“From the toolbox the boy took out, of all things, a teddy bear. He reached in through the torn windshield and placed it on the pilot's chest.”“The book thief has struck for the first time – the beginning of an illustrious career.”“Then they discovered she couldn't read or write.”“Unofficially, it was called the midnight class, even though it commenced at around two in the morning. ““The last time I saw her was red. The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places it was burned. There were black crumbs and pepper, streaked across the redness.”“That was one war started. Liesel would soon be in another.”“In fact, on April 20 – the Führer's birthday – when she snatched a book from beneath a steaming pile of ashes, Liesel was a girl made of darkness.”“You are going to die.”“He was not the junior misogynistic type of boy at all.”“Her brother was dead.”“The book thief had struck for the first time – the beginning of an illustrious career.”“The Star of David was painted on their doors. The houses were almost like lepers. At the very least, they were infected sores on the German landscape.”“In the beginning, it was the profanity that made an immediate impact. It was so vehement and prolific. Every other word was either Saumensch or Saukerl or Arschloch.”“Saumensch. You call me Mama when you talk to me.”“Not leaving: an act of trust and love, often deciphered by children.”“To live. Living was living. The price was guilt and shame.”“The man did not breathe. He did not move. Yet, somehow, he traveled from the doorway to the bed and was under the covers.”“Sometimes there was humor in Max Vandenburg's voice, though its physicality was like friction – like a stone being gently rubbed across a large rock.”“From a Himmel Street window, he wrote, the stars set fire to my eyes.”“Out of respect, the adults kept everyone quiet, and Liesel finished chapter one of The Whistler.”|Though we don't know it until the end of the novel, the boy that gets the teddy bear is actually…
Markus Zusak’s sanguine novel The Book Thief illustrates the austere story of a Jewish foster girl living amidst the cruelty and devastation of World War II. Liesel Meminger, an intelligent and kind-hearted youngster stricken by family tragedy, must contend with both physical and emotional conflict as she and her friends cope with the atrocities of life in Nazi Germany. In spite of the chaos encompassing their lives, Liesel and her allies manage to find peace and resilience through love and compassion.…
The first book Liesel steals, The Grave Digger, symbolizes her grievance. “There was something black and rectangular lodged in the snow. Only the girl saw it. She bent down and picked it up and held it firmly in her fingers.” Liesel steals her first book book from the snow in the graveyard in which her recently deceased little brother has just been buried, after dying on the train they were taking to their foster parents. This book is the only memento she has left with her on her now lonely journey.…
Grief and a sense of the tenderness of death assimilates itself throughout the tale of Liesel Meminger and hearkens us to what will one day be the fate of all. In conclusion, death possesses an omnipresent outlook within this novel and exemplifies the tragic unfolding of the life of Liesel…
In times of war things can get ugly fast. War wounds, it scars, it kills, it devastates, and it hurts. The Book Thief written by: Markus Zusak is not just a book about those things, but rather a book about a girl named Liesel Meminger, and her life during WWII. But in Liesel's life, Markus Zusak shows us something else but all the ugliness in WWII, instead he shows us the beauty in times of ugliness in Liesel's life. Some examples of this are, when Hans reads to Liesel after she has nightmares, Liesel reading (using the power of words to calm people down in the bomb shelter, when bombs are dropping, and Liesel reading Mein Kampf with Max in the basement.…
With the winter over, Elli’s birthday comes. She was now thirteen. Many wonderful things were happening. Jancsi Novack, her crush, said hello to her, she passed examinations, and she wrote for application forms to the Jewish Gymnasium in Budapest. Later that night, the Nazis returned to Elli’s house. They raided the whole entire house, tearing it to pieces. They took whatever they would like from the store, plus the family’s most precious belongings. A couple of nights later, Elli heard voices in the kitchens, which she came to find out is her Bubi. He had news for the family. The Germans invaded Budapest! Nobody knew anything about it. When the father came home from the synagogue the next morning, they thought something is wrong with Bubi because no one had heard anything about this invasion. They thought it was a false alarm, and they urged Bubi to return and finish his classes. They asked their neighbor, Mr. Kardos, who also had a son in Budapest, and he had heard nothing. They send Bubi on a train at 1 o’clock. At 1:20, Mr. Kardos returns to the family, saying he had news from his son that the Germans have invaded Budapest. Father felt horrible for sending his son back. The next morning, the town received the news. Two days late. Jews are being arrested on sight everywhere. They are herded into trains, which are locked and taken away. During that night, Bubi returned from Budapest.…
