The Book Thief Literary Analysis

Andrew Hardman
Miss Paradis
ENG2D
8th April 2014
The beautiful, ghastly, and immense power of words.
Words … words are things we use and hear literally all of the time, although they give us the power to communicate, they are certainly not as influential or manipulative as they have the ability to be. Nazi Germany is a place where the use of the immense power of combined letters is perfected. In the novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, words are used to create goodness, comfort, and sanity in a time of war. When wielded by the correct person, a strong vocabulary also has the chance to manipulate any man into changing his mind completely. Lastly, simple conversations can even give someone the ability to live, or they can mean the
Although it may seem less direct than a judge awarding a convict the death penalty or letting them off, words in Nazi Germany are the main reason why some people die, and some live. To start, people can be saved indirectly by words, being occupied by these beautiful works of literature can save people from the outside world quite literally. During a bomb raid over Munich, when the sirens are a slight bit late, Himmel Street is devastated. Everyone is killed, well - everyone but a little girl. Liesel Memmiger is writing her book in the basement of her house when the bombs strike Heaven Street; “I wonder what she was reading when the first bomb dropped from the rib cage of a plane” (Zusak 528). The fact that Liesel is writing in her basement is the only reason that she survives, her love for words give her the motive to write very early in the morning, in a cold, dark, German basement. It is in-direct, but the power of words is the reason that The Book Thief’s life is saved. Secondarily, words that are not even meant to mean very much can also have the power to save lives. Words that Hans says to Max and his mother, although not meaning to, give Max the sanctuary in which he was able to live; “’He saved my life’…’He-if there’s anything you ever need’” (Zusak 179). During World War 1, Max’s father Eric saves Hans’s life by electing him to not go into battle, on the particular day that the entire battalion is killed. Riddled with survivor’s guilt, Hans offers Max anything that he ever needs, not knowing how much influence those words would have on events to come. The simple, guilt laced words that Hans says, not meaning to be extremely influential, are powerful enough to save Max’s life from the Fuhrer. Finally, like many, many words in Nazi Germany, some are evil, and some have the ability to take people’s lives. Adolf Hitler’s words are the most effective murderers of them all, he