How Does Hans Use Language In The Book Thief

The general ability of language to influence people has always been astounding. The number of lives changed every day by mere sentences. Even the lack thereof, silence, is a very powerful linguistic device which conveys some strange mythical strength. This power is harnessed and used to convey messages in speeches, books, songs, and even just commonplace conversation. Words having this much weight is a little strange for one to think about but all throughout history they have defined and separated humans from everything else. Amongst ourselves some rise above others and use their gifts to lead, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. In The Book Thief the reader watches as a Hitler uses his gift to gather and manipulate most of Germany into

One of the best examples of this from The Book Thief is when Hans is teaching Liesel how to read. While she was having nightmares he helped her with words. The book says, “...but Hans Hubermann merely repeated his previous cleanup heroics and got down to the task of reading, sketching, and reciting,” Hans and Liesel have a bond that is based on a foundation of Hans teaching her how to read. He is using the power of the written word to cheer Liesel up and distract her from the pain she is going through in life (Zusak 69). Interestingly the power of words does not always come from two people directly talking or writing to each other but can be formed via different kinds of relationships. The connection between Max and Hitler comes from Max being a Jew and Hitler’s public hatred for the Jewish people creates a sort of social connection between the two of them. This connection deepens between Max and Hitler as, “Max had cut out a collection of pages from Mein Kampf and painted over them in white,” Max ironically uses Mein Kampf, a work of hatred against his people, to create his own art and in this he takes the power away from Hitlers words (Zusak 223). This adds a new dimension to the power of words, this power can be taken

Even though Liesel does not agree with Hitler his words captivate her to a point where he is in her dreams, “The book thief was dreaming about the Fuhrer…she was attending a rally at which he spoke,” (Zusak 20). Even in Liesel’s dreams words carry the weight to shift tides, but only because she and all of Germany are allowing them to. As Liesel realizes this she seems to understand that she can take value from words and that is continuously shown to be Liesel's gift, she can learn better than most how to use her words and this give her and her words power, “Once words had rendered Liesel useless, but now…she felt an innate sense of power,” (Zusak