Max and Liesel are very similar. They both are homeless, and have lost important people in their lives. While Max and Liesel are different to the outside eye they have similar personalities and interests. They both suffer from nightmares, but are quite fond of books, and are brought into the Huberman’s household. Max and Liesel both have nightmares. “THE SWAPPING OF NIGHTMARES The girl: ‘Tell me. What do you see when you dream like that?’ The Few: ‘. . . I see myself turning around, and waving goodbye.’ The girl: ‘I also have nightmares.’ The Few: ‘What do you see?’ The girl: ‘A train, and my dead brother.’ The Few: ‘Your brother?’ The girl: ‘He died when I moved here, on the way.’ The girl and the Few, together: ‘Fa —yes.’ The two confide in each other, sharing secrets that really aren’t that different. The nightmares reveal what life is for one another. Although Max is older, and bigger, he too has fears. …show more content…
“Occasionally he brought the copy of Mein Kampf and read it next to the flames, seething at the content. The third time he brought it, Liesel finally found the courage to ask her question. ‘Is it—good?’ He looked up from the pages, forming his fingers into a fist and then flattening them back out. Sweeping away the anger, he smiled at her. He lifted the feathery fringe and dumped it toward his eyes. “It’s the best book ever.” Looking at Papa, then back at the girl. ‘It saved my life.’” Max and Liesel’s first conversation is the most important dialogue between them becauses it led to one of the most sad, yet beautiful friendships ever. “All told, she owned fourteen books, but she saw her story as being made up predominantly of ten of them. Of those ten, six were stolen, one showed up at the kitchen table, two were made for her by a hidden Jew, and one was delivered by a soft, yellow-dressed afternoon.” Books were a major bond between the two, Max made her 2 books and she adored
Liesel and Max bond through their love of books. When Max becomes very sick, Liesel reads to him at any given moment. When Max was better, her wrote Leisel a
“Thanks, Papa”(45-46). This quote is conveying that Liesel and Hans are having a friendly experience with each other through words, as Hans is teaching her the alphabet. This relates to the thematic statement because it demonstrates how the power of words can be shown in a positive way, and how they can express loving emotions toward people. Moreover, when Max falls ill and slips into a coma, Rosa presents Liesel with a gift from Max: When it came back out, she was holding Max Vandenburg’s sketchbook. “He said to give this to you when you were ready,” she said.
“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).
Both these protagonists happen to be political refugees avoiding Nazi persecution: Liesel’s parents were Communists and Max is a Jew. Max and Liesel alike have recurring nightmares about the last time they saw their families and these help Max and Liesel link themselves in areas where no one would understand their pain due to the loss of their family. Unlike most relationships theirs is based on their similar past and personalities as well as unspoken understanding along with the trust for each other. These similarities form a strong bond between Max and Liesel and this makes “The Standover Man”, a book compiled by Max using pages from “Mein Kampf” important, as Max helps Liesel realize that the power of words can be used to delight as well as harm others. “The best standover man I’ve ever known is not a man at all...”, a line within “The Standover Man” implies that Max believes that Liesel and he need each other and this friendship is unique to both of
Their relationship dominates the middle section of the book, as Max comes to Himmel street just as part three starts, and Liesel thinks about him almost constantly as soon as he arrives. Consequently, the first quote I chose for them was when Liesel first catches a glimpse of Max in the kitchen. “She lingered a moment before her feet dragged from behind. When she stopped and stole one last look at the foreigner in the kitchen, she could decipher the outline of a book on the table” (Zusak 186). In this scene, Liesel sees Max’s book, and this is the start of the two of them and their connection with words that appears continuously through the rest of the novel.
Max accepts Liesel’s child-like sense of entertainment. While Liesel loyally builds a snowman for Max. When the snowball scene turns out wrong, Liesel loyally tried to nurse him back to safety. Liesel had the courage to accept befriend Max and loyal enough to keep it a secret.
According to Harmful and Undesirable by Guenter Lewy, “Hitler had argued in Mein Kampf that the Jews had “poisoned German culture,” including literature, and had “wrecked all the conceptions of beauty and dignity” (101). Words were important for Liesel. She stated, “I have hated the words and I have loved them” (Zusak 528). She hated the words because a powerful word “communism” had tore her away from her mother. She loved the words because they connected her with her friend Max Vandenburg.
Max and Liesel gain a very strong friendship until he must leave for the family’s safety. In the end, the Allied Powers bomb the city, leaving Liesel as the lone survivor, leaving Liesel to face an extremely difficult time. In the end, the narrator, Death, reunites her with Max. Liesel lives a wonderful life and passes peacefully. In the novel, The Book Thief, Zusak proves the satisfaction found in corruption and harmful choices
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
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.
On Hitler’s birthday in 1940, when “[t]he Hubermanns couldn’t find their flag” (103) to hang on the window, Rosa Hubermann starts to panic. Without the flag on the window, Rosa is afraid “‘[they’ll] come and take [them] away.’” (103) which is an immense consequence for something as simple as lacking a flag, however, because it represents their devotion to Nazi Germany it is essential to have on display. Furthermore, Liesel must salute the Führer many times throughout her years on Himmel Street. Whether she is compelled to (because “[she] [won’t] be served” (50) at Frau Diller’s otherwise) or practicing it for the BDM, she is forced to heil Hitler because without doing, so she is will be punished.
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. First off, Hans Hubermann kept to his own moral beliefs despite the ever-changing society that surrounded him.
After years of being lonely, Max feels like he has a friendship with Liesel. They try their best to protect each other as they both go through this hard time
In the novel, Liesel’s behavior shows justice and love through her friendship with Max. Although her relationship with Max in the beginning of the book was rather awkward, soon her perspective towards Max soothes and their relationship bonds to a friendship. There are some times when Liesel’s actions were unbelievable, especially during the Jew parade. “ ‘ You have to let go of me Liesel.’
At first, Liesel is illiterate, but when she steals her first book at her brother’s funeral, and is abandoned by her mother, she turns to something she