Death, our narrator, tells the story of Liesel Meminger. We begin with her at age nine, right after losing both her mother and brother. Liesel goes to live with foster parents Hans and Rosa Hubermann in Molching, Germany. When Liesel arrives, she is made of fun in school for not being able to read. She feels powerless, so Hans teaches her how to read at night in their basement, reading from a book Liesel stole from her brother 's funeral:
Part of growing up is living up to responsibilities and mature, throughout the book people will see the differences many characters changed from beginning to end like Liesel and Rudy. Growing up is something that any individual person goes through in life, people start getting more mature and start having more responsibilities for themselves or for people around them . Liesel was just a little girl who lost her mother and her brother on the same day, she was adopted by the Hubermann’s, but she didn’t know what to expect. She did chores for her mother by going to house and house and do laundry and then bring the money directly to her mother,
Liesel has realized she must respect the man who was the reason for her and her entire families suffering. She has realized she officially has lost her home, that she is completely isolated from the community. “It was quite a sight seeing an eleven year old girl try not to cry on church steps, saluting fuhrer”(Zusak 115). After losing all of these emotionally wrecking things Liesel learns and understands she needs to keep going forward. She refuses to give up she although times are rough manages to think, it could be worse.
A main reason Liesel develops into the character she is by the end of the novel is due to the individuals she meets and her relationships with them. When Hans Hubermann becomes
Being a ten-year-old girl, the reader assumes that Liesel has not acted unethically or without morals. It is assumed that her mother has taught her right from wrong. However, immediately following the burial of her brother, Liesel actions without morals the reader assume she has. “When the dragging was done, the mother and the girl stood and breathed. There was something black and rectangular lodged in the snow.
An important role model in Liesel’s life is Ilsa Hermann. After seeing Liesel steal a book at the book burning, she gives her the ‘window of opportunity’ (Zusak, pg. 155) inviting her into her library and sharing her own love of books with Liesel. The reader eventually learns that Ilsa is still mourning the loss of her own son many years before. Ilsa takes Liesel into her care after the tragedy of the bombing raids that results in the death of Hans and Rosa leaving Liesel traumatised and
This scene was heartbreaking for both Liesel and her father, as shown by the quote “Liesel stood up and also raised her arm. With absolute misery, she repeated it. ‘Heil Hitler.’ It was quite a sight - and eleven-year-old girl, trying not to cry on the church steps, saluting the Führer as the voices over Papa’s shoulder chopped and beat at the dark shape in the background” (Zusak 116, 117). Hans took it upon himself to explain to Liesel that she had to agree with and even glorify Hitler.
Have you ever wondered which event in your life made you see everything differently? Everybody faces various experiences with the realities of the world that eventually results in the loss of their innocence. The loss of innocence can be the outcome of an incident witnessed, a final conclusion about an issue, or an understanding of a situation. The loss of innocence is the same thing as maturity. Now, of course, you can’t go to sleep one night and wake up mature.
He even tried to push her away, but the girl was too strong.’” (511) The time of the Holocaust was hell-like for the Jews. Just because of their religion, they were harassed and and abused by the Germans in inhumane ways. However, Liesel was a girl who stood up for humanity and justice.
At first, Liesel is illiterate, but when she steals her first book at her brother’s funeral, and is abandoned by her mother, she turns to something she
When Liesel’s town is bombed and her family, friends, and neighbors all die, the narrator observes the fact that the girl “survived because she was sitting in a basement reading through the story of her own life” (Zusak 498). The alarms did not go off in time, and Liesel was saved because she was not asleep; instead, she was in her house’s basement reading through a book that she had written about her life. Also, it can be noted from the text that “by reading and rereading her beloved books, Liesel learns the soothing ability of words” (Haegele). While in her foster parents’ care, she discovers a passion and desire for reading and becomes a book thief, hence the title of the novel. The books that she is exposed to bring her comfort and a feeling of security during a time of fear and turbulence.
Friendship is the medicine for a wounded heart and the vitamins for a hopeful soul. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a girl named Liesel suffers through many losses. She is taken to a new home where she developed friendships that helped her heal her wounds and survive World War II. Friendship is portrayed through her connections with Hans, Rudy, and Max and it is learned how essential these friendships are to her survival. At the beginning of the novel, she developed her first friendship with Hans.
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.
He killed himself for wanting to live” (Zusak 503). While Michael deals with guilt by self destructing, Liesel, the main character, handles guilt using other methods. Liesel encounters guilt through the death of her loved ones in addition to the sadness of losing everything she had. She deals with this guilt by stealing books and reading with her Papa. By stealing books, she achieved the famous nickname, the Book Thief.
Ups and downs can either make or break us and Liesel shows excellent resilience, despite her community being overcome by bombs in the end of the novel. Her love for words has saved her numerous times, especially of that in the bombing of the town of Molching, and influenced her to be brave in times of distress. Novels, either fantasy, fact or fiction, can encourage us to become stronger in areas where we lack strength and sometimes influence our motives. In the novel, it tells us that not only were words Liesel’s finest friend, but were Hitler’s greatest weapon to succeed in his overtaking of Germany. It is stated in the book that if Adolf Hitler could not move a nation with weapons and slogans, he would persuade them with his vocabulary and speeches.
