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Theme Of Beauty In The Book Thief

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Liesel’s life represents beauty in the wake of brutality. Beauty in the wake of brutality means something that is good in the middle of evil. For example, the Sodom and Gomorrah story in the Bible (Genesis 19). The two cities are evil and God is going to destroy them but there is one family that is good and he saves them. The family represents beauty in the wake of brutality. In the Book Thief, Liesel’s life represents beauty in the wake of brutality in her relationship with Ilsa Hermann, in her relationship with Rudy, and in the Hubermann’s house. Ilsa Hermann is the mayor’s wife and her connection to Liesel is through books. Throughout some of the book, Liesel went to the mayor’s library and read with Ilsa Hermann. The beauty is the books and reading, and the brutality is that Ilsa fired Rosa Hubermann and Liesel ripped up the books in the library. “How fitting that she was discovering the power of words. And how awful (and yet exhilarating!) it would feel many months later, when she would unleash the power of this newfound discovery the very moment the mayor’s wife let her down. How quickly the pity would leave her, and how quickly it would spill over into something else completely” (Zusak 147). Rudy and Liesel had a very significant relationship throughout …show more content…

Hans Hubermann played the accordion and it represented the good things in life during a time like Nazi Germany. The watschens was a sign of punishment given by various characters to Liesel (the teacher and Rosa Hubermann). Inside the Hubermann household, the accordion can represent beauty and the good things about life in Nazi Germany and the watschen can represent brutality and all of the bad things in life (Holocaust, poorness). After Hans left for war, the two elements combined and Rosa turned into the accordion. “Remember that she was the woman with the instrument strapped to her body in the long, moon-slit night” (Zusak

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