Theme #1: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

" *** SOME CRUNCHED NUMBERS *** In 1933, 90% of Germans showed unflinching support for Adolf Hitler. That leaves 10% who didn't. Hans Hubermann belonged to that 10%. There was a reason for that" (Zusak 63).

This quote from the book, with some explanation, is a great example of why actions speak louder than words. Later on in the book, it said that Hans is not apart of the group that supported Hitler because Hitler was against Jews and Hans did not have a problem with them. In fact, a Jew saved his life years back, and he knew it would be wrong to discriminate against Jews. Especially for him because a Jew saved his life, so he didn't want to support killing them. What relates this to actions speak louder than words is that in public Hans has to pretend to support Hitler. Either that, or possibly be killed if he didn't support (or pretend to support) Hitler. By looking at what he says in public, you would think he is apart of the 90% that supports Hitler, but by knowing who he is, looking at his actions at home, it is clear that he is against Hitler.

The Image in the example of actions speak louder than words button, shows a very clear example of how the phrase is seen in our lives. The bumper sticker says one thing (save the planet), and the car pollutes more than it should, which is inferring the guy does not care about the planet that much because he clearly didn't get it fixed. When the guy had the sticker and agreed that it was a neat sticker, this caused the people to judge him a certain way, but his actions of letting his car pollute out of control shows who he really is.

Theme #2 There is no Beauty Without Color

" By the time I was finished, the sky was yellow, like burning newspaper. If I looked closely, I could see the words, reporting headlines, commentating on the progress of the war and so forth. How I'd have loved to pull it all down, to screw up the newspaper sky and toss it away. My arms ached and I couldn't afford to burn my fingers. There was still so much work to be done" (Zusak 336).

This quote about color is a very clear example of how color is an important theme in the book. Yellow can either mean joy and happiness, but in this case it means deception. The yellow sky that may look neat to some, but Liesel knew it was not joy and happiness because by realizing what their life was like, war and everything, it would have been too good to be true if it meant something good was happening in their world. She even said this "like burning newspaper. If I looked closely, I could see the words, reporting headlines, commentating on the progress of the war and so forth." By saying this, she was inferring the fake news and nonsense Hitler and Germany was feeding everyone was not joyful and happiness. In fact, later in the chapter, everyone saw gas tanks falling from the sky, from the bomber planes that killed a lot of people which is not good, but rather deceiving versus what people would have otherwise thought due to the news.

The police flag is a commonly seen piece of color symbolism in our society today. The color blue symbolizes trust, loyalty, faith, truth, etc. and is used in the flag to represent the fallen officers. This is a big thing, especially recently, because of how many police shootings there have been, and people use colors to represent how that needs to stop, and that we need to all come together by standing up and respecting those who risk their lives everyday to keep us safe.

" *** A SPECTACULARLY TRAGIC MOMENT *** A train was moving quickly. It was packed with humans. A six-year-old boy died in the third carriage"(Zusak 19)

In order to understand this quote and dive into it, you need to understand the book and what happened with Liesel and who this 6 year-old was who died. Liesel was on her way to her new parents because of what was going on at the time and her brother died. When he died, she took a book that was left at the scene and this lead her to later read books and think for her self when society was trained and forced no to. The reason this backs up "everything happens for a reason" because if he didn't die, Liesel would not have got the book, and she would not have ever read and thought for her own (about life and society).

The button links to an article on September 11, 2001. This was a tragic day for America, but at the same time, it happened for a reason. Before that we were not aware of or trying to prevent a terrorist attack as much as we are now. With 9/11 happening, it really opened the eyes of this country and showed us that things can and will happen if we are not careful. I am NOT saying this was good that all the people died and suffered for a long time, I am saying the lesson we all learned from this and the reason for this happening was that we need to be more aware of our country security and that any "goodbye" could be the last.