Book Thief And Fahrenheit 451: A Literary Analysis

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury are two books in which the duo of Death and War have an omnipresent influence. War being the powerful wife with all the power and Death being the quiet husband who would not dare to defy his wife. The Book Thief and Fahrenheit 451 are two of their many children. And their parent's influence is ever-present throughout them. Hence wherever there is war, there is death, and apparent factor in both Fahrenheit 451 and The Book Thief; however, the reactions from each protagonist toward these topics drastically change the outcomes of both novels. The main character in The Book thief, Liesel Meminger and her society in Nazi Germany have a relationship with the duo, that affects everyone.

Liesel, the main protagonist of The Book Thief, following him as her journey progresses, allowing him to do his wife’s bidding: her kiss. The deathly duo kisses Liesel through her little brother, and through the destruction of Himmel Street, Liesel’s home, in the end of the story; however, this only proves how prevalent Death and War are in The Book Thief. After the extensive period of time when Death and War claim Himmel Street for their own, Liesel finally meets this narrator and discovers she had not been dragging them along all this time, she wouldn’t have had a successful life. As Liesel described her life with the married couple on Himmel Street, she states that “Not that it was a living hell. It wasn’t. But it sure as hell wasn’t heaven”(26). This was only because she was in the center of Nazi Germany, where War and Death rule their kingdom together. Germany became their kingdom because it is common in Liesel’s life for air strikes to occur with no warning, which eventually kills off her entire family. This war for Liesel is so suffocating that she carries a weight of a thousand men on her shoulders until she connects with the people on Himmel Street. For example, she falls in love with the Hubermann, Rudy Steiner, and of course Ilsa Hermann, yet, she is only able to connect with

The girl, since day one, fell in love with Himmel Street and its people, each one illustrating a different story for her. For example, Rudy Steiner, Liesel's love, or as she referred to him, “saumensch,” allowed Liesel to feel real love for the first time in her harsh cold war; however, when death and war gave him the kiss he had always wanted from Liesel, she broke down and is tortured by the aftermath. Yet, she continues to plead for him after she finds him dead as, “tears grappled with her face. ‘Rudy, please, wake up, Goddamn it, wake up, I love you”(535). This painful moment continues to show how death and war takes a physical and mental toll, but this tool only helps the people around her. Liesel, through the story, goes to Ilsa Hermann's library and reads her books, and when Liesel finally let go of her initial kiss on her brother, she helps Ilsa overcome her son’s death, opening a whole new set of doors for the both of them, together and apart. Ilsa, after dealing with this, is able to gather up the strength to help Liesel in return when she mentions the fact that she knows Liesel was stealing her books in her letter by stating that, “My only hope one day you will knock on the front door and enter the library in the more civilized manner”(369). She then continues with, “I hope you find this dictionary and