Children In The Book Thief Essay

Children in The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, play quite a pivotal role in the shaping of the novel as a whole; they allow for a period of travesty to come out seeming much less dramatic and much more so, somehow simultaneously. It is through the struggles these children face, it is through the love they feel, it is through the relationships they hold that exhibit a sense of almost normalcy amidst chaos, which would be a difficult task for any adult to achieve. The author and narrator focus so heavily on the lives of these children and their perspective in which they see the war unfold, making for a much more unique and gratifying read.
Although the population of Nazi Germany in the 1940s was facing an array of struggles (scarcity of food, …show more content…
Obviously they were affected by the struggles of war, take the actual book thief for example; Liesel Meminger was not ignorant to the fact that it was the fuhrer who was behind the absence of her father and quite possibly her mother as well for being communists, she always thought of her dead brother, she was well aware that her papa could be sent to war at any second, and she would never forget how the nation’s collective hatred for the Jews was the primary cause for her beloved friend Max’s sudden disappearance. Though these would be considered major problems to adults, thus capturing their full attention and consuming them as a whole, it was different to Liesel, a young child at the time. While she did consider these problems to be major and significant in her life, she was more focused on other matters that seemed to be more pressing at the time; Liesel Meminger had worries such as learning how to read, avoiding a kiss from her best friend Rudy, delivering laundry, and eating mama’s terrible soup. These were issues that Liesel focused more intently on, possibly showing that children are better at coping by distracting themselves with seemingly