Power Of Language In The Book Thief

“The power of words, written or spoken, have life. They can change the world.” (search quotes). The power of words should not be underestimated. Liesel proves this to be true in the novel and the film The Book Thief. She uses words to develop relationships with her foster father, Hans Hubermann; Max Vandenburg, the illicit Jew in her basement; and her neighbours. In the novel The Book Thief by Markus Zusak there is much more relationship development compared to the film The Book Thief directed by Brian Percival. This consequently causes the theme of the power of words to be less prominent in the film.

The youngest kids were soothed by her voice, and everyone else saw visions of the whistler running from the crime scene. Liesel did not. The book thief saw only the mechanics of the words—their bodies stranded on the paper, beaten down for her to walk on” (Zusak 381). With the power of her words, Liesel effectively gave the people who once was scrambled and scared something else to think about. She allowed them the ability to imagine, and feel the story, rather than focusing on their reality, grounding them to a sense of security. Even when as their problems continue to knock onto their fear, Liesel was able to overcome, and help other overcome the chaos of World War II, even in the most briefest

“The Book Thief” is a novel and film about a girl who survives death during WW2 and how words became very important to her life. Liesel Meminger was brought to her foster home unable to read. Her foster father, Hans, finds out she can’t read and helps teaches her German. Liesel then falls in love with words and uses them to write her story.The theme “power of words” is displayed in the novel and film equally. Three ways the power of words were shown was by making an emotional connection with the audience, influencing people to do something, and creating unlikely friendships.

“The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing.” (Markus Zusak, page 242). At this moment, Liesel was so angry at the words that she tore up a book. She started to realize how much of an effect they can have in the world. Words are a pretty powerful weapon. They can be destructive or productive. Most of the times words are used in The Book Thief, they’re destructive. A good example of this is how Hitler, the Führer, used his words to make everyone dislike the Jews. This grew on and on and led to a big massacre of Jews in Germany. In the novel The Book Thief , the characters Liesel, Hans, and Rudy all inquire a positive and negative impact of words.

During this time period, Germany and Russia were in a horrific war. There was constant bombings and raids in cities including Himmel Street in Molching, Germany. This kept everyone on their toes just in case they were bombed in this area. They needed to get out of the area as soon as possible so they didn’t die. In the book during the second raid, people scared out of their mind sat around, “That was still an immutable fact, but at least they were distracted now, by the girl and her book” (Zusak 382). Liesel read to the scared people to try and comfort them. In this dark time, Liesel gave people comfort and she was able to make the situation slightly better and not as scary for many people. Sometimes, the right words can make the situation a lot better. Words can be comforting and make everything feel better. For example, “For at least 20 minutes,s he handed out the story. The youngest kids were soothed by her voice” (Zusak 381). Even though it is a dark situation, it made it better. Comfort during this dark time is what these people needed. Being calm in a situation like this had a positive effect on everyone around Liesel. Next, when Max, a Jew and the son of Hans Hubermann’ s friend, moved into the Hubermann household, it put the family in a very risky and life threatening situation. If they had gotten caught with a Jew in their basement, there would have been horrible consequences for all of them. But, the more time that Max

3). In addition, literacy empowers Liesel when she reads to others to comfort them, and to feel in control of herself. During a bomb raid, Liesel reads to her frightened neighbours to help calm them down: “everyone was silent but Liesel…for at least twenty minutes, she handed out the story. The youngest kids were soothed by her voice, and everyone else saw visions of the whistler running from the crime scene” (Zusak 381). Liesel also begins to read to Frau Holtzapfel which helps console her during her time of grieving over her lost son. Frau Holtzapfel even offers to “‘stop spitting on [Rosa’s] door’” in exchange for Liesel to read to her. Being literarily educated, which is restricted during World War II, results in great power for many people. For Liesel, the power of words, writing, and reading help comfort her during her emotional trauma. Literacy “ultimately save[s] [Liesel]” (Smith para. 3) in the sense that books give her a strong purpose to her life. As Grace Lee has said, “not only does Liesel steal books, but she also steals her life back from death itself” (Lee 21). During a time where she is distraught and

The book thief takes us through a journey of Liesel and her struggle through the times of the Holocaust. Moving to a new city and being adopted by a new family Lisel goes through many challenges by has her new friends and family to support her. We start with Hans Hubermann her new father, a generous down to earth man who is an ex soldier.

In Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Liesel has many difficulties just in the first few chapters. First of all, they are living in Germany during the second World War. Then while trying to move to a new home, Liesel had her brother die on the way, they all had to make a detour to go to his funeral. Living in that kind of world people need something to help them with all the troubles, and others may die from not having that special something. So Liesel found something at her brother’s funeral that would soon start her life of book theft, the book The Gravedigger's Handbook. It was not about what was in the book that she cared about so much, it was the meaning behind that book. That book was a remembrance of the

Liesel grew as a person, began to wonder about the world, and realized the power of words. Liesel saw the meaning in the smallest things. In the beginning of the novel, Liesel became attracted to words when she stole her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook from her brother’s grave site. Even without having a clue what the words meant, the book became representative of the last time she saw her family and “as for the girl, there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn't even attempt to understand” (Zusak, 66).

The most important and powerful thing in Markus Zusak's book, The Book Thief is words. Words make and break Liesel, they build her up and break her down, they are a part of her, and they bring happiness and destruction to not only her but to all people in Nazi Germany. Words can be life changing, they cantransform you into something great. “Once, words had rendered Liesel useless, but now, when she sat on the floor, with the mayors wife at her husband's desk,she felt an innate sense of power.” (147).

When one thinks of a thief, they think of sneaky men in black masks trying to steal a precious jewel. However, in “The Book Thief” the thief is in fact not a man in a black mask but a girl. The definition of a thief is someone who steals items of important value resulting in negative consequences for the victim. Instead, in the novel, when the main character, Liesel, steals books, they have a positive effect on the people that she stole it from and even the people she comes in contact with. This is why it is ironic that the title of the novel is “The Book Thief”, because Liesel in a way isn’t really a thief.

Liesel Meminger was a girl that went through a lot throughout her life. During our short time of reading about her life we saw her go through so many emotions, struggles, and different changes. Throughout The Book Thief by Markus Zusak we see a girls story during the time of WW2 and the Holocaust. We read this story of Liesel Meminger and wonder how anyone could ever survive during a time like this, because for most people this was an extremely awful time to live in. But through his use of imagery, and other literary devices, Zukas found a way to write a perfect book describing this girl's life and to show how genuinely hard it was to live during this time.

In the story, The Book Thief, Markus Zusak based the theme on the “Power of Words”. The book demonstrates that words and language have immense power in both positive and negative ways, meaning that the words in the book has strong effects to one another in a positive and negative way. The power of words often brought relationships between the characters closer together because it was the use of the words, the words were often used to establish a connection with others and to build a relationship. Not only did the words bring comfort, but it also brought hatred, especially towards Hitler.

The theme in , “ The Book Thief “ by Markus Zusak , is the power of communication and how it influence people . Liesel did not know how to read at first , but then she begins learning to read and starts craving different terms . Her need for words made her steal books because it was her safe haven that kept her mind off the war that was going on . At this time , Adolf Hitler used words to brainwash Germans to do brutality things on the innocents . When Liesel finds out about this , she realized it was a vicious thing , so she tried to stay away from words .

Words hold large value in everyday life, they are among one of the very few ways people connect with one another. Words change a reader's point of view and effect people feelings. The power of words change the reader's thoughts as we read The Book Thief. In every single novel the power of words drives us to keep reading as we travel through fictional or non fictional journeys. Such as in Hunger Games when Katniss and Peeta kiss for the first time.