The Book Thief Critical Analysis
In a very unique way, The Book Thief (2005), by Markus Zusak, tells us a story that takes a completely unexpected perspective. This time, it is Death’s perspective, the narrator. Personified as human being, it comes to the reader’s surprise when Death reveals human qualities and emotions. Liesel the orphan little girl, Hans the accordionist stepfather, Rosa the loving but foulmouthed stepmother, Rudy the friend and lover of Liesel, and many other characters will be carved in our memory for decades. A Zusak’s ingenious mixture of symbolism, irony, and foreshadowing takes the story to a whole new adventure and teach the reader a lifelong lesson. The story is painful, yet beautiful. It illustrates human’s inhumanity and human’s kindness. It defines the happiness and the sadness. It dissects the good and the bad.
The story is simply about a little girl, Liesel, who happened to live in Germany during the Nazi regime. At the age of nine, Liesel had to witness her brother’s death, the first of many tragic events in her life yet to come. At that same day, Liesel commits her first act of thievery as well. She steals a book. In the few coming years, her stepfather Hans Hubermann teaches her how to read. Shortly after she discovers the power of words, she understands its influential effects on people. She once wrote to the Mayer’s wife, “I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it
It is important to point out that while Zusak’s story is fiction, however, a non-fiction story lives in our news today. Genocides are being carried out by various governments and militia groups in many counties, race discrimination is being expressed publicly, and wars dominate media headlines. Many kids are living similar lives to that of Liesel’s. The majority of these kids has lost their parents and became orphans, some became homeless after their houses were destroyed, and many are starving to death. And to add insult to injury, the world is just watching. The world did not learn from history. Instead, it choose to repeat it!
The power of words
Nazi Germany, a place where words have never been more important, Death conveys a story that signifies the power of words. The story is about a little girl’s life transition after learning how to read and write. Zusak heavily associates Adolf Hitler with this theme. Hitler, who with his talent and speaking skills manipulated a whole nation to violate, discriminate, and even mass massacre other human beings. In the other hand, those who disagreed with him did not have the power of words he possessed to stand against him. For instance, in (p.120) any book that opposed Hitler’s regime was burned. Hitler meant to keep those that opposed him illiterates. By burning those books, the knowledge and the power of those words they contained are burned along permanently. Still, the main character Liesel stole some of that power. She stole a book. She unintentionally fought back Hitler’s regime. Her action is a refusal to give up the power of words.
No one can ignore the language strong influence on human actions. Words can erupt in violence or bring peace. The same words can be used to create a Mein Kampf that calls for races superiority and discrimination or a US constitution that calls for equality and tolerance. In the story, Liesel had a great influence by the power of words. In (p. 66), Hans first taught her how to read. Now that she can read, she understands the value of words. For example, when destroying one of the books the mayor’s wife Ilsa Hermann had, she uses words to express her apology to Ilsa.
Ingenious use of foreshadowing
Death shows little interest in the events themselves. Instead, he pays more attention to events’ leading mechanism. For this reason, Zusak profoundly uses foreshadowing to satisfy this point. In the prologue for example, Zusak hints major events that happen later in the story. Even better, he tells how the story ends when he states that Liesel is a "perpetual survivor," indicating that everyone around her is going to die! However, Zusak unique writing technique does not “spoil” the end as some may say, but in fact, attracts the reader even more.
Similarly, Zusak’s brilliant use of foreshadowing had left me fairly at ease yet glued to the book. Unlike other books I read before, I wasn’t impatient or irritated to know what happens next. In fact, I didn’t feel the want to skip pages to find out what happens later in the book. There was no need for me to do so! Zusak has already reveled to me what is going to happen. What is truly left for me to do is to learn how it happened. For example, Death telling us the three incidents when he met “The Book Thief”, or when Death describes the story as “a small story… about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery
The Book Thief
“I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS.”
The unusual interest of Death in Liesel raises many questions. We discover the irony of Death describing Liesel as a “book thief” while Death himself has stolen a book from her. Perhaps, the act of thievery tied them together. After all, Death is a thief by nature. He takes our souls without our will, which makes it in my opinion an act of thievery.
Death only sees Liesel three times. He indicates that he sees her three times. However, everything he told us about Liesel was from the book she wrote. One explanation to why Liesel was very interesting to Death may have something to do with the fact that every time Death saw her, she was in a horrific situation.
Death
It was very interesting to see Death personified as a human being. The book gave me a different perspective about Death. Unlike the way I always imagined Death as a Grim Reaper with a long dark cloak and scythe and as serious ghost like who enjoys his job, Zusak presented a completely different idea. Death had human qualities and emotions. Death once said, “I have a heart.”
What I learned
I liked the story for many reasons. Death as a narrator, the foreshadowing style, and the very detailed descriptions made me feel part of the story myself. Zusak did a good job crafting every single sentence in the book. I was glued to the story at many occasions I bare managed to put the book away. I liked the fact that while the story is fiction, it discussed many real life events and taught me lifelong lessons. After reading this book, I learned that human can be good or bad. It only depends on what he chose to be. Some chose to do something when they see unfair justice. Some decide to only stand aside and watch. I learned that even with poverty, there is happiness, love, and care.