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Traumatic Experiences In Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

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Throughout history, human nature has been shared among everyone as it identifies the characteristics, feelings, and behavioural traits of mankind. In Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief, he reveals the reality of how the inevitable experiences made by human beings manifests their true capabilities of good and evil. Through the several aspects of traumatic experiences, the temptation of taking risks and the development of experiences using words, the novel brings out the dynamic forms of characters, conflicts, settings, and symbols. First of all, the traumatic experiences that many characters encounter in the duration of the novel provide the opportunity to discover a true identity, whether the experiences are used as motivation or regret. Firstly, Rudy’s conflict with Franz …show more content…

Likewise, Max Vandenburg’s experiences as a Jew in the time period was traumatic as he was always in fear of death at any given moment. While Max lived with his mother, he was given the chance by his friend, Walter Kugler, to take Max under his protection and was obligated to leave his entire family behind otherwise, it was very likely that he would die. Max finds it very difficult to live with the knowledge of the possibility that his family might be dead and his regret for leaving his family lasted for a long time. Although Max’s family may not be safe, Max is capable of staying alive due to the fact that he is hiding and also because of the trust he has on Walter. Moreover, The Grave Digger’s Handbook illustrates a symbol of Liesel’s traumatic experience which was witnessing Werner’s death. Every time that Liesel held the book in her hands at night, the only thought that came to her mind was that it was “The last time she saw her brother [and] the last time she saw her mother” (Zusak 38). Liesel eventually comes to realize that she has a new family now and although death is a traumatic experience for anyone, Liesel uses The Grave Digger’s Handbook as a memory for the

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He was always kind and he and Liesel formed a friendship and they would read together. He made her a book about his story and left the book for her after he left. All of these characters impacted Liesel in their own way and showed theme of take nothing for granted by the characters giving something to Liesel and she took them for granted until they were gone and she realized her mistake. Death narrated this story and the reader got to see his point of view of The Book Thief and understand how he sees the world and humans. This takes place in Nazi Germany, 1939 during WW II.

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He fights the nazis by painting over the pages of Hitler’s Mein Kampf and writing his own stories over Hitler’s words. Lastly, Max has the selfless courage to not come back to 33 Himmel Street even after Hans said that he could because he did not want to endanger their family any more than he already had. No matter what challenges he faces, Max makes the ultimate decision whether to let the things that happened to him affect him or to instead persevere through any means that he can, even if it does not seem to amount to much in the grand scheme of

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801 Words | 4 Pages

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 someone or something physically or emotionally. Max is saved by a collection of words by the book Mein Kampf when he is riding the train to the Hubermanns to try to get to safety from the wrath of the Naxi regime.

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535 Words | 3 Pages

(Zusak 20) Liesel couldn’t believe it at first and was haunted every night by the fact that he was dead. “Every night, Liesel would nightmare. Her brother’s face. Staring at the floor.”

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466 Words | 2 Pages

She is brave enough to live with the memories, and rather than thinking of them as a burden, she wears them as a badge of honour. b. "You give me this Saumensch of a book and think it 'll make everything good when I go tell my mama that we 've just lost our last one?"(262). - Liesel is not scared to

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703 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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483 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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In the novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” is a motif that causes character development throughout the story causing Liesel to have the book as her only memory of her mother and brother, learning how to read and write, and it leads to stealing more books. When Liesel, her mother, and her brother, Werner were going on a train to Munich, Liesel has a dream about Adolf Hitler, The Furer, who was reciting one of his powerful speeches and when she woke up she found her brother dead. The train stops for track repairs, and Liesel's mother leaves the train carrying Werner in her arms. When Liesel’s brother was getting buried by two grave diggers, one of them, an apprentice, who drops his book and Liesel picks it up.

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‘That [Death] in a way was a metaphor for the idea that this book is about people doing beautiful things in a really ugly time.’ (Zusak, 2010) One of the central themes presented in The Book Thief is the idea of family. It is evident in the text that the idea of a family is not just limited to those in which we are inherently connected; it encompasses those we care for. Her arrival on Himmel Street, leaves Liesel struggling to face the abandonment she has experienced with her mother leaving her for a reason she does not understand and the devastating loss of her brother, Werner, whose ghost haunts her throughout the novel.

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1726 Words | 7 Pages

Liesel learning to read and write has given her the ability to write down her story, a story that shows pain and sadness but also pleasure and happiness. It is a story that inspired Death, as Death picked it up to keep. As Liesel was meeting Death, the book she wrote came up as Death held on to it, “I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell that she didn’t already know?” Death continues with some sediment towards the human race “I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it.

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840 Words | 4 Pages

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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880 Words | 4 Pages

Markus Zusak has assembled ‘The Book Thief’ using a variety of narrative conventions. These include a unique narrative viewpoint, plot structure and use of imagery, all of which provide meaning to the reader. (33 words) A narrative’s point of view refers to who is telling the story. In this case Zusak’s narrator identifies himself as Death.

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880 Words | 4 Pages

Developing Friendship through Justice, Love and Humanity Human relationships break or develop depending on the circumstances. The values that creates a stable relationship may vary on historical setting or the characteristics of each person. The novel, “The Book Thief” written by Markus Zusak shows justice, love and humanity through the friendship Liesel and Max developed during the time of the Holocaust.

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978 Words | 4 Pages

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

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1301 Words | 6 Pages

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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