The Book Thief Themes By Erin stuteville

Theme #1: Hard Times Bring People Closer Together

People rely on others to stick with them in order to make it through their hardships.

Quote: " He was not well-educated or political, but if nothing else, he was a man who appreciated fairness. A Jew had once saved his life and he couldn't forget that. He couldn't join a party that antagonized people in such a way" (Zusak 180).

After Hans Hubermann's Jewish friend Erik Vandenburg died while at war. For that reason of having been very close to him, Hans decided that he is not able to join the Nazi party because he felt that it would be disrespectful to Erik. After his death, Hans finds out that Erik had a young son, Max, that he never told him about. Hans felt that it was his duty to do everything in his power to keep Max safe. It was a promise that he made to Erik's wife. He does this later in the novel when Max is forced to go into hiding and Hans puts him and the rest of his family at risk by allowing Max to hide in their basement. Max was put in a very tough and dangerous position being a Jew. He was constantly having the fear of getting caught and taken away. When Hans took Max in, their relationship began to grow and they started to develop that father and son relationship that Max never truly got to experience with his own father.

This news story describes the way in which a large group of people gather (even in the freezing weather conditions) to support the Muslim community after the attack on six Muslims at a Quebec City mosque on January 29, 2017. This story illustrates how people come together in times of tragedy, even if they are from different backgrounds.

Theme #2: The Power of Words

Your words have power. Use them wisely.

Quote: "In the left corner of an upturned piece of sandpaper, , he drew a square perhaps an inch and shoved a capital "A" inside it. In the other corner, he placed a lowercase one" (Zusak 67).

Learning the alphabet and how to create words is how Liesel and Hans Hubermann begin to develop their deep bond. That night when Liesel first had the nightmare about her brother, Hans started teaching her. Since then, he has spent a decent amount of time everyday to work with her by taking her down to the basement and allowing her to write on the basement walls for practice. He also gave up some of his tobacco to buy Liesel a few books for her birthday so he could continue to introduce new literature and expand her learning.

The article illustrates how powerful words can truly be. Yehuda Berg describes words as "singularly the most powerful force available to humanity" and that they have "energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to humiliate, and to humble." The author, Dr. Hyder Zahed believes that we need to be mindful and think before we speak because it only takes one discouraging word to hurt someone and lose their trust.

Theme #3: Acceptance of Death

Death isn't the opposite of life, it is a part of it.

"You want to know what I truly look like? I'll help you out. Find yourself a mirror while I continue" (Zusak 307).

In the novel, Death has the routine job of carrying away the souls of the recently deceased. His job becomes more frequent with the number of people who die at the hands of others during World War II. Death seems to be most disturbed by the gas chambers in the camps. Death then takes a skeptical view of war and humanity itself., believing that humanity is capable of tremendous and irrational harm. I think that this quote can be interpreted in two ways. One is that death lies in all of us and there is no way to stop it from coming. Another is that humans are the creators of their own death and tragedy.

This article discusses the ways in which you can overcome the thought of death. Death has always been a scary thought for me personally, especially when I was younger. In the article, they go through the different mental stages you may go through when working through the thought of death.

Summative Theme: Hard Times Bring People Closer Together

This is a picture of my family. (From left to right) Nick (stepbrother), Nathan (stepbrother), Eric (stepdad), Tara (mom) and Alec (brother).

Credits:

Created with images by Pexels - "aged bookcase books" • macayran - "sunset sea ​​of ​​clouds clouds"

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