The Book Thief Critical Analysis

The book that I will be discussing is The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. This historical fiction novel's central question is about how humans can do both the most beautiful and the most cruel of things. Therefore, this central question is, what are humans capable of? How are they capable of such great things, as well, as such horrible things? In this essay, I argue that The Book Thief has more than one important theme and all of them helped to advance the plot and influence the story. The Book Thief is a story that is narrated by death, telling the tale of a young girl named Liesel Meminger, a 9 year old who travels to Molching, Germany, with her mother, and her brother to live with a foster family. On the train to Molching, Werner, her brother, passes …show more content…
Although this is not the main theme of the book, it still advances the plot and influences the story in several ways. For example, if Hans did not feel as though he had an obligation to Max Vandenburg's father because he had saved his life, he likely would not have allowed Max to hide in the Hubermann's basement, meaning a large part of the story would have never happened. Liesel often acts as though she has an obligation to do certain things and act certain ways because her brother, Werner, passed away. In Part 9: The Last Human Stranger. The Ageless Brother, Liesel imagines her younger brother telling her that she is doing “much better now”. She also occasionally thinks about what her brother would think of her. Liesel also acts as though she has obligations as a result of the loss of her biological parents (despite the fact that it is unknown whether they are alive, Liesel still experiences loss), which fuels her hatred for Hitler, an important element of the story. Not only does this theme advance the plot and influence the story, it gives characters motive for their actions in many