Survivor's Guilt In The Book Thief

A prevalent theme in the novel is survivor’s guilt. After surviving World War I while his friend, Erik Vandenburg, did not, Hans saves Erik’s Jewish son, Max, years later by letting him hide in their basement during the Holocaust. This act of kindness reveals the guilt Hans feels for surviving the war and how he conquers those feelings by saving Erik’s son. Max, however, has his own feelings of culpability. Max possesses an overwhelming sense of shame for leaving his family, likely to die, and for putting the Hubermanns in danger. Death narrates: “How could [Max] do this? How could he show up and ask people to risk their lives for him? How could he be so selfish?” This quote illustrates how consumed Max is by his own guilt, and how he can hardly function with those thoughts weighing on his conscience. Another person dealing with survivor’s guilt in the novel is Michael Holtzapfel. Michael returns to his home after fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad feeling devastated that his brother, Robert, did not survive. As a result, Michael commits …show more content…
Hans Hubermann is the first to show Liesel how important words are when he instructs reading lessons every night after she wakes up from her terrifying nightmares. Through teaching her how to read, Hans shows Liesel that words can bring solace in times of chaos and uncertainty. The power of words is also highly emphasized in “The Word Shaker”, the story that Max gives to Liesel for her birthday. In the story, he argues that words are the most powerful force there is by declaring that Hitler uses words to manipulate and monopolize an entire nation. In addition, words play a role in comforting people during the air raids when Liesel makes the decision to read to her neighbors in the bomb shelter. When reading to the frantic people, Liesel proves that words are what motivate her to encourage people in times of tumult