Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

In the novel, The Book Thief, a fictional story, author Markus Zusak demonstrates the power of words to save or destroy someone or something. The setting is in WWII in Molching, Germany. Leisel is a foster care child who went through a lot to get to where she is, Himmel Street. She is living with her foster parents, Rosa and Hans Hubermann. She also has a very good friend, Rudy, who is your typical Arian boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. The Hubermanns are also hiding a Jewish man, Max, from Hitler and his devious Nazi regime. Hitler wants to kill off all the Jews, and create one supreme Aryan race. Throughout the course of the book, all of these characters have something to do with who lives or who dies depending on the words they use. The power of words is so strong that they can save or destroy

The Nazi’s are looking for strong fighters for their war efforts. Rudy qualified and is the best for the job in their eyes. The soldiers are trying to convince Rudy’s parents to hand him over when they say, “We’re creating an elite group of German citizens in the name if the Fuhrer. “(408) The soldiers are rejected by Rudy’s parents. If Rudy went out and intervened with the decision and said he would go to the school, he would have changed everything. For example he would changed all of these outcomes,” 1. Alex Steiner wouldn 't have suffered the same punishment as Hans Hubermann, 2. Rudy would have gone away to school, 3. And just maybe, he would have lived” (411). This is an example of how words destroy people. If Rudy would have gone, he would have survived, and he would not have perished and Alex Steiner would have been the luckier man than Hans. The words that did not come out of Rudy 's mouth held the most power, but Rudy decided to keep them closed off and things didn 't turn out well because of