Book Thief Thesis

Aiden Fitzsimmons
Mrs. Hiew
English 8H
Period 1
Apr 17, 2023

In the book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the book is narrated by Death. A young girl, Liesel Meminger, has been moved to her foster home in the town of Molching. On Himmel Street, she will live with her new family, Hans, and Rosa Hubermann. The book is set during World War Two in Nazi Germany. According to The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Nazi Party began its rise to power in 1930 when it gained 107 seats in the Reichstag, the German government. From there, the Nazi party grew, gaining 230 representatives by July 1932. Germany had recently fallen into a depression after the loss of World War One, which left them in a serious economic crisis. This paved the way

He began using propaganda to gain more votes in the Reichstag, and the Nazi Party bloomed. They began spreading antisemitism, which led to the Nazi party getting 37.3% of the vote, becoming the largest political power in Germany. On January 30, 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as the chancellor of Germany, and the rest is history. All with words. The book shows us that words are the most potent weapon, they can wage war and heal the world, but without them, the world stands still.
Throughout the novel, it can be seen that words are the most powerful tool that causes hatred and reigns over the world. As Liesel reads “The Word Shaker'', a book given to her by Max, she reads about the Führer and his rise to power by deciding “...that he would rule the world with words. ‘I will never fire a gun,’ he devised. ‘I will not have to’” (Zusak 445). The Führer says he doesn’t have to fire a gun and that he “will not have to”. This shows us that without firing a gun or going to war, the Führer could gain his people's trust and turn a whole country against the Jews and anyone that contrasted

After the bombing, Liesel regrets ever using the words at all and realizes that they are an enemy, not a friend. She describes the setting of the torn-up Himmel Street, saying “Soon, there was nothing but scraps of words littered between her legs and all around her. The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or wordly tricks to make us feel better”(Zusak 521). Liesel describes her sudden hate for the words, though she has seen them as a savior throughout her time on Himmel Street. She sees that the words are responsible for the worst parts of her life, and now are responsible for the death of her family and friends. When she says “Without words, the Führer was nothing”, she elaborates on the power of words. She realizes that Hitler was ruling his country without any weapons, he was just sending his militia to fight upon his command. A simple “stop” could have ended the whole thing. She now realizes that words are a mighty weapon and are very important to everyone. In an earlier part of the book, Death narrates about the “Word Shakers”. He describes the best word shakers as those who “were the ones who understood the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest. One such word shaker was a small, skinny girl. She was renowned as the best word