The Importance Of Family In The Book Thief

A smile. A hug. A gift. The smallest things can brighten a person’s day or put a smile on someone’s face. Humility is a virtue that not all people possess. Even if a person is down, it is still important to prioritize humbleness because it can make him find a light in a sea of darkness. The theme people who are hopeless can still be humble is relevant in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief as shown through Hans, Max, and Ilsa Hermann, who keep this mentality in mind while trying to overcome hardships.

A main reason Liesel develops into the character she is by the end of the novel is due to the individuals she meets and her relationships with them. When Hans Hubermann becomes

At the beginning of the novel, she developed her first friendship with Hans. Hans is a warm-hearted and compassionate man who was the first that connected to Liesel. When Liesel first arrived at Himmel Street, she refused to leave the car and meet her new family. While it took them quite a bit of time to persuade her to leave, “It was the tall man who did it”(28). The first encounter between Liesel and Hans is a memorable and significant moment because it is the moment that shows how their friendship initiated. If Hans would not have sat by Liesel’s side and coaxed her to leave the car, then she would not have developed that initial trust that transpired through this. Another moment that helped the connection between the two is when Liesel had nightmares and Hans would come in and comfort her by teaching her how to read or when they would go to the basement to teach Liesel how to spell and write. These moments shared between the two created a bond through books since Hans and she spent a lot of time together which developed the trust in Liesel towards

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Hans Hubermann stood strong through moments of adversity. He stuck to his beliefs and personal opinions under the unrelenting reign of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. In The Book Thief Hans Hubermann displayed his morals, a comforting essence, and trustworthiness under horribly negative conditions.

Humans lie and steal without hesitation to survive. That is how man is. However, human nature does not allow for cruelty to exist without the other end of the spectrum - kindness. In his novel, The Book Thief, Markus Zusak reveals the extreme malice possible in humans, along with the tenderness that stems from it. In times of hate and paranoia in Nazi Germany, ones who live morally are rare. The need to survive takes over most of the people, leading them to act cruelly. Even in desperation, there are those who rise above chaos to fight in countering the harshness of society. Zusak suggests that when man understands that they must carry out kindness in the midst of cruelty they are empowered as individuals to fight for the survival of humanity.

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.

For most people, childhood is a time that should be celebrated because of the bliss and innocence one experiences then. For others, it is the complete opposite. Childhood for those few can be described as being full of uncertainty and fear. In The Book Thief, Markus Zusak portrays Liesel’s childhood and adolescence as a time of tribulation and terror after being separated from her family, having to conform to a society she did not agree with, and living surrounded by war and violence.

The novel, The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak in 2005 explores the theme of family relationships. It is through nine-year-old Liesel Meminger, the protagonist, that the idea of a broken family during the era of Nazi Germany is explored.

Liesel’s relationship with Hans is one of the most important, if not the most important, relationships in the novel. Hans is the first person Liesel trusts, and the person who stays with her and loves her until the end. But Hans and Liesel’s most touching moments were when they

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

You truly don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Everyday things are taken for granted. In “The Book Thief” It shows incredible examples of how loss transforms you for the better. “The Book Thief” Written by Markus Zusak is a novel based on Nazi-Germany during post World War 2. It Features the scary truth along with harsh humor, The story is told through the eyes of brave, Jewish girl named Liesel. The story shows how you should always be thankful for what you have because it could be gone within a second. Growing up underprivileged definitely teaches you things that you would not have learned or viewed in that way if you were middle class/upper class. Growing up poor can have a huge effect upon yourself, but you learn, develop and become

Change is an inevitable aspect of life; however the most significant changes occur when an individual develops a sought after skill or learns imperative information. In the novel The Book Thief the novel’s main protagonist Liesel Meminger encounters numerous moments which help define her characterization as she grows as a character. Firstly one of Liesel’s most poignant moments occurs once she pieces together her vague past and during the same process discovers her reason for loathing Hitler. When Liesel heard the word communist being mentioned in a negative connotation at the book burning, she became stricken with fear as this word was all she knew of her past life. Liesel’s desire for answers on her Mother’s disappearance leads to her asking Hans if Hitler was one

Hans Hubermann, Liesel’s foster father, helped Jewish people in whatever way he could. When a Jewish shop named Kleinmann’s was vandalized, Hans asked the owner if he needed any help cleaning up, and promised to come back the next day and paint his door, which he did (Zusak 181-182). Hans delayed applying to the Nazi party because he didn’t agree with their beliefs, and by helping the owner he was put under more suspicion, however he felt that it was a proper action and didn’t allow danger to stop him. In addition to Hans act of kindness, the Hubermanns took a Jew named Max into their care, and allowed him to stay with them to be safe. In a book overview, Tabitha Hall observes, “Though not Jewish, Liesel and her foster parents struggle as they keep their Jewish friend hidden…” (“Overview: The Book Thief”). Since Hans is a good man, and had helped Jews in Molching before, he agreed to keep his promise to Max’s mother to help Max by sheltering him. Hans reasons for helping Jews were that he appreciated fairness, a Jew once saved his life, and he couldn’t join a party that antagonized people. These were the same reasons real-life Germans provided for assisting Jewish

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 natural human instinct is to do anything in order to survive. Though a person may not necessarily want to survive, the physical body of a person does. The body naturally will try to do anything in order to protect itself and survive even when the person does not notice. Survival comes at a cost that not all people are willing to pay. To survive there are struggles and obstacles that not all are willing to face, but to get through these obstacles an individual is one step closer to survival. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak this can be seen. Zusak purposes that man must suffer before they are able to heal in order to become empowered to survive.