Beauty In The Book Thief

Due to outside forces, Liesel Meminger’s identity is formed and strengthened. Liesel is able to learn from her relationships, the major events she experiences, and even the culture she is surrounded by, to construct the person she becomes. Retaining one’s virtue whilst living in Nazi Germany is challenging,

Max Vandenburg appeared at 33 Himmel street looking for refuge from the German authorities, in the home of his late father 's friend, Hans Hubermann. Rosa and Hans took Max into their home, fed him, and nursed him back to health after he fell ill due to the severe cold in the dark hubermann basement. Although Rosa and Hans provided necessities, Liesel provided Max with well needed company and friendship. “At least once a day, hans Hubermann would descend the basement steps and share a conversation. Rosa would occasionally bring a spare crust of bread. It was when Liesel came down, however, that Max found himself interested in life again.” (Page 250). From the day Max left the Hubermann household in fear of being found, Liesel made sure to look

Liesel had a very tough childhood with her mother abandoning her and her brother dying, plus everybody else she lost. Even though she suffered many terrible events during her childhood, she still prevailed through it by reading books and using her words. Her obsession with stealing books and living in the Hubermann household represented the beauty in her life in the wake of the brutality caused by the Nazi party. She spent quality time learning how to read with Hans, and was amazed how kind and patient Hans was. Liesel bonding with Mas was also a part of the beauty in her life, in spite of the brutality and the despair happening in her life. She read books with Max and spent a lot of time with each other, even writing books together. Their friendship adds to the beauty that Liesel’s life represented, even though Max was a Jew, she still befriended him. Markus Zusak’s poetic writing enhances Liesel’s story by adding imagery and many bold headlines to write important statements. Without these elements, the story would have been overwhelmingly boring and depressing. The bold headline is used as emphasis, such as “I am haunted by humans” to add more meaning to the quote. (Zusak

Liesel has many talents. She can read books as the best. When she arrived by Rosa and Hans Hübermann she didn’t even know a letter. Hans taught her gently to read. He spent a lot of time with her to understand the alphabet. When she knew everything, they started with reading. Soon was clear that she had a

Friendship is the medicine for a wounded heart and the vitamins for a hopeful soul. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a girl named Liesel suffers through many losses. She is taken to a new home where she developed friendships that helped her heal her wounds and survive World War II. Friendship is portrayed through her connections with Hans, Rudy, and Max and it is learned how essential these friendships are to her survival.

Liesel, known as the book thief to the audience has a distinct passion for books and how much they mean to her. Stealing book after the book becomes a hobby for the young girl whose love of books is fostered by her foster father, Hans Hubermann. As Hans teaches Liesel how to read and write they develop an

The theme of this book is learning to love and care for the people around. How I came to this conclusion is by how Liesel acts towards Max, her foster parents, Rudy, and her neighbors. Liesel cares for people even if they weren't like her and she doesn't understand why there is hatred in this world. She wanted the world to be a happy place for everyone including Jews to be friends with one another. On page 426 in ‘The Book Thief’, when Rudy’s father went to war Liesel could relate to Rudy because “her mother. Her brother. Max Vandenburg. Hans Hubermann. All of them gone. And she’d never even had a real father.” Also, when Mama was depressed about Papa going to war, Mama would sleep with Papa’s accordion Liesel acknowledged “that there was great beauty in what she was currently witnessing, and she chose not to disturb it” (Zusak, 429). Finally, when Liesel’s papa gave a Jew bread during the parade and what Liesel did during the parade, she gave Jews bread by placing them in the street.

