Through the skillful use of indoctrination one can make people believe one race is better than another or that an extremely wretched life is paradise. Uncritically believing and following someone because one has been conditioned to, is an essential aspect in the novel “The Book Thief”. In the novel, by Markus Zusak there are several significant moments that protrude to let the reader concentrate on the overall motif of indoctrination. Zusak portrays the motif of indoctrination through censorship, coercion, and discrimination of religion and ethnicity which is seen throughout the book.
Amid the other two forms of indoctrination, censorship is seen constantly throughout “The Book Thief” in a variety of ways. One of the most …show more content…
Discrimination of ethnicity is seen when Rudy and his father talk about “Son, you can’t go around painting yourself black, you hear?’ ‘Why not, Papa?’ ‘Because you shouldn’t want to be like black people or Jewish people or anyone who is… not us’”(Zusak 60). In this excerpt from the novel the reader can see how the father of Rudy is discriminating African Americans and is indoctrinating his son without Rudy even knowing. Discrimination is also seen in religion when Kristallnacht(‘the night of broken glass’) occurred. On the “Night of Broken Glass” Zusak mentions the destruction of Jewish homes, buildings, and synagogues. The destruction of Jewish synagogues represented the hate that the Nazis/Germans had towards the religion. Discrimination is seen everywhere throughout the novel, where racial and ethnic are the main targets.
All in all, the theme of indoctrination is seen all throughout the novel “The Book Thief” in a diversity of forms. Indoctrination is seen through censorship, coercion, and discrimination of ethnicity and religion. In the end the reader can aquire that the ability of indoctrination through censorship, coercion, and discrimination is what can turn an entire group of people against another group of people in which their only difference is the way they