The Power of Words: the Book Thief

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 takes characters such as Liesel from this world of warfare and brings her into a state where she can encourage others in chaos while discovering new things about herself. Words are used often in the book to persuade. There is an art to persuasion and there is a history of persuasive language. Hitler uses this technique to brainwash the people. During the time where Liesel’s brother was dying, she was dreaming of the flow of words coming from Hitler’s mouth. She didn’t have much of an understanding of the meaning; She didn’t know at the time his message was evil. But like a good amount of the German people, Liesel became attracted to Hitler’s simple and childlike approach to his speeches. As Liesel grows, she understands that Hitler’s method was actually attacking the Jews and he was preaching hatred to his followers. "I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right"(528). Liesel becomes very hopeless and holds her head down because of Hitler’s horrible words. His words are the reason for Liesel’s suffering this whole time. Ilsa then gives Liesel a blank book and gives her the idea to write inside of it. Liesel does so, writing about both her suffering and the beauty of life. Liesel now realizes