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Book Thief Reflection

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The Book Thief, the title of both an award-winning novel and a thieving girl, was based on the Holocaust, and its creation was influenced by the reign of Hitler. In the era of the Nazi regime, Liesel Meminger, an innocent German girl distanced from her biological family, is plunged into a world under Adolf Hitler’s rule, witnessing demeaning Jewish hate, the mandatory conscription of those too young to be drafted, and, most importantly, discovering her secret passion for book thievery. Liesel’s starving and desperate desire for novels, and her love for the words hidden between their taunting pages throughout ‘The Book Thief’ is a recurring aspect of the novel. The essay’s topic outlines how reading books teach us about the real world and how people cope in certain situations. …show more content…

Ups and downs can either make or break us and Liesel shows excellent resilience, despite her community being overcome by bombs in the end of the novel. Her love for words has saved her numerous times, especially of that in the bombing of the town of Molching, and influenced her to be brave in times of distress. Novels, either fantasy, fact or fiction, can encourage us to become stronger in areas where we lack strength and sometimes influence our motives. In the novel, it tells us that not only were words Liesel’s finest friend, but were Hitler’s greatest weapon to succeed in his overtaking of Germany. It is stated in the book that if Adolf Hitler could not move a nation with weapons and slogans, he would persuade them with his vocabulary and speeches. This establishes that not only can we thrive in this world with our intelligence and actions, but we can change it with our words. Hitler, though he did horrifying things in his time, proved that just about anyone could transform the world around them and the ‘Book Thief’, both the girl and the novel, justify that

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Writer Markus Zusak’s number one best-selling book The Book Thief written in 2005 demonstrates a story about a young German girl living in Nazi Germany. Zusak’s purpose of the story is to describe life growing up in Germany during World War II. He uses a serious tone to describe his reader's rhetorical devices that can have a deeper meaning. This can be demonstrated through the use of Symbolism, Imagery, and even Liesel herself.

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Lewis is trying to make the audience feel like they have a mission, one that will take them as a community to accomplish. Lewis purposely first leads them with sadness, telling the audience stories of friends and family who face the hardships of the government, but, starts telling them that they are not alone, telling them that they need to work, and finally, telling them that they will succeed. By doing this, he starts with the truth, but ends by motivating the audience of how it isn’t the end.

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Even though Liesel has suffered through many deaths, she continues to persevere. But why? As we read The Book Thief, we see everyone Liesel cares for die in tragic ways. Most people would not be able to cope after experiencing such atrocities. However, Liesel does.

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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.

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The power of words in “The Book Thief” and the endless strength they carry is a prime topic throughout the book. “The Book Thief”, a novel narrated by Death about Liesel, a young German girl who is given up for adoption to live with the Hubermann’s shortly before World War II. Liesel discovers the power that words, written or spoken, have to transform people, relationships, and lives. In the novel, Mark Zusak uses the relationship between characters to signify the power of words. Within “The Book Thief” the author suggests that words hold much power and have a major role in crafting the relationships between the characters.

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Although humans may originally behave due to innate reasons, much of literature argues external forces shape character and possess the power to influence the way societies behave. Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief exhibits how individuals may react in times of discrimination, and demonstrates the love and hate accompanying war. Difficult times challenge morality, and tests one’s limits; Liesel Meminger perseveres through arduous events, namely due to her identity as a creative and brave adolescent. Liesel’s identity is shaped and ultimately strengthened by outside forces.

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An important role model in Liesel’s life is Ilsa Hermann. After seeing Liesel steal a book at the book burning, she gives her the ‘window of opportunity’ (Zusak, pg. 155) inviting her into her library and sharing her own love of books with Liesel. The reader eventually learns that Ilsa is still mourning the loss of her own son many years before. Ilsa takes Liesel into her care after the tragedy of the bombing raids that results in the death of Hans and Rosa leaving Liesel traumatised and

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Growing as a Character Every event in our lives happens for a reason, whether it is to learn from our mistakes or to gain experience from them. In Markus Zusak's novel “The Book Thief,” Liesel Meminger uses her experiences with living in the 1940s to learn life lessons and experience first hand the many terrible things Hitler is doing to people around her. She learns how to deal with the many obstacles that are thrown at her. Liesel grows as a character by following her step-father’s footsteps in being a kind and generous person, going through childhood with her best friend Rudy, and being aware of what is going on around her by learning from Max.

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To Heal and to Hurt: The Importance of Words in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak “Words do two major things. They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness.” This quote by Jim Rohn highlights the two major things words do, indicating they have a power, an important role in everyday lives. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is an outstanding representation of many topics including the most crucial one, the importance of words. It is the late 1930s to early 1940s in Germany during the World War II, and the main character, Death, cannot help himself but to be intrigued by Liesel Meminger’s story, a girl that lives in Munich, Germany on Himmel Street.

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The Book Thief, directed by Brian Percival, is a film adaptation of a book by Mark Zusak centred around adolescent girl Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nelisse). Set in Germany during the early-mid 1940’s, leading up to the war, Liesel is sent away from her family to live with foster parents since she is at risk of being killed due as her parents are communists. Percival uses skilfully chosen aural and visual elements as well as cinematic techniques such as lighting and camera angles to communicate and explore the central theme to the audience: the power of human spirit, especially when dealing with adversity. Percival designs the aural elements in the scenes that make up the film The Book Thief to communicate and allow the audience to explore the power of the human spirit when dealing with adversity. Percival does this by using the aforementioned techniques to create juxtapositions, contrasting the power of the human spirit against adversity.

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