Why Is Words Important In The Book Thief

“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble” (Berg, Huffington Post). In The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, a love for the words was able to affect the situation for the better, but also for the worse. We must understand the power of words.

“The Book Thief” is a novel and film about a girl who survives death during WW2 and how words became very important to her life. Liesel Meminger was brought to her foster home unable to read. Her foster father, Hans, finds out she can’t read and helps teaches her German. Liesel then falls in love with words and uses them to write her story.The theme “power of words” is displayed in the novel and film equally. Three ways the power of words were shown was by making an emotional connection with the audience, influencing people to do something, and creating unlikely friendships.

Zusak alludes to the many book burnings that took place in Nazi Germany to show what people thought of words, and how powerful they really are. “Nazi’s were gathering fuel… Liesel was witness to men and women knocking on doors, asking people if they had material that they felt should be done away with or destroyed” (Zusak 101). This is when people come knocking on doors, asking for books they deemed ‘un-German’ to burn in a large bonfire that night. Zusak alludes to this event to show how Germany thought of words and what they did to the mind. Zusak uses an allusion to Adolf Hitler himself to show how powerful his words were to the citizens of Germany and how they influenced them. “Without words, the Fuhrer was nothing” (Zusak 521). Here, the narrator Death is speaking about Hitler and that if he never spoke those words he did, if he never rose to power, the world wouldn’t be the way it is. Zusak does this to show words, even when negatively used, can change people and what they do. Zusak uses an allusion to Adolf Hitler’s own novel Mein Kompf to show the Nazi governments drilled words into the citizen’s heads through the book. “In return, he received a used copy of Mein Kompf” (Zusak 128). In this scene, people hand a copy of Mein Kompf to Hans, like they do to all citizens, to attempt bringing him in deeper to

Did you know the power of words can impact somebody’s life? The things you say to someone can change their mind about their decisions, choices, or may even affect their self-esteem. Words also have the power to make somebody change their attitude. Throughout the story of The Book Thief, there are many positive and negative situations that occur because of words.

“Even Death has a heart” (Zusak 242). Most people wouldn’t think that Death would have a heart because people blame him for taking their loved ones away. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel, a young girl, learns the power of words when she steals her first book, The Gravedigger's Handbook. Even the most hurtful words are displayed in writing and not spoken. The power of words are shown in The Book Thief when Liesel begins to read, The Standover Man from Max, and how the Hitler hurts the Jews verbally.

Words are everywhere, words make up books, and the power of words make The Book Thief which will never be able to be improved upon. Words help us communicate with others, but mainly they have positive and negative sides to them. In the novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death narrates the story while Liesel Meminger also tells her story of living in Nazi, Germany. We will discuss how there are many people such as Max Vandenburg and Liesel Meminger who choose to use to use their power of words in the positive way. We will also discuss how people also like to use their power of words in the negative way such as Adolf Hitler. The power of words are very effective especially in Markus Zusak’s writing, and we’ll discuss the main parts of the book which have been effected with the power of words.

“The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing.” (Markus Zusak, page 242). At this moment, Liesel was so angry at the words that she tore up a book. She started to realize how much of an effect they can have in the world. Words are a pretty powerful weapon. They can be destructive or productive. Most of the times words are used in The Book Thief, they’re destructive. A good example of this is how Hitler, the Führer, used his words to make everyone dislike the Jews. This grew on and on and led to a big massacre of Jews in Germany. In the novel The Book Thief , the characters Liesel, Hans, and Rudy all inquire a positive and negative impact of words.

Words have the power to Provoke action by when people who take a stand for others and persuade them to take action for what they want. In I Have a Dream Martin Luther King Jr. states “...No,no,no,we are not satisfied ,and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like a waters of righteousness, like a mighty stream.” (Pg 263) Martin Luther King Jr during his “I Have a dream” speech he tells everyone that they will not stop fighting until they get what they want. Cesar Chavez a protester against table grapes states his demands, during his speech called Lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. he states “ Please, boycott table grapes. For your safety, for the workers and for the children, we must act together.” (Pg 328) Both Martin Luther King Jr. state that they will fight for what they want and will not stop til they get what they want for the good of the people. Words can provoke action because hey persuade listeners that their cause is worth supporting.

Words: the most powerful, significant, and substantial element of speech man has. A single word can express an infinite amount of meanings and emotions. Just one word can impact a person substantially and a single speech can have a sweeping impact on the world. In “Speak,” the author uses two similes and personification to portray that holding back words restrains perspective and spirit, leading to discontent and agitation.

Speech – Speech is the sounds which we make to build words. Speech enables us to sound words correctly and use words in the correct context. As well as the sounds we use, speech also includes factors such as volume, pitch, fluency and the intonation and stress on different words to support meaning. Speech also means speaking fluently without hesitating, being able to speak with expression and a clear tone of voice. Language is talking and communicating by using words.

Words are more influential than thought. Words can have such a powerful impact on how you interpret things, how you feel, and how you can make others feel as well. The word choice used in The Book Thief demonstrates many themes throughout such as death, friendship, guilt, reason, and the struggle between ones inner self and the society in which he is surrounded. As complex as this may sound, the method was used in a simplistic fashion to construct the meaning and details of certain situations through the senses that ultimately capture how the characters take in the world around them. The power of words in the novel The Book Thief is used to control individuals and gain power if rooted from bad intentions; however, the power of words also

Words: Words are something we use everyday to communicate. Words make up sentences and books. We use words to convey meanings, to show feelings, and to communicate. The problem is that most people take this for granted. Most people do not know the power their words have, and the effect they have on other people. The power of words holds a strong meaning in the novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. During the book, different characters acquire power through their words and language, in both positive and negative ways.

    Toni Morrison makes a good point when, in her acceptance speech upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature, she says, “Narrative . . . is . . . one of the principal ways in which we absorb knowledge” (7).  The words we use and the way in which we use them is how we, as humans, communicate to each other our thoughts, feelings, and actions and therefore our knowledge of the world and its peoples.  Knowledge is power.  In this way, our language, too, is powerful.

Words are sounds that come out of our mouth and that we change by moving our lips and tongues a certain way to create a way to communicate. This communication is what we use to show our feelings and thoughts by not writing it down and waiting so long for a reply. Words are our way of saying what we want to others. Although,these words can stick with people forever or for just years. This generation does not understand the reason words can affect us more than they believe so when they speak they do not take in consider of that effect. There was a time where I felt that the words said to me have not left me at all. My story isn’t the only one out there though where words haven’t left the person once they were spoken to them.

In order to verbally communicate language is needed. Using the English language we use sounds, words, and grammar to send a message to another person. The words have meaning and use grammar to set guidelines on the structure. We learn how to use sounds to form words that have definitions. We use these words to form sentences to help explain the thoughts and ideas we want to send to another person. We use language as a bridge to carry our thoughts and ideas from the mind and brain to oral messages. On occasion verbal communication can be confused with an unintentional meaning. Occasionally people say words they do not know the correct meaning which will confuse the listener. Other time words have the same sound but different meaning such as the two words: fore and four.