Book Thief By Markus Zusak: An Analysis

The book shows how powerful Hitler was with his words, but also how powerless he could’ve been without his words. In the novel,

When Max moved into the Hubermann’s basement, it was a favor for the person that saved Hans’s life, “‘He saved my life’” (Zusak 179). This is where we need to understand the power of words and see that they are the difference between life and death. When Hans make this promise, not knowing that the power of his words was going to affect him in the future, it really was the difference between the life and death. Next, there was the situation with the bombing in Molching. When Death is collecting the souls in the Hubermann household, as said by Death, “But there was no Liesel in that house. Not for me, anyways” (Zusak 532). During this time, Liesel was writing her own book in the basement. The words were powerful, and in this lucky situation, they literally did save her life. Again, understanding that there is so much power within one person with words. They come from people and they are able to create amazing stories and say amazing things with them. It is amazing how powerful one book can be with all the words in it. By way of contrast, words still do have the power to ruin lives. During this time period, Hitler had so much power with his words. To further explain, “The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn’t be any of this. Without words, the Fuhrer was nothing. There would be no limping prisoners, no need for consolation or worldly tricks to make us feel better. What good were the words?”

He's being punished with poverty and lack of medical treatment. He is not alone.Liesel's book stealing never quite qualifies as criminality, unless you're being strict. As Rudy points out, it's almost silly to call taking books from Ilsa Hermann's library "stealing." Her book thievery presents a pleasant counterpart to the very real crimes of the Nazis.Being a Jew in these times means being a criminal. There is no move a Jew in Nazi Germany can make that isn't considered a crime.Death explains to us that sau means a pig. Saumensch is an insult for women, Saukerl is an insult for men. Arschloch is "asshole" (sorry for using the term, but it’s nessecary to describe this part of the book). These terms become terms of endearment between the characters as the novel progresses.At this early stage, though, being called a pig-girl isn't exactly endearing. Liesel soon learns that calling Rosa "Mama" is one big way to stay on her good side.Death tells us that this is a definition that isn't found in the dictionaries. As we see when we get into the Duden Dictionary sections of the novel, it's sometimes hard to find the right words to express what we see and feel.This theme is repeated over and over in the novel, by anyone who survives. Michael Holtzapfel's guilt over his brother's death (which he had nothing to do with and couldn’t prevent) drives him to commit suicide.The passage does a lot to highlight Max's suffering. Two years hiding in dark sheds has made him an

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This part of the novel resembles a point in Liesel’s character in which she was passionate about the things she was feeling - almost as if she was determined to do something about it. As this event occurred, Liesel was filled with anger about her parent’s disappearance. She had recently found out that Hitler had something to do with it, which pushed Liesel to the conclusion that Hitler was not a man to be celebrated. As her hatred for Nazi ideals grew, so did her bravery.

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Before this moment, Liesel could not even use words at all, she was illiterate. Now, she has grown and changed, and so has her use of words, and now she is using words as weapons, wounding others around her. She

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The power of words and their hatred affect Liesel Meminger, the Hubermanns and Max Vandenberg. From the power of word there lives were destroyed. Firstly, The Hubermanns. mostly Hans who was hated on by the words of the nazi party.

Max Vandenburg, who was a very supportive boy of Liesel, always helped her during her worst times and even her best times. Max had missed Liesel’s 12th birthday so he made her a little gift. He took a book called Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, but made it his own called The Standover Man. He gave this book to Liesel as it symbolizes how people have always stood over him in his life to help him just like Liesel has. “During that week, Max had cut out a collection of pages from Mein Kampf and painted over them in white. He then hung them up with pegs on some string, from one end of the basement to the other … Only then, on the paper that had bubbled and humped under the stress of drying paint, did he begin to write the story. It was done with a small black paintbrush” (Zusak 223). This quote reflects the power of words because Max is doing this for Liesel since they are good friends, and since it's her birthday. This comes to show that Max is about positive words towards his friends, but mainly Liesel.

The first reason the word shaker story is the most important example of the power of words is because it shows, not just tells, how Hitler took over Germany with his words. For example, “Yes, the Führer decided that he would rule the world with his words. ‘I will never fire a gun,’ he devised. ‘I will not have to’ (Zusak 445). This shows, not just

Mein Kampf was a key symbol in the novel, it helped Max with his struggle plus it helped Hans with his image. Mein Kampf shows how powerful words can be and how words can have such an influence on people’s decisions. Hitler’s struggle helped Hans and Max in their own struggle, without his knowledge. I read some of Mein Kampf and I was astonished to see how well he wrote. Obviously he knew what he was doing and how to do it. I was shocked while hearing the tragic stories during the Holocaust when I visited Europe this summer.

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In the novel The Book Thief written by Marcus Zusak, Max found himself in a situation where the propaganda that Hitler has set affected his life in many ways. With the help of Liesel’s words and reading and the care that the Hubermanns gave, Max grew stronger and he had the courage to stand up and protect himself from the force that Hitler had set against the him and the Jews. By having the his power of will, Max was fighting Hitler in his own circumstances even if it 's just in his imagination.