Book Thief Themes

The Holocaust was an experience through which everyone learnt and grew. In the Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, a time of great tragedy, a start of new relationships, a life of perseverance, are all various themes explored throughout the novel. The Book Thief explores different concepts, like, the power of words, and/or the kindness and cruelty of humans, whilst living their lives’ through the Holocaust, leaving an impact on the individual’s life and the entirety of society.

During the Holocaust, the concept of power was stripped away from the majority of public society. But when reading the Book Thief, we explore that even young children grow their power through words. “Yes, the Führer decided that he would rule the world with words. “I will

He planted them day and night, and cultivated them.”

The quote being narrated by death portrays the actions of Hitler and how he is using words to swing and sway the emotions of germany. Hitler utilised his knowledge and crafted words into an auto bibliography, called Mein Kampf. MKPF was written and distributed to all of Germany, and was almost the only book being published. In this book, he wrote his life story but had manipulated it to sound more sad, causing people to turn empathetic. Distorting people's opinions and emotions gave Hitler more power over them. But in the Book Thief, there is an event of oppression towards the Jewish. “During that week, Max had cut out a collection of pages from MKPF and painted over them in white. … he began to write the story.” Max did an act of protest against Hilters words, with all in his power. Even though Max is a young Jewish boy, his actions are still a part of change. Painting over the papers of MKPF and rewriting his own

The Book Thief is narrated through death’s eyes, and at the end of the book Death said the words “I am haunted by humans.” Understanding that death is not truly a real person, the concept of this quote is demonstrating how humans can truly be so cruel, that even inanimate objects/things feel the emotions of hurt and empathy. Throughout the book, there have been many incidents of killings, stealing, and losing freedom. “I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race…. I wanted to ask how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.” An effective way of explaining contradiction, could simply be this quote. As Death answers Liesel’s question, of whether he understood her book about her life of war, he tells us that humans truly do horrible things when time gets to them, but still help each other when necessary. Especially in the times of the Holocaust when people needed help, people were turning on each other, while the others were supporting the ones in need. For instance, Hans Hubermann, a supporting character towards the Jews is considered an act of kindness. “In 1933, 90 percent of Germans showed unflinching support for Adolph Hitler. That leaves 10 percent who didn't. Hans Hubermann belonged to that ten percent.” Hans shows us that humans can stand up against others,