The theme in the novel, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is words are powerful because they can help creates bonds, keep people calm during the worst of times, and provide joy. First of all, the main character, Liesel's interest in learning to read created a strong bond between her and her foster father. Zusak wrote, "The excitement stood up in her. Visions of a ten-year-old reading genius were set alight, If only it was that easy. 'To tell you the truth' Papa explained upfront. 'I am not such a good reader myself' (65). In the next chapter, he wrote, "'You stink,' Mama would say to Hans. "Like cigarettes and kerosene'.... Sitting in the water, she imagined the smell of it, mapped out on her pap's clothes. More than anything, it was the smell
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This shows that words have to power to calm people, even during the most terrifying times in their lives. Finally, just by a very detailed description, Liesel was able to give Max a glimpse of the outside world that he had been missing out on for years. The author wrote, " His hand prodded at his short- cropped hair, and his swampy eyes pleaded for the simpliest of simple things. 'Could you go up and tell me how the weather looks?'... 'The sky is blue today, Max, and there is a big cloud, and it's streched out, like a rope. And at the end of it, the sun is like a yellow hole...' Max, at that moment, knew that only a child could have given him a weather report like that. On the wall, he painted a long, tightly knotted rope with a ripping yellow sun at the end of it" (Zusak 249). By this, Zusak meant that Liesel using words to describe the weather outside gave Max joy, even though it was just words, providing evidence yet again that words are powerful . Overall, the theme of The Book Thief, By Markus Zusak, is words are powerful, because they can help creates bonds, keep people calm during the worst of times, and provide
This shows that words have to power to calm people, even during the most terrifying times in their lives. Finally, just by a very detailed description, Liesel was able to give Max a glimpse of the outside world that he had been missing out on for years. The author wrote, " His hand prodded at his short- cropped hair, and his swampy eyes pleaded for the simpliest of simple things. 'Could you go up and tell me how the weather looks?'... 'The sky is blue today, Max, and there is a big cloud, and it's streched out, like a rope. And at the end of it, the sun is like a yellow hole...' Max, at that moment, knew that only a child could have given him a weather report like that. On the wall, he painted a long, tightly knotted rope with a ripping yellow sun at the end of it" (Zusak 249). By this, Zusak meant that Liesel using words to describe the weather outside gave Max joy, even though it was just words, providing evidence yet again that words are powerful . Overall, the theme of The Book Thief, By Markus Zusak, is words are powerful, because they can help creates bonds, keep people calm during the worst of times, and provide