Upon Liesel’s arrival to Himmel Street, she has no desire to meet Hans: her new Papa. Hans notices her stolen copy of The Gravedigger's Handbook and offers to teach her how to read and write. From then on, a lively friendship presents itself as “Liesel made her way down to the basement.…
A variety of issues are illustrated through the use of characterisation and conflict in Markus Zusak’s ‘The Book Thief.’ The text is a coming of age story of an adolescent German girl, Liesel Meminger, who lives through extensive trials and tribulations in a hostile environment, a world war and her complex relationships with her friends and family. Zusak uses the inner conflict of his character Liesel to explore how individual’s cope with the loss of loved ones, and their impacts on characters. The relationship between Max and Liesel illustrates the importance of friendship during hardship and Hans is employed to highlight the negative effects of the Nazi political regime.…
In The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak, the narrator, Death, tells the life story of a young girl named Liesel Meminger during World War II. He explains the events and challenges Liesel experiences due to Hitler’s words and influence. In this passage, the author uses diction, imagery, and details to help the reader imagine and have a deeper understanding of the events taking place and the character’s thoughts and feelings.…
Liesel’s fascination for reading and ability to articulate literature exposed her to greater issues draped across Germany as well as the emotions and struggles of those surrounding her. From this, she was able to identify the result of her words and their impact, along with the words of others. However even when under dreadful circumstances, The Book Thief was able to bring comfort and ease to those around, distracting many from their worries. The words of Himmel street is what brought inspired Liesel Meminger and platformed her journey with literature as an important…
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…
Liesel has lost and suffered so much in life. She was raised without a father, and later given to a foster home. Being raised by a single mother, their family was very poor and didn’t get a lot of food. Sadly, on the train ride to the foster family the two kids would live in, Werner, her brother, passed away. Leisel could see “without question that her younger brother, Werner, was now sideways and dead. His blue eyes stared at the floor. Seeing nothing,” (20).…
During the time her neighborhood spent in the bomb shelter, Liesel found happiness in reading and shared it with her friends and family who also found happiness and serenity in her reading. In the beginning, when Liesel had discovered her first book she asked her new father to teach her how to read. Little did he know that the gift of reading that he had just given his daughter would help her and many other people. Another way the story shows the beauty of humanity and kindness is when the mayor's wife, Ilsa, let Liesel into their house so she can take books and continue her passion of reading. Ilsa would do this for Liesel because she saw that there was happiness in her when she read and that was a rare thing in those times of death. The beauty of humanity is shown in multiple ways. A third way is because of the death of Hans friend in an earlier war, he takes in that man’s son, Max, who is Jewish. The Hubermann family hides him in their basement and takes care of him for a number of months. This shows how in the awful times, some people can reach into their heart and care for people despite what might they stand for or who they…
Exposition: 10-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen were normal girls living in Copenhagen, Denmark. When walking home from school one day with Kirsti, Annemarie’s sister, they ran into German soldiers...literally! The soldiers questioned the girls about what they were doing, and Annemarie told them. When the girls told their mother’s, they got upset. They were told to take a different route to and from school. The Nazi’s got more and more forceful with every passing day. When Annemarie went to get a button for Kirsti’s shoe, the shop was closed and Mrs. Hirsch wasn’t there and neither was her family there either.…
Albert is rewarded for his kindness, his reunion with Joey at the end of his story is his return for his kindness and hard work in the war. Liesel, on the other hand, is almost punished for her actions; she does not get any reunion with a long lost friend, she gets no happy ending, instead she has everything taken from her at the end of the story as her family and friends are killed in an indiscriminate bombing. The hatred for the other side, Ally or Central, in World War I and the genocide of the Jews in World War II were combated by the average citizens back home, who sympathized with their enemies and sheltered Jews from the searching eyes of the Gestapo. This is shown as Albert is not as happy as he thought he would be fighting in a war, seeing the brutality of it, losing friends and killing people back to back; and Liesel sees that no matter how good or kind people are, the world does not care with her alone surviving due to her books, while the kind Rudy, Hans, and Rosa are wiped out by bombs. It was this dual kindness and cruelty that made Death afraid of humans and crushed Liesel’s spirits for…