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The power of words pages of book thief
The power of words in the book thief
The power of words pages of book thief
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The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is a story set in Nazi Germany, the protagonist, Liesel Meminger, gets taken to a because her mom cannot manage to take care of her. The central theme, the power of words, is demonstrated throughout the story by Lisel’s love for books, and ability to use words to relieve and connect with others. It also shows how words can be used to manipulate and control people. “When she came to write her story, she would wonder when the books and the words started to mean not just something, but everything.” (Zusak, page 30).
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
As Liesel matures from a child into a young woman, she learns the value and power of words. This evolution is clear considering Liesel
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 WWII in Molching, Germany. Leisel is a foster 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 Aryan boy with blonde hair and blue eyes.
From things like planting the seed of justice to other things like trying to make a difference in the corrupt society, Liesel uses words to make a difference. The first way words are seen as good is when Liesel is described by Max in his story as planting the seed of innocence which is an acronym for how Liesel and sees that prosecuting the Jewish is wrong. This shows how innocent people like Liesel can learn to use words to make a change and also shows the power of words in the way she also convinces people like her friend Rudy. We know that Max feels this way because in his story the word shaker where he states, “She was renowned as the best word shakers of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be without words,” (Zusak 446). This shows the importance of words and that of good words because it describes how a person is powerless without words or in Maxes case not an opinion.
In The Book Thief, various rhetorical devices are used to develop the theme that words have a powerful meaning in the novel. The first example of a rhetorical device is symbolism. In the story Max wrote, The word shakers, Max explains how people who were word shakers, had the most powerful things to say. In Max’s story, he states “The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words, they were the ones who could climb the highest” (Zusak 446). This portrays that word shakers symbolize people who have words that have an impactful meaning.
Markus Zusak uses literary device to help understand and get the true meaning of the book. In the novel, the author helps and shows you flashbacks give you hints and information about the person or event. Telling backstory for various characters, and flashes forward in the book. He shows this when “Flash Forward to the basement, September 1943.”
The Book Thief is a novel set in the era of the Holocaust. Liesel Meminger has to survive through hard times after being left in foster care by her mother. The overall theme of the story is that words can have a powerful effect, especially with a different tone of voice, inspiring a multitude of feelings in people, such as fear or hope. Words always manage to seem underwhelming, but twisting them in the correct way yields results. For example, page 110 features a speech from a Nazi official: “‘We put an end to the disease that has been spread through Germany for the last twenty years, if not more!’
Just as Jehuda Berg wrote, "Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble.". Markus Zuzak’s The Book Thief, articulates the strength of words shared, narrated through the character of Death. Liesel Meminger has to leave her family for a better life in Germany. She moves to Himmel Street in Molching, Germany with Rosa and Hans Huberman. Throughout the book Liesel learns the invaluable power of words, and the value of a friend all while surviving in the time of Nazi Germany and World War 2.
The power of words in “The Book Thief” and the endless strength they carry is a prime topic throughout the book. “The Book Thief”, a novel narrated by Death about Liesel, a young German girl who is given up for adoption to live with the Hubermann’s shortly before World War II. Liesel discovers the power that words, written or spoken, have to transform people, relationships, and lives. In the novel, Mark Zusak uses the relationship between characters to signify the power of words. Within “The Book Thief” the author suggests that words hold much power and have a major role in crafting the relationships between the characters.
To love is to risk. Whether that is risking life, belief, health, or reputation, it is still a risk at any rate to give devotion to another. No era in history knows this better than during the Holocaust. Still, the most unexpected of people would die trying to help Jews escape persecution, they would help others who didn't share the same moral foundation as they did, they would share food rations when they barely had enough for themselves, or they would risk their public standing and forever be labeled as a sympathizer just to help a suffering soul regain his balance. Similarly, Markus Zusak's The Book Thief demonstrates a complete comprehension of how humans act against self preservation and individual comfort when challenged with harrowing situations that appeal to their own personal connections.
At the beginning of the book, Liesel's relationship with words is a fearful one, she cannot harmonise with the words as she feels they are working against her. When Liesel starts school, she attempts to read a passage in front of her class. The reading quickly becomes unsuccessful as she looks at the book and reports that "the sentences blurred"(77), and that "she couldn't even see the words anymore"(77). During this reading, the words take power over Liesel in a humiliating and degrading way as she fights for control. Liesel's gained life experience is then shown as she starts to wield the words in a way that gives her the ability to help others through hardships.
“The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words” (Zuzak 446) Throughout the story, Liesel was being bullied for her inability to properly communicate with others. To prove that she was capable, devoted, and motivated to learn how to read, she took her time and surpassed some of those who insulted
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
Words can also influence you in a good or bad way. Liesel states, “I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them “right” (Zusak,528) she says how she feels about words like her relationship with them. The quote reveals that Liesel wants to use words in a positive way and that she wants to use the words “right” and for good reasons rather than deleterious reasons.
