Muajeng Hurshuajer
Clara Hutchinson
Creative Writing P.7
October 27, 2014
Analysis Paper
The Book Thief is a book about a young german girl within the confines of World War 2. The author, Markus Zusak, acquaints us with a unique viewpoint to an imperative piece of history through this girl, Liesel. Events such as a World War can be quite terrifying and as we take a look upon the death counts and descriptions of destruction; by what means may we begin to empathize to these individuals? Can beauty exist in times of brutality? With the despair and reckoning in the past, history tends to portray these acts of conquest and triumphs, making us forget the struggles that brought up these so called miracles. Death takes life from humans without mercy, but we forget it’s us who take it from each other. It’s these phenomenons that drive beauty within the world, and Zusak illustrates this for us though Liesel. Taking on the aspect of hope, teeming amidst the thick of ruination and hopelessness, we ride along Liesel’sc journey.
At first sight, Liesel is seen as a small, malnutritioned 9 year old. Abandoned by her sick mother and forever scarred by her deceased brother, Liesel’s attention is caught by The Gravedigger's Handbook. “When the dragging was done, the mother and girl stood and breathed. There was something black and rectangular lodged in the snow. Only the girl saw it. She bent down and picked it up and held it firmly in her fingers. The book had silver writing on it.” (Zusak 24). In order to fill in the gap the sorrowful fate Liesel faced, she grasped onto this book, hoping to find a meaning to life through knowledge. Liesel’s thirst for intelligence saves her from her loneliness and nightmares of her brother’s unfortunate fate. This was only the beginning to Liesel’s journey as The Book Thief, she had many more books to steal before she realizes her newfound resolve that the adventurous life had to offer her. This early realization was Liesel’s...