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The Book Thief

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reedo2008
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377 views3 pages

The Book Thief

Uploaded by

reedo2008
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Book Thief

By Markus Zusak
REED SCOTT

SETTING:
The setting of “The Book Thief” takes
place in Nazi Germany during World
War II, 1939, in the fictional town of
Molching. The book follows Liesel
Meminger, a girl recently arriving in
Molching and being put in the foster
care system because her parents were
taken away for being communist.
Although the constant fear of war,
Liesel finds comfort in books to help
her escape the horrid reality around
her. The setting is significant because
it affects the characters development
as they go through loss of loved ones,
find difficulty in navigating their
environment, and merging strong
bonds because of the challenging
circumstances. Even making the
Hubermann’s struggle financially
because of the lack of resources.

MAIN
CHARACTERS:
Liesel Meminger:

Liesel Meminger is portrayed as having “hair was a close


enough brand of German blond, but she had dangerous
eyes.”(Zusak 24) Her eyes are “dangerous” because Hitler only
wanted a race of people with blond hair and blue eyes. Liesel
is compassionate and forms strong bonds with the people
she interacts with. This helps with her love for books for
they are a way to connect with Max Vandenburg and her
foster father. She is also seen as a resilient person because of
the way she can be able to live in such an environment with
her parents and brother taken from her. Liesel’s
significance is being the protagonist in the story with the
narrative revolving around her life.
Rudy Steiner:
Rudy Steiner is described as
having “sharp teeth, gangly blue
eyes, and hair the color of a
lemon.”(Zusak 36) Rudy’s
personality is exuberant, and
adventurous. He loves sports,
mainly track and field, and
idolizes Olympic athlete Jesse
Owens. Rudy is significant to
Liesel because he is her best friend
throughout the story.

Hans Hubermann:
Hans Hubermann’s appearance describes mainly his eyes,
“They were made of kindness, and silver.”(Zusak 26) As told
through his eyes, Hans’ personality showcases kindness,
patience, and compassion. His compassion is shown by hiding
a Jewish man, Max Vandenburg, in his basement to help him
hide out from the Nazi’s, which puts him in danger. He is also
good father trying to create security for Liesel despite the
challenging times. His significance is being a father figure
for Liesel after her blood father was taken away, making
him a crucial role in Liesel’s development. He teaches Liesel
how to read so that he doesn’t have to always read the
books she takes.

Themes:
People can be Kind no
matter the circumstance
In “The Book Thief” there were
many acts of kindness despite
the hardship everyone was
going through. A good
example of this kindness
would be Liesel reading to
Max whenever he was
bedridden. “Liesel read ‘The
Whistler’ aloud to Max as he
occupied her bed.”(Zusak 244)
Liesel displays actions of
kindness because she wants
Max to be able to enjoy
something while he is sick.
even though it doesn’t matter
how much they can enjoy such
a time with each other,
because they are living in such
a bad place at the wrong time.
Cherish Your It’s Okay To Be
Relationships Different
Friendships are an in Doing what is different from
important factor for what people might think is
everybody in the world to normal is courageous.
have. Starting from a very Whenever the Hubermann’s
young age whenever you took in Max Vandenburg to
get your first friend, you keep him safe from the Nazi’s,
each start to develop each instead of giving him up and
other and are able to make turning him over because he
lasting memories that is jewish was not a thought
should be cherished. In “The most people wanted to do or
Book Thief,” the friendship thought of doing. This is
between Rudy and Liesel was because it was dangerous
brought together to create and could risk the lives of
an important friendship. your whole family. However,
“there were many things they of course took him in.
that brought Rudy and “Max Vandenburg, the Jew,
Liesel together, but it was closed his eyes and drooped
the stealing that cemented a little further into
their friendship safety.”(Zusak 140) “The Book
completely.”(Zusak 114) As the Thief” shows that it is okay
story goes on, Rudy and to be different by
Liesel get closer and closer, showcasing the main
and if Liesel would’ve characters defying the
realized how she felt about normalities in their society
Rudy before he died in an Air at the time almost everyday
raid, maybe they could have throughout the book.
strengthened their
relationship with each
other even more.

Review:

I would absolutely recommend this book to others. It is a


very well written and well thought-out book that gives a
unique perspective on World War II and Nazi Germany. I
would recommend this book to people who like historical
fiction. I would hesitate recommending it for people who
like light-hearted stories especially since there is a lot of
thought of death and war. What causes me to make this
recommendation is that there is a lot of character
development throughout the story and the plot and
emotions put into the story really gave me what I expected
to get out of it. I am giving this book a 5 out of 5 because of
its amazing storytelling and thoughts about humanity
during one of the darkest periods in history. As someone
who doesn’t like books that much, I really got something I
really never have felt from reading.

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