Character Analysis Of Liesel's Struggle In The Book Thief

In Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief, the protagonist Liesel Meminger faces and overcomes various struggles during a time of conflict, revealing the human nature of self-determination and courage. Some of her struggles include the poor socio-economic situation Germany is in, the fear of losing a loved one, being haunted loss and a variety of prejudices formed against her. In all these scenarios, Liesel can be seen persevering with a willpower beyond her age, and demonstrating courage in the face of difficulty.

To begin with, Liesel steals a variety of objects ranging from books to food forced by precarious situation she lives in, as she determined to thrive the best she can in her given situation. On page 120, death narrates “It [The Shoulder

Even under the loving care of her foster parents, Liesel is determined to look and find her birth mother by sending her letters, despite the fact she vaguely senses something was going on. Page 95 quotes “Instead of asking him what was wrong, Liesel began writing immediately, choosing to ignore the sense of foreboding that was quick to accumulate inside her”. Later on she overhears a conversation between Hans and Rosa which only confirms this suspicion, but she courageously steals some of the washing and ironing money in order to mail the letters anyways. What’s more is that she receives the beating willingly because that’s simply how badly she wanted to find her mother. In addition to being plagued by her mother, Liesel has recurring nightmares about her brother who died before they arrived at the Huberman's. At first she requires the support and comfort from Hans almost nightly, but as she grows older, she becomes more determined to face is on her own after Max shares his own experiences on page 220, “The nightmares arrived like they always did… The only thing that changed was that Liesel told her papa that she should be old enough now to cope on her own with the dreams”. Though her nightmares don’t leaves her, Liesel gather enough willpower to face and take them on herself. What’s more is when Max falls ill, Liesel never gives up on him and is persistent on his recovery, even

As with moving into most places, the label ‘new kid’ is not uncommon and usually calls for getting put at the bottom of the social chain. On page 47, this is obviously no exception for Liesel- “Being the new kid in town, Liesel was immediately shoved between one pair of those cans. (Tommy Müller was finally set free, despite being the most useless soccer player Himmel Street has ever seen)”. No matter how awful other players may be, being the new kid automatically gets you the worst position in the soccer game as goalie. But Liesel doesn’t let this set her back, and is determined to prove them wrong by saving a penalty kick from Rudy who has never missed a before. With a bit of time and practice, she is taken away from her goaltender duties and becomes just as good as the rest of them. Another minor prejudice she faces is sexism. On page 273, Viktor Chemmel assures to reiterate this “He then turned his casual focus onto the girl. ‘Who’s the little whore?... ‘little slut’ ’”. In doing so, Liesel is degraded to a mere derogatory female name for simply being a girl while Rudy bears no discrimination. Liesel however, is rather unfazed by this and determined to show she is as equally capable as any other boy, she merely shoots back with “I stole at least three hundred apples and dozens of potatoes. I have little trouble with barbed wire fences and I can keep up with anyone here”. Lastly and perhaps her most prominent