Book Thief Thesis

The Book Thief composed by Markus Zusak is a story of compassion, betrayal, and death. On the surface Liesel may portray as a naive German girl but beyond the surface she is just a ray of sunshine in a world filled with hatred, violence and death. Liesel Meminger is a foster child, age nine in the beginning of the book, who experiences life in Nazi Germany. She is strong-willed, brave, and an opportunist. Throughout her experiences, she slowly begins to develop a love of reading books and since she can’t afford them she has to steal, therefore her nickname forms The Book Thief. Let´s start at the beginning when Liesel was being transported to Munich to her foster parents. In the middle of the journey her brother dies an unexpected death.

One problem that came her way was school. Since she was not taught so properly she had difficulties adapting to her new school. But since she was so determined and had Hans´ support she started reading at home. She would read the book and practice the words until she knew them. ¨ They would circle the words she couldn’t understand and take them down to the basement the next day” (Zusak, 75). This shows that even with all of the peer pressure and struggle in reading she got over her fear and became excellent with words. Liesel also became an opportunist throughout the book. She would go along with anything just because she wanted the opportunity to do something rather than stay inside the house. Such as when Rudy went out to join a stealing gang Liesel went along. “They were in” (Zusak, 151). Another time that Liesel got to show her talent was when Frau Holtzapfel asked her to read to her at her house in exchange for coffee. “She read for forty-five minutes, and when the chapter was finished, a bag of coffee was deposited on the table” (Zusak, 388). This shows that Liesel will do anything to show what she is capable of