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  • Essay / Analysis and reflection on "The Book Thief"

    The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger told by Death. She is a nine-year-old German girl who is about to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann, a married couple in the German town of Molching in 1939, after her mother decided to abandon her and her brother. But tragedy strikes when, on the train to Molching, Liesel's younger brother Werner dies and Leisel is left forever traumatized, causing her to have nightmares about him for months. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay At her brother's funeral, she steals his first book, The Grave Digger's Handbook. When she arrives at Hubermann's house, she acts cold until her adoptive father, Hans, plays his accordion to try to cheer her up, which brings them closer together. Hans calms Liesel when she has nightmares and helps her learn to read, starting with a book that Liesel stole from the cemetery where her brother was buried. Liesel soon befriends a boy from their neighborhood, Rudy Steiner, who falls in love with her. Liesel later steals another book at a book burning and realizes that her father was persecuted because he was a communist and that her mother was probably killed by the Nazis for the same crime. Ilsa Hermann saw the theft of the book and later invites Liesel to read in her library. Keeping a promise he made to the man who saved his life during World War I, Hans hides a Jew named Max Vandenburg in his basement behind cans of paint. Liesel and Max become close friends and Max writes two stories aimed at Liesel about their friendship and how Hitler came to power. But during a parade of Jews being taken to a concentration camp, Hans openly gives bread to a Jew, which results in him being whipped in public. Max leaves so as not to cause Hans any more trouble than he already is. Hans's father and Rudy are drafted into the army at a time when air raids on German cities begin to increase and cause more death and destruction. But after Hans breaks his leg in a car accident, he is sent home. Liesel then sees Max on his way to the Dachau concentration camp. Later, Ilsa gives Liesel a book with blank pages so she can write. Liesel begins writing the story of her life in the Hubermanns' basement at night, which allows her to somehow survive an air raid that kills Hans, Rosa, Rudy and all the other residents of his neighborhood, except for Rudy's father who is still in the army. at this point. Liesel survives the war and meets Max at the end. She goes on to live a long life and eventually meets death herself in old age. Words and stories are one of the most important themes of the book. There are many examples of how words and stories intertwine with history. One of the first examples is the alphabet. Whenever Liesel had nightmares, he would take her to the basement to teach her the alphabet which formed a deep bond between the two of them. “The Word Shaker,” the story Max writes for Liesel, also supports this theme. He suggests that words are one of the most powerful forces, taking the example of Hitler who used words to conquer the world, not weapons. " Yes, the Führer decided that he would rule the world with the world with words. “I will never shoot a gun,” he imagined, “I will not have to.” The story essentially dramatizes how Liesel used words to cope amidst Nazi Germany, and Max was also able to find.