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Liesel Meminger In The Book Thief By Markus Zusak

677 Words3 Pages

Book Thief Character Analysis
“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”
Throughout the novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the author shows us many lessons Liesel Meminger learns. Books help Liesel to grow and mature. Liesel Meminger is a foster child, who is traveling to Munich to meet her foster parents. During the novel, Liesel creates a special bond with her foster parents, especially Hans Hubermann, and becomes good friends with the boy next door, Rudy Steiner. Liesel is the protagonist in the story. The major conflict through the course of the book is when Liesel, Hans, and Rosa hide Max, a Jew from the Nazis. Liesel’s journey into adulthood can be traced through the books she reads, such as The Grave Digger’s Handbook, Mein Kampf, and The Whistler. …show more content…

The Grave Digger’s Handbook is the only thing Liesel has left of her brother and her mother. At Liesel’s brother’s burial, Liesel notices something that had fallen onto the ground. She picks it up and discovers that it is The Grave Digger’s Handbook. Liesel learns many things from reading this book. One major thing Liesel learns from reading this book is how to read. Liesel never knew how to read until her foster father, Hans Hubermann taught her the alphabet in the middle of the night. Liesel also learns to trust and love again. In the Book Thief it states,”He looked over at Liesel and winked. She would have no trouble calling him Papa.” (Zusak 35) During these midnight reading sessions, Liesel creates an everlasting bond with Hans and learns to love and trust him. “Possibly the only good to come out of these nightmares was that it brought Hans Hubermann, her new Papa, into the room, to soothe her, to love her.” (Zusak 36) Hans is one of the only people Liesel learns to trust, because he is always there to comfort her and love her, when there is no one else

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Although Hans Hubermann did not read to the people, he did teach Liesel to read books. In fact, Liesel helped other people to calm down like Hans accordion was a symbol of protection, similar to Liesel reading books to other people. At the end of the book thief, Liesel “decided” (The mayor's wife, technically suggested writing a book of her own, but Hans is more important in the book.) to write a book about her life and her introduction to coming to Himmel street. She was in the basement at the time, trying to edit her mistakes about the book. At this time, bomb signals had come off.

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Liesel Meminger, otherwise known as the book thief, is a foster child who lives during World War ll. Everything started at her brother's burial where she finds a The Gravedigger's Handbook. From there she continues to steal books. In The Book Thief , written by Markus Zusak, story of a tells the story of a jew, a little german girl, and Death. Max Vandenburg has always loved to fight and he always will.

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Markus Zusak’s coming-of-age, historical fiction novel, The Book Thief, tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster child brought to live with a family in Molching, Germany during World War II. Throughout the novel, Liesel meets many characters who show tremendous courage in the face of the circumstances they are forced to endure like Hans, Rudy, and Max. However, the courage that they exhibit is not always the kind where they run out into battle with guns blazing but something else. Hans Hubermann, Liesel’s foster father, is at first glance, an unceasingly kind, yet ordinary, man. Even Death says so when we first meet him:

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Even though she lost her family she soon will gain a new one. She arrived at the home of her new foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann. When Hans, a compassionate housepainter, learned that Liesel couldn’t read, he taught her how wonderful the language could be. Liesel grew to love books. She even stole them from a Nazi bonfire and the mayor’s wife’s library, but also received a few as gifts.

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Liesel's journey into adulthood can be traced through the books she reads, In the book, The Book Thief written by Markus Zusak, there are many books that one of the main characters, Liesel Meminger steals. Most of their books that are talked about in this story have a purpose. Words are everything to Liesel, sometimes she loves words and sometimes she hates them. There are many books that mean a lot to Liesel, one of those books are The Whistler, in the book The Whistler there are many things that Liesel not only takes but also receives.

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She understands that importance of a word, of being able to speak and saying what you know and feel. She reads with her Papa and visits Frau Hermann in her library, one of the greatest places Liesel has ever seen. Unfortunately Liesel left her family, her brother dies in the train as she was in the way to her stepfather and mother. Her mother had to leave her. Liesel was being bullied in her first day of school because she can’t read or write.

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Identities are defined by other individuals through their actions and their perception of others. Liesel's identity is also largely shaped by Hans, who protected her, took care of her and introduced her to her passion, books. He teaches her to read, after finding that “she couldn’t read or write” (39). Liesel uses this knowledge to read to others,

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Liesel, known as the book thief to the audience has a distinct passion for books and how much they mean to her. Stealing book after the book becomes a hobby for the young girl whose love of books is fostered by her foster father, Hans Hubermann. As Hans teaches Liesel how to read and write they develop an

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Liesel’s only connection to them is through The Grave Digger’s Handbook which is also her first act of book thievery. Han is Liesel’s silver eyed, accordion playing foster father who wins her over with his gentle humility, quiet nature and caring demeanour. ‘They were made of kindness and silver… Liesel when seeing those eyes understood that Hans Hubermann was worth a lot.’

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Hans’ relationship with Liesel is similar to the relationship I have with my step-dad on multiple levels, such as comfort, trust, and struggle. Liesel Meminger was nine years old when she arrived on Himmel Street in Molching, Germany. However, she was unable to read and write like her peers and was placed in a lower grade where everyone made fun of her. As stated in the chapter titled The Other Side of Sandpaper, Hans Hubermann teaches Liesel how to read during midnight lessons

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Growing as a Character Every event in our lives happens for a reason, whether it is to learn from our mistakes or to gain experience from them. In Markus Zusak's novel “The Book Thief,” Liesel Meminger uses her experiences with living in the 1940s to learn life lessons and experience first hand the many terrible things Hitler is doing to people around her. She learns how to deal with the many obstacles that are thrown at her. Liesel grows as a character by following her step-father’s footsteps in being a kind and generous person, going through childhood with her best friend Rudy, and being aware of what is going on around her by learning from Max.

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The theme of this book is learning to love and care for the people around. How I came to this conclusion is by how Liesel acts towards Max, her foster parents, Rudy, and her neighbors. Liesel cares for people even if they weren't like her and she doesn't understand why there is hatred in this world. She wanted the world to be a happy place for everyone including Jews to be friends with one another. On page 426 in ‘The Book Thief’, when Rudy’s father went to war Liesel could relate to Rudy because “her mother.

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One of the most important recurring themes throughout The Book Thief was Liesel’s relationships with all of the people in her life. She grows close with several different people, and trusts, loves, and cares for them all differently but equally. Three of those relationships will be explored more deeply; Liesel’s relationship with her foster father, Hans Hubermann, the Jewish man her family takes in, Max Vanderburg, and her best friend, Rudy Steiner. Liesel’s relationship with Hans is one of the most important, if not the most important, relationships in the novel. Hans is the first person Liesel trusts, and the person who stays with her and loves her until the end.

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Her favorite thing to do with the stolen books was read with her father. Her Papa frequently read with her. “ ‘ Do you want to read it?’ Again, ‘Yes Papa’ “ (Zusak 64). One of Liesel’s friends, Max, is constantly filled with guilt as well.

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Liesel trusted her papa even more after this encounter, Hans knew to keep this a secret to protect Liesel’s feelings. With all the negativity and poorness in Hans’ life, he would have been expected to respond negatively, but in reality, Hans did the complete opposite. Hans Hubermann showed his morals, a comforting essence, and trustworthiness despite living under horribly negative conditions. Under the tireless regime of Adolf Hitler, Hans clung to his personal beliefs. He did this in several ways, he helped two Jews, and helped Liesel develop into a better person.

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