins when Liesel’s brother dies on a train with her and her mother. At her brother’s burial, she steals her first book, “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” and soon after is separated from her mother and sent to live with foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in Molching, where the majority of the book takes place. At school, Liesel is teased because she can’t read so Hans teaches her to read when she wakes up from her frequent nightmares about her brother’s death. Hans is a painter and an accordion player and also plays the accordion for her after her nightmares. Liesel grows very close with Hans and also becomes close friends with her neighbor Rudy Steiner who constantly asks her to
A example why people are brutal in The Book Thief is when the bomber planes were dropping bombs on the small town killing many people. My thoughts on this is even though the Nazi started this doesn’t mean they should kill innocent families.
In The Book Thief, author Markus Zusak tells the tragic story of Liesel Meminger and her experiences in 1939 Nazi Germany. Zuzak incorporates compelling literary devices such as toe curling foreshadowing, personification, and vivid imagery in the form of simile and metaphors to grasp the readers’ interest. Zusak’s use of various literary devices helps to deepen the text and morals of the story, and makes the dramatic historical novel nearly impossible to put down.
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.
Suffering can be found on three different levels, mental, physical and emotional. In an everyday life the three levels can be found at school, at work or even on the streets, for example people who are living on the street generally suffer mentally. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak the topic that suffering exists on three different levels is shown throughout the book. In The Book Thief the author shows that the three levels of suffering exist and impacts multiple characters throughout the book . The three levels of suffering impacts many characters such as, the Jews, Liesel and Max.
Hans supports the Jewish community, who are viewed as ‘undesirables subhumans’ by society. The ethical values which Hans holds are apparent in the way he treats starving and helpless Jews traveling through Molching, “The Jew stood before him, expecting another handful of derision, but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread” (Zusak 395). As a consequence of rejecting societal expectations and ideologies, the character Hans Hubermann solidifies the notion that every individual deserves basic human respect. Therefore, Hans develops a love for humanity and the individual he is helping through refusing to obey corrupt societal expectations. Aiding those who are injured is a gateway to love as it changes the world for the individual one is
Hans is a very caring and selfless father figure in Liesel's life. He treated her with plenty of care and affection.’Unofficially, it was called the midnight class, even though it commenced at around two in the morning.’’(Zusak,30) Hans would get up to read to Liesel when ever she would have nightmares which would then lead to their late reading sessions in the basement. No matter how tired he was, he would always make
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
Human nature has many elements that reveal the growth and personality of a person. In Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief”, the author successfully portrays various aspects of human nature through Hans’ conflicts that originate from the tough reality that he lives in. Elements of human nature can be seen as a result of Hans’ constant struggles with guilt, kindness, and love.
Fear is a theme that is illustrated in throughout both books, because both books are based on a time of war, fear is an emotion felt by everyone in both books, it can affect, how you act and how you think. Fear is also used as a tool of power. In the book thief, Max's life is ruled by fear. Fear of being found, fear of being the reason the Huberman's get caught, and the fear of being. “All my life I've been scared of men standing over me.”
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."
German citizens had to endure a challenging lifestyle, presented by Adolf Hitler, of fascism, the holocaust, Jewish laws and propaganda during World War II. From 1939-1942, Nazi Germany affected the lives of Jews, Gypsies, Slavic people, and other groups living in Germany by getting rid of the undesirables, known as the Holocaust. Only Germans with the look of blond hair and blue eyes were even considered to live, only if he or she had no defects or disabilities, anyone else was sent to and killed in concentration camps. The Book Thief takes place in a town near Munich, Germany during this time of the holocaust. The novel focuses on the lives of the people and how they cope and deal with the immediate effects of WWII. It emphasizes the danger of hiding a Jew in a family’s basement, and how they are constantly paranoid of being caught.
Blinding hate is more destructive to an individual than the act of being apathetic to their actions. A relationship is not affected by one's apathy unless you choose it to be, yet one that is bound by sheer hatred is oppressive. It is vital to not let mutual hate stem off hatred projected upon one, which in the end is more destructive. Markus Zusak sees a world revolves around the fact that outright dislike is more dangerous than one being indifferent to the unfortunate as shown in his book The Book Thief. Through the character Liesel, Zusak shows this through her relationship with her mum. Zusak also shows how being disliked is destructive through Max’s obsessive hatred towards his oppressed; the nazis. Zusak uses WW2 as the setting for his
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.
If you were a German citizen during World War II, do you think you would be a Nazi? Most people would say no even though, in actuality, most people would be. It is because people need to succumb to societal expectations to survive in a society such as that of Germany during WWII and in the book, The Book Thief, this theme of individual versus society is explored with people complying and fighting social expectations. Sometimes people side with the Nazi Party out of fear of being targeted and other times fight against Nazi Party because of love for their family and fellow man with usually terrible consequences. In The Book Thief, the theme of the individual versus society is shown many times with characters conforming and defying social expectations.