The Book Thief Final Essay

The Book Thief All throughout her life Liesel faced a mountain that she had to overcome. When her brother died and her mother walked out on her, Liesel was faced fighting and overcoming abandonment. She did not have to fight by herself for long because she soon picked up partners that helped her along the way. Even though the journey was rough she reached the point where the battle was over and she could live happily. In the very beginning of the book Liesel is already faced with the challenge of dealing with death. “It was January 1939. She was nine years old, soon to be ten. Her brother was dead.”(pg.21) Here she was a young girl and faced with something, that even some adults have problems coping with, that she has to deal with on her own. This was the first experience she had dealing with abandonment. “Regardless, Liesel’s foster parents were waiting. The Hubermanns.”(pg.26) Liesel was placed in what would become her home and had no one she knew. Her dad was never in her life and her mom gave her up to complete strangers. Over time she managed to adjust and come to love her foster parents. Later in life the one person she was closest to left. “At just after 11 p.m. that same night, Max Vandenburg walked up Himmel Street with a suitcase full of food and warm clothes… He could not see the figure in the kitchen window, but she could see him. She waved and he did not wave back.”(pg.397) Once again Liesel faced abandonment. The one person she had become closest to walked out the front door and only briefly looked back. She had lost the one person she could confine in about everything. The last few chapters of the book mention the last battle Liesel faced when it came to abandonment. “In the space of a few minutes, all of them were gone.”(pg. 530) A bomb was dropped and it killed everyone besides Liesel. She lost everyone that helped her through every battle she ever faced. She was once again completely alone and faced picking the pieces up