Courageously, Liesel went ahead and befriended Max. Liesel made Max feel wanted and his whole attitude changed. Instead of feeling like an unwanted Jew that represented everything wrong with Germany, Liesel made Max feel like a human. In other words, Liesel took Max how he already was and left him better than he was previous to their relationship. Liesel courageously developed loyalty toward Max in a time when she could have seen him as an enemy. For this reason, Liesel best illustrates courage in The Book Thief by befriending

“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…” (Zusak, pg. 5)

To Heal and to Hurt: The Importance of Words in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

“She saw it so clearly, her starving mother, her missing father, her dead brother” (Zusak 111). This thought had occurred to Liesel during the book burning. After witnessing all the Hitler supporters chant and scream Liesel had realized on harsh fact, she was truly alone. Not only, but also Liesel had come to realization she has truly lost her freedom and rights as a human being. “A collection of men walked from a platform and surrounded the heal “Heil Hitler” they chanted “Die Judens”(Zusak 113). Liesel has realized she must respect the man who was the reason for her and her entire families suffering. She has realized she officially has lost her home, that she is completely isolated from the community. “It was quite a sight seeing an eleven year old girl try not to cry on church steps, saluting fuhrer”(Zusak 115). After losing all of these emotionally wrecking things Liesel learns and understands she needs to keep going forward. She refuses to give up she although times are rough manages to think, it could be worse. Losing rights and privileges truly prepares you for the worst and transforms you for better.

Even death, a metaphysical entity understands the full spectrum of experiences Liesel has gone through. Death unfruitfully “[tries to tell the book thief many things] about beauty and brutality” but “he couldn’t tell her [things she already knew]” (550). Deaths inability to inform Liesel about countless struggle and resilience towards it demonstrates Liesel’s innate understanding of hardship. Death decides not to tell Liesel anything due to the fact that she has culminated an immense understanding of her experiences on both sides of the beauty spectrum, and it is because of this understanding Liesel grows stronger in her resilience towards further hardship. Evidence of Liesel’s struggle starts early on with the death of her brother, as well as her abandonment by her mother. Because of this abandonment, she is given the opportunity to find beauty within the care of the Hubermanns. Using Hans, or Papa, as a crutch, Liesel derives beauty quickly from the recent past. Liesel, though still coping is able to see her foster father as “her new papa [that] soothed and [loved her]” due to the realization that “trust was [built quickly between them] [because of his gentleness, and presence]” (36). In order to realize the blessing of Han’s presence in Liesel’s life,

Liesel was an illiterate due her past and thus once she started going to school she was “humiliatingly,… cast down with the younger kids” (pg. 39, Zusak). Liesel dreaded reading tests and if not for Hans’ help in their midnight classroom sessions, Liesel would have never got over her “excruciating fear” (pg. 75, Zusak) of having to read out loud. As the novel progresses so does Liesel’s adoration for reading books. Soon one after another she begins to read books by herself and their role in her development is priceless. The truly pivotal point which arises from Liesels love of reading happens once she uses the power of her words to soothe the residents of Himmel Street while they are stuck in the bomb shelter. Liesel thus surpasses her fear of reading for a crowd along with demonstrating her maturity as she focuses “only [on] the mechanics of the words” (pg.381, Zusak). All together the simple act of Liesel reading to soothe everyone nerves, thoroughly reveals how her education and maturity have drastically grown since her arrival on Himmel

The story begins with the narrator, Death, talking about his first encounter with Liesel Meminger only 9 years old at the time in Molching, Germany. He meets Liesel traveling on a train mid-winter with her mother and brother. She sees her brother who was coughing harshly take his last breath in front of her. Liesel and her mother then exited the train as soon as it stopped and had her brother buried in that town. Present at the burial was Liesel, her mother, and two gravediggers. Liesel was the last one to part from her brother’s grave and upon walking back to her mother she notice that there was a book laying in the snow. It belonged to one of the gravediggers but she didn 't know that at the time so she took it. It was the first book that she had “stolen.”

a."She raced through the files of face after face, trying to match them to the Jew who wrote The Standover Man and The Word Shaker"(509). - Liesel, knowing the outcome of running through a stream of Jews, wanted to find Max and see him for the last time before he would disappear for years. She wanted to see him and thank him for everything he 's done for her; the stories, the fun times they 've had. She willingly put herself in a bad situation because she loves him, and she knows that he loves her too. She knew that if Max saw her, it would make him the happiest