Character Analysis Of Liesel In The Book Thief

Today, Adolf Hitler is notorious for the slaughter of at least six million people of Jewish descent during the Holocaust, but during that era of time in Nazi Germany, the German citizens adored and glorified him. During World War II, the citizens of Nazi Germany were bigoted towards people of Jewish descent as Adolf Hitler convinced them to do so. The novel, The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, occurs during the second world war, changing the main character, Liesel, from an ignorant and monotonous youth to a courageous and informed citizen.

In the beginning of World War II, Liesel is an ignorant, youthful girl, who supports the leader of the country, Hitler, because the people around her do. The fictional town of Molching, Germany, is
In this era, the Nazis placed the Jews in ghettos and murdered many of them. Because of this, many fled their homes to find somewhere to hide. Occasionally, they moved in with families, no one would allow people to see them and “those who could not [live openly] had to live clandestinely, often in attics or cellars” (www.jewishvirtuallibrary.com 1). During the Holocaust, many non-Jewish citizens of Germany would hide Jews in their basements, attics or cellars in order to protect them from the Nazis. In the novel, Liesel’s family hides Max, a young, Jewish man, in their basement in order to protect him. With this, Liesel opposes Nazi Germany’s mundane belief of thinking that they are superior to the Jews. In this scene, Liesel watches Jews being led through Molching. The text reads, “Once in a while a man or woman―no, they were not men and women; they were Jews―would find Liesel’s face among the crowd. They would meet her with their defeat, and [Liesel] could do nothing but watch them back in a long, incurable moment before they were gone again. She could only hope they could read the depth of sorrow in her face, to recognize that it was true, and not fleeting. I have on of you in my basement! she wanted to say. We built a snowman together! I gave him thirteen presents when he was sick” (Zusak 392-393) Liesel’s thoughts and hopes defy the majority of people’s notions, thus, making her dauntless. Furthermore, she knows and loves a Jewish man and, because of this, she realizes that Hitler is incorrect and so are the citizens around her. She understands that Jews are just the same as her and she wishes she could do something, but she cannot. Therefore, Liesel, unlike most of her country, has an epiphany that Jewish people are no different than herself and Hitler is wrong